Lexical Representation, Co-composition, and Linking Syntax and Semantics
نویسنده
چکیده
A fundamental issue dividing theories of the syntax-semantics interface is whether the semantic representation of clauses is projected from the lexical representation of the verb which determines to a large extent the syntactic structure of the clause or whether it is constructed or composed based on the NPs and PPs co-occurring with the verb in a clause; in the latter view, the verb has a very general or underspecified meaning. The empirical problem underlying this dispute concerns the ability of a single verb to occur in a variety of morphosyntactic contexts, as illustrated with the English verb shatter in (1).
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