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In:Constructing Families of Constructions: Analytical perspectives and theoretical challenges
Edited by Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, Alba Luzondo Oyón and Paula Pérez-Sobrino
[Human Cognitive Processing 58] 2017
► pp. 77–107

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Chapter 3
Doing Tsukahara and the Epley in a cross-linguistic perspective

 | ELTE, Budapest
 | University of Osijek
Published online: 26 July 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.58.04brd
Abstract
This chapter studies eponymous verb constructions (EVCs) in medical and sports discourse in English, German, Croatian and Hungarian. These are constructions consisting of a light verb such as to do and an eponymic noun phrase denoting events. A cross-linguistic comparison reveals that, unlike in English, the productivity of EVCs containing reduced eponymic constructions is severely constrained in German, Croatian and Hungarian. These contrasts can be related not only to some structural givens of the languages in question, such as the availability of articles in the language in question, the entrenchment of light verbs, the gender system, but also to the fact that languages can more or less easily accommodate complex metonymies.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.What counts as eponymy?
    • 2.1From names to (common) nouns
    • 2.2Types of eponyms, structural and semantic
    • 2.3 Eponymy and metonymy
  • 3.Eponymous verb constructions in a cross-linguistic perspective
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (51)
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