E-Book, Englisch, Band 29, 250 Seiten
Miyamoto The Light Verb Construction in Japanese
Erscheinungsjahr 2000
ISBN: 978-90-272-9491-3
Verlag: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)
The role of the verbal noun
E-Book, Englisch, Band 29, 250 Seiten
Reihe: Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today
ISBN: 978-90-272-9491-3
Verlag: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)
This study deals with the so-called Light Verb Construction in Japanese, which consists of the verb “suru” ‘do’ and an accusative (“o”) marked verbal noun (VN). There have been unresolved debates on the role of “suru”: whether “suru” in “VN-o suru” functions as a light or heavy verb. The previous studies attempt to disambiguate “VN-o suru” formations by relying solely on examining whether “suru” can be thematically light or not. This study argues that the ambiguity does not stem from the ‘weight’ of “suru” but from its accusative phrase: whether it is headed by a thematic (complex event) VN or non-thematic (simple event) VN. Using a principles and parameters approach and employing ideas from conceptual semantics and theories of aspect, this study demonstrates that the characterization of “VN-o suru” formations arises not from the dichotic behavior of “suru” but from the dichotic behavior of the accusative phrase.
