engleski

Iconicity of the verbal expression— The case of “ light” verbs in English

Motivation in language may be considered a unique tool in accomplishing the level of creativity necessary for reflecting the complexity of the world around us. Whenever we face an idiosyncratic structure which does not fit the general linguistic guidelines typical of a language or which deviates from its established and recognised forms and structure, we may pose a question what lies behind it and what was the impetus for its creation. In many cases the simplicity of form may reflect the economy of language and may provide some straightforward answers to many potential problems, which many traditional scholars strived for, but then, linguistic redundancy has long ago ceased to be out of bounds (Langacker 1991, Sweetser 1999). Cognitive linguistics has managed to prove on many occasions and with many real-life examples that there is a multifaceted web of meaning expressed by the surface linguistic form and that there is motivation behind the specific directions this expression may take.

construction; iconicity; 'light' verb; metaphor; metonymy; motivation; polysemy

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