Cover not available

Article published In: Lingvisticæ Investigationes
Vol. 44:2 (2021) ► pp.153–203

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Locatum and location verbs in Italian

A Lexicon-grammar analysis

 | Università di Salerno
Published online: 21 March 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.00061.vie
Abstract
In this paper I claim that Italian location and locatum verbs constitute two syntactically distinct classes of verbs. Location verbs are derived from a noun corresponding to a location, and behave similarly to standard verbs of caused motion. Locatum verbs are derived from a noun corresponding to the located entity, and behave similarly to croisés verbs. Despite these similarities, the derivational structure of locatum and location verbs has an impact on their syntactic structure. For this reason locatum and location verbs cannot be included in the classes of croisés and standard verbs, respectively. They deserve a separate classification.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.Main hypotheses on locative denominal verbs
  • 2.Locatum verbs
    • 2.1Locatum subject alternation
    • 2.2Causative alternation and reflexivization
    • 2.3Locatum verbs: Results
    • 2.4Anomalous locatum verbs
      • Sellare ‘saddle’
      • Denocciolare ‘pit’
  • 3.Location verbs
    • 3.1Location subject alternation
    • 3.2Causative alternation and reflexive constructions
    • 3.3Location verbs: Results
    • 3.4Anomalous location verbs
      • Depositare ‘store, deposit’
      • Basare ‘base, place’
      • Imbracciare ‘hold’
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (55)
References
Acedo-Matellán, V. & Real-Puigdollers, C. 2015. Location and locatum verbs revisited: Evidence from aspect and quantification. Acta Linguistica Humgarica, 62: 2, 111–140. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Acquaviva, P. 2008. Roots and lexicality in distributed morphology. Ms., UC Dublin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alexiadou, A., Anagnostopoulou, E. & Schäfer, F. 2006. The properties of anticausatives crosslinguistically. In M. Frascarelli (Ed.), Phases of Interpretation, 187–212. Berlin: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2015. External Arguments in Transitivity Alternations. A Layering Approach. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anderson, S. R. 1971. On the role of deep structure in semantic interpretation. Foundations of Language, 71, 387–396.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boons, J-P. 1971. Métaphore et baisse de la redondance. Langue française, 111, 15–16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1984. Sceller un piton dans le mur, desceller un piton du mur. Pour une syntaxe de la prefixation negative. Langue française, 621, 95–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1986. Des verbes ou compléments locatifs « Hamlet » à l’effet du même nom. Revue québécoise de Linguistique, 15: 12, 57–88. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chierchia, G. 2004. A semantics for unaccusatives and its syntactic consequences. In A. Alexiadou, E. Anagnostopoulou & M. Everaert (Eds.), The unaccusative puzzle: Explorations of the syntax-lexicon interface, 22–59. Oxford/New York, Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, E. & Clark, H. 1979. When nouns surface as verbs. Language, 551, 767–811. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Folli, R. 2001. Constructing Telicity in English and Italian. PhD dissertation, University of Oxford.
Gilbert Sotelo, E. 2018. Deriving ablative, privative, and reversative meanings in Catalan and Spanish. Borealis, 7: 2, 161–185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gross, M. 1975. Méthodes en syntaxe. Paris: Hermann.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1995. La notion de lieu argument du verbe. In Tendances récentes en linguistique française et générale, volume dédié à David Gaatone, 173–200. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grossmann, M. & Rainer, F. 2004. La formazione delle parole in italiano. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grossmann, M. 1994. Opposizioni direzionali e prefissazione: analisi morfologica e semantica dei verbi egressivi prefissati con des- e es- in catalano. Padova: Unipress.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guillet, A. & Leclère, C. 1992. La structure des phrases simples en français. Les constructions transitives locatives. Genève/Paris: Droz.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hale, K. & Keyser, S. J. 1997. The limits of argument structure. In A. M. Mendikoetxea & M. Uribe-Etxebarria (Eds.), Theoretical issues at the morphology-syntax interface, 203–230. Bilbao/Donostia-San Sebastián: Universidad del País Vasco and Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2002. Prolegomenon to a theory of argument structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hale, K. 1986. Notes on world view and semantic categories: Some Warlpiri examples. In P. Muysken & H. van Riemsdijk (Eds.), Features and projections, 233–254. Dodrecht: Foris. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harley, H. 2005. How do verbs get their names? Denominal verbs, manner incorporation and the ontology of verb roots in English. In N. Erteschik-Shir & T. Rapoport (Eds.), The syntax of aspect, 42–64. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. 1993. More on typology of inchoative/causative verb alternations. In B. Comrie & M. Polinsky (Eds.), Causatives and Transitivity, 87–120. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M., Calude, A., Spagnol, M., Narrog, H. & Bamyack, E. 2014. Coding casual-noncasual verb alternations: a from-frequency correspondence explanation. Journal of Linguistics, 50: 3, 587–625. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heidinger, S. 2015. Causalness and the encoding of the causative-anticausative alternation in French and Spanish. Journal of Linguistics, 51: 3, 562–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Iacobini, C. 2004. Parasintesi. In M. Grossmann & F. Rainer (Eds.), La formazione delle parole in italiano, 166–188. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ikegami, Y. 1987. ‘Source’ and ‘Goal’: A case of linguistic dissymmetry. In R. Dirven & G. Radden (Eds.), Concept of Case, 122–146. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ishibashi, M. 2012. The expressions of ‘putting’ and ‘taking’ events in Japanese: The asymmetry of Source and Goal revisited. In A. Kopecka & B. Narasimhan (Eds.), Events of Putting and Taking. A crosslinguistic perspective, 253–272. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R. 1990. Semantic Structures. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1991. Parts and boundaries. Cognition, 411, 9–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kayne, R. S. 1975. French Syntax. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kiparsky, P. 1997. Remarks on Denominal Verbs. In A. Alsina, J. Bresnan & P. Sells (Eds.), Complex Predicates, 473–499. Palo Alto, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kopecka, A. & Narasimhan, B. 2012. Events of Putting and Taking: A crosslinguistic perspective. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2000. The semantic representation of denominal verbs. In P. Coopmans, M. Everaert & J. Grimshaw (Eds.), Lexical specification and insertion, 215–240. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakusta, L. & Landau, B. 2005. Starting at the end: The importance of goals in spatial language, Cognition, 961, 1–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Landau, B. 2010. Paths in language and cognition: Universal asymmetries and their cause. In G. Marotta, A. Lenci, L. Meini & F. Rovai (Eds.), Space in language, 73–94. Pisa: Edizioni ETS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levin, B. & Rappaport Hovav, M. 1995. Unaccusativity. At the Syntax-Lexical Semantics Interface. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1998. Morphology and Lexical Semantics. In A. Spencer & A. Zwicky (Eds.), The Handbook of Morphology. Oxford/Malden: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levin, B. 1993. English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary Investigation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mateu, J. 2001. On the relational semantics of transitive denominal verbs. In M. L. Jungl, O. F. Soriano & M. V. E. Vidal (Eds.), Current issues in generative grammar, 143–164. Alcalá de Henares: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alcalá.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2002. Argument structure. Relational construal at the syntax-semantics interface. Doctoral dissertation. Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. [URL]
2008. Argument structure and denominal verbs. Paper presented at the Workshop on Bare Singulars, Argument Structure, and Their Interpretation, December 11–12, 2008, Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Nam, S. 2004. Goal and Source: Their Syntactic and Semantic Asymmetry, Proceedings of the 30th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 1–29. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistics Society. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nedyalkov, V. P. & Silnitsky, G. G. 1973. The Typology of Morphological and Lexical Causatives. In F. Kiefer (Ed.), Trends in Soviet Theoretical Linguistics, 181, 1–32. Dordrecht: Reidel. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pinker, S. 1989. Learnibility and cognition: The acquisition of argument structure. Cambridge. MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rapaport, T. 2012. Central coincidence: The Preposition With. In J.-M. Merle & A. Steuckardt (Eds.), Prépositions & Aspectualité, 159–173. Paris: Ophrys.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rappaport Hovav, M. 2014. Lexical content and context: The causative alternation in English revisited. Lingua, 1411, 8–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reinhart, T. 2002. The Theta System – An Overview. Theoretical Linguistics, 281, 229–90.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schäfer, F. 2009. The Causative Alternation. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3: 2, 641–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schäfer, F. & Vivanco, M. 2015. Reflexively marked anticausatives are not semantically reflexive. In E. O. Aboh, J. C. Schaeffer & P. Sleeman (Eds.), Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2013: Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’ Amsterdam 2013, 203–220. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Talmy, L. 1985. Lexicalization Patterns: Semantic Structure in Lexical Forms. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description III: Grammatical Categories and the Lexicon, 57–149. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1991. Path to Realization: A Typology of Event Conflation. Berkeley Linguistics Society, 171, 480–519. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2000. Toward a Cognitive Semantics, II: Typology and process in concept structuring. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vietri, S. 2017. Usi verbali dell’italiano: le frasi anticausative. Roma: Carocci.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2020. The Lexicon of Transitive Verbs of Motion and the Asymmetry Between Goal and Source PPs, International Journal of Linguistics, 12: 6, 81–115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue