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Introduction published In: What is a verb? – Linguistic, psycholinguistic and developmental perspectives on verbs in Germanic and Semitic languages
Edited by Eva Smolka and Dorit Ravid
[The Mental Lexicon 14:2] 2019
► pp. 169–188

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Introduction

What is a verb?

Linguistic, psycholinguistic and developmental perspectives on verbs in Germanic and Semitic languages

 | University of Konstanz
 | Tel Aviv University
Published online: 15 January 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.00003.int
Abstract
Verbs constitute one of the basic building blocks of a clause, setting the structure of arguments and expressing the relationships among nouns in various thematic roles. In general terms, verbs are lexical items expressing verb-oriented notions such as activities, processes, and states. In morphol-​ogy-rich languages, the syntactic and lexical roles of verbs are mediated by typologically-oriented morphological means. The current Special Issue contrasts the structure and functions of verbs in languages from two morphologically rich, yet typologically different families. The articles in the Special Issue present spoken and written aspects of verbs in usage and development in German (a Germanic language) on the one hand, in Hebrew, Neo-Aramaic, and Arabic (Semitic languages), on the other. From a theoretical linguistic perspective, we ask how the different typological features of these languages affect the function of verbs in sentences, and from a psycholinguistic perspective, we ask how typological differences affect the processing of verbs in the mature minds of adults and in the developing minds of children.
Article outline
  • What makes Semitic and Germanic languages ‘morphologically rich’?
  • Why focus on verbs?
  • Semitic verb morphology
  • Germanic verb morphology
  • Psycholinguistic perspectives of Semitic and Germanic verb processing
  • Access to the verbal root
  • Argument structure and valency of verbs
  • Developmental psycholinguistic aspects of verbs
  • Note
  • References
References (82)
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