Supporting verb constructions from a multilingual perspective: a contrastive analysis between Spanish, Italian, French, English, German and French Cover Image

Las construcciones con verbo soporte desde una perspectiva plurilingüe: un análisis contrastivo entre español, italiano, francés, inglés y alemán
Supporting verb constructions from a multilingual perspective: a contrastive analysis between Spanish, Italian, French, English, German and French

Author(s): Letizia D’Andrea
Subject(s): Philology
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze - Filozofická fakulta, Vydavatelství
Keywords: light verb constructions; multilingual contrastive analysis; phraseology; support verb constructions

Summary/Abstract: Support verb constructions (SVCs), also known as light verb constructions, (e.g. to set in motion, to take a picture) are a phraseological phenomenon typical of many languages. These multi-word expressions, composed of a partially delexicalized verb (such as set in set in motion) and a predicative (e.g. motion) or semi-predicative noun (e.g. picture), do not always have a symmetrical cross-linguistic equivalent form. Therefore, this study aimed to carry out a multilingual contrastive analysis that would highlight some of the most significant features that we have observed in the Italian, French, English and German equivalent forms of two specific subclasses of Peninsular Spanish SVCs: «caus supVdar+Nemotion/feeling» (e.g., dar sed [make thirsty], dar miedo [to scare]) and «supVtener+Nmedical phenomen» (e.g. tener fiebre [to have a fever]). Our analysis shows that the pattern combination of the abovementioned Spanish SVCs is more systematic than the morphosyntactic configuration of their cross-linguistic counterparts.

  • Issue Year: 31/2021
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 214-231
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Spanish