Published: 2023-12-29

The valency of perception verbs in French and Italian: A diachronic perspective

Peter Blumenthal Logo ORCID , Giovanni Rovere Logo ORCID

Abstract

This paper explores perception verbs (like ‘hear’ and ‘see’) from a construction grammar perspective, with a focus on both contrastive and diachronic aspects. Surprisingly, our corpus analysis suggests that different verbs from this semantic groups do not display a homogeneous syntactic behaviour. For example the verb ‘observer’ stands out from other verbs in this group. We attempt to account for the special status of ‘observer’ and discuss the extent to which the acceptability of sentences featuring ‘observer’ can be improved by acting on certain parameters in the sentence. Our research highlights the role of a factor referred to as evidentia in classical rhetoric.

Citation rules

Blumenthal, P., & Rovere, G. (2023). The valency of perception verbs in French and Italian: A diachronic perspective. Neophilologica, 35, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.31261/NEO.2023.35.03

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Vol. 35 (2023)
Published: 2023-12-31


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

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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