Qualia Structure in Spanish Prepositional Verbs: When the verb resorts to a preposition

Authors

  • Zoltan Zato Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/1.3.1.2752

Keywords:

qualia, prepositions, prepositional verbs, lexical features, coercion, Generative Lexicon.

Abstract

In generative grammar it is generally assumed that argumental prepositional phrases (PPs) can have two syntactic functions: argument and complement. Contrary to this assumption, I will propose a unified syntactic treatment for all argumental PPs, which I consider more appropriate to account for the main problems they pose. Focusing on Spanish, I will try to explain how the meaning of prepositional verbs is compositionally built by means of a lexical mechanism of coercion. My claim is based on Pustejovsky’s Generative Lexicon theory, a sophisticated lexicist and generative model of combination of words.

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Published

2014-02-14

How to Cite

Zato, Z. (2014). Qualia Structure in Spanish Prepositional Verbs: When the verb resorts to a preposition. Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 3(1), 49–81. https://doi.org/10.7557/1.3.1.2752

Issue

Section

Articles