Resultatives, particles, prefixes and argument structure
Date
2002-09
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Calgary
Abstract
In this paper, I discuss the argument status of postverbal DPs in English resultative constructions, English verb-particle constructions and Russian prefixed verbs. I argue that postverbal DPs in English resultative constructions on the one hand and verb-particle constructions and Russian prefixed verbs on the other hand have different argument status. As shown by various studies, English resultatives are syntactically derived constructions (Carrier and Randall 1992; Neeleman and Weerman 1993; Levin and Rappaport Hovav 1995, among others), whereas Russian prefixed verbs are lexically derived (Townsend 1975; Brecht 1985, Zaliznjak and Shmelev 1997, among others). I assume that lexical derivation as opposed to syntactic derivation is less productive and may change a verb's meaning in an unpredictable way. As a result, Russian prefixed verbs and English verb-particle constructions often have different meaning from their base verbs and may have different arguments.
Description
Keywords
Linguistics, Russian language, Syntax, Morphology, Russian language--Suffixes and prefixes
Citation
Mezhevich, I. (2002). Resultatives, particles, prefixes and argument structure. Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 24(Fall), 9-32.