On a Series of Marginally Productive Patterns. English <en> Verbs
On a Series of Marginally Productive Patterns. English <en> Verbs

Summary/Abstract: This paper reflects on the <en> verbs of English with respect to their word-formation, their morphological and syntactic properties, their motivation, and their status. The verbs are divided into several groups on the basis of a set of criteria, the central criterion being their word-formation pattern. The influence of the interplay of several categories – phrasality, transitivity, perfectivity, inchoativness, the ergative element and causality – on the verbs is discussed. In analyzing the categories, significant attention is paid to the role that grammatical context plays in motivating the appearance of these lexical items. Thus, symmetry is introduced where such has hitherto been lacking.

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