Published: 2022-12-29

Support (= Light) Verbs

Igor Mel'čuk Logo ORCID

Abstract

The paper proposes a formal definition of support verb as (roughly) a semantically empty verb serving as a syntactic “prop” to a predicative noun such that the phrase V(support)(N) + N is synonymous with the verb V0 derived form N: ‘V(support)(N) + N’ = ‘V0(N)’, as in ‘to give an order’ = ‘to order’ or ‘to receive an order’ = ‘to be ordered’. The following points are discussed: support verbs as collocates, representation of support verbs in terms of lexical functions, semantic and syntactic properties of support verbs, semantic additions to support verbs (in particular, causation and phasic meanings), realization verbs, and the role of support verbs in theoretical and applied linguistics.

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Citation rules

Mel'čuk, I. (2022). Support (= Light) Verbs. Neophilologica, 34, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.31261/NEO.2022.34.03

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Vol. 34 (2022)
Published: 2022-12-31


ISSN: 0208-5550
eISSN: 2353-088X
Ikona DOI 10.31261/NEO

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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