THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHT VERBS IN ENGLISH: AN EMPIRICAL, CORPUS-BASED STUDY Cover Image

THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHT VERBS IN ENGLISH: AN EMPIRICAL, CORPUS-BASED STUDY
THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHT VERBS IN ENGLISH: AN EMPIRICAL, CORPUS-BASED STUDY

Author(s): József Andor
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Editura Universităţii de Vest din Timişoara / Diacritic Timisoara
Keywords: light verb; constructional variant; non-compositional; deverbal noun; corpus-based; frequency

Summary/Abstract: This paper provides a corpus-based investigation of the distribution and collocational force of five light verbs: have, take, make, do, give, in complex predicate patterns based on data gained from the British National Corpus. Focus of analysis: (i) surveying the representation of light verb constructions in standard, learners’ dictionaries of English, (ii) meaning and usage-based factors of light verb + NP vs. full verb constructional variants, (iii) semantic/pragmatic differences between variants with different light verbs preceding the same NP.

  • Issue Year: 2010
  • Issue No: 16
  • Page Range: 189-201
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: English