The Light Verb Jungle

Abstract

The Light Verb is FunctionalSeveral approaches assume that the light verb simply serves as a licenser of predication:• Grimshaw and Mester 1988 — N-V complex predicates with Japanese suru ‘do’(assume a notion of Argument Transfer)• Cattell 1984 — V+NP phenomena in English.Light Verbs are a Type of Auxiliary• Hacker 1958 – Light verbs are essentially redundant elements:eine eigentu¨mliche, nicht nur bei den Hilfsverben [= light verbs] wirksame,sondern die ganze Sprache durchziehende stilistische Tendenz des Hindi inAktion: die Neigung zum Pleonasmus.• Hook 1974, 1991 — Light verbs are vector verbs that serve an explicating or aspectualfunction.• Abeill´e, Godard, and Sag 1998 — Tense auxiliaries and causative faire constructionsin French are both analyzed as complex predicates.• Most any GB/MP approach.Complex Predicates are a Variation on Control/Raising• Huang 1992 — Analyzes Chinese ba and de constructions as an instance of control.The Light Verb Systematically Contributes to the Argument StructureLight verbs are seen as contributing to the argument structure of a predicate they are syn-tactically and semantically dependent on.• Rosen 1989 — Posits light (empty), partial, and complete merger at the level of argu-ment structure for Romance restructuring verbs and causatives.• Alsina 1996, Mohanan 1994, Butt 1995 — Posit the notion of Predicate Composition,Argument Merger and Argument Fusion in order to account for Romance, Hindi andUrdu complex predicates, respectively.