Light verb constructions in English and Spanish: state of he art
- Autores: Georgina Alvarez Morera
- Localización: Recerca en humanitats 2021 / coord. por Maria Bargalló Escrivà, 2022, ISBN 978-84-1365-011-1, págs. 9-26
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
This state-of-the-art review seeks to determine a definition for light verb constructions that can be used cross-linguistically. Starting with some considerations about the properties of light verb constructions in English and Spanish, the article examines different theoretical traditions which have attempted to explain how these constructions work. Unlike the traditional definitions of light verbs as not contributing to the meaning of the constructions that contain them, some lexicalist approaches state that the light verb is not completely devoid of semantic content when forming a light verb construction. This review focuses on the semantincs-syntax interface of these constructions, and especially their argument structure. By adopting a contrastive approach, the article also reviews some of the similarities and divergences that can be found between light verb constructions in English and Spanish.
