engleski

The semantics of verb conversions: an outline for a comprehensive treatment

The aim of this paper is to show that cognitive linguistics provides a powerful handle on the meaning of English verb conversions, and thus to counter the claim that "the variety of meanings that can be expressed by zero-affixation is so large that there should be no specific meaning attached to the process of zero-affixation at all (Lieber 2004: 91)". By applying the methodological assumptions of the usage-based model, an encyclopedic approach to lexical semantics, insights of the theories of conceptual metaphor and metonymy, and conceptual and grammatical integration, many of the complaints about the 'rampant semantic idiosyncracy' of such verbs simply disappear. On a fine-grained view, many problems can be explained away by recognizing the workings of conceptual metonymies, conceptual metaphor and conceptual integration. E.g. the pattern of meaning extension via the metonymy Ideal Member of the Category for the Category which renders incorrect the homonymy view of the pair hammer: to hammer in the example to hammer something with a shoe (Ljung 1977). Still other cases of 'semantic residue' (Rose 1983) can be motivated by proposing the activation of metaphorical scenarios and conceptual integration patterns behind the linguistic blueprint in e.g. Phoney psychics could milk their rich clients for years. On a somewhat coarser view, we will argue for a semantic treatment of verb conversions which looks beyond what is fused in the verb itself. We believe that a closer look at the predicate-argument constructions in which verb conversions are embedded can take us a long way toward explaining the semantic motivation for the emergence of such verbs in the first place. This, in conjunction with some other motivated assumptions and cognitive mechanisms, can provide an account of why [NP jailed NP] is an acceptable construction for the rewording of the scenario alternatively coded as 'They put the terrorist in jail' ; whereas it is not for a similar scenario involving, instead of the terrorist, flood victims who needed a temporary shelter and had nowhere else to go. This approach also allows us to establish a new typology of verb conversions, one based on constructional meanings, e.g. intransitive VC constructions, transitive VC constructions, complex transitive VC constructions and elaborate on the taxonomy of the semantic relations between verbs and constructions proposed in Goldberg (1995), largely adopting the richer taxonomy of the different lexicalisation patterns proposed by Talmy (1985, 2000).

verb conversions; semantics; metonymy; metaphor; conceptual integration; grammatical integration; constuctional polysemy

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