INTERNATIONALE BIBLIOTHEK FÜR ALLGEMEINE LINGUISTIK INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS Herausgegeben von EUGENIO COSERIU BAND 17 • 1972 LEONHARD LIPKA SEMANTIC STRUCTURE AND WORD-FORMATION VERB-PARTICLE CONSTRUCTIONS IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH WILHELM FINK VERLAG MÜNCHEN Universitöts- Bibliofhek München © 1972 Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München Satz und Druck: MZ-Verlagsdruckerei GmbH, Memmingen Buchbindearbeiten: Endres, München Als Habilitationsschrift auf Empfehlung des Fachbereichs Neuphilologie der Universität Tübingen gedruckt mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft CONTENTS PREFACE 11 l.INTRODUCTION 13 1. Preliminary Remarks 13 1. Aims and Methods 2. Material and Procedures 2. Previous Work and Definition of the Subject 16 1. Definition of the VPC 2. Scope of the Definition 3. Terminology 4. Terminology for Parallel German VPCs 3. Criteria Used in the Study of the VPC 20 1. General Survey, Jespersen 2. Mitchell 3. Live 4. Carstensen 5. Svartvik 6. Fräser 7. Fairclough 8. Bolinger, Erades 4. Aspects of the VPC which are not Discussed 27 1. Taxonomy, Syntax 2. Development 5. The VPC as a Frame for Semantic Investigation 29 2. RECENT WORK IN SEMANTICS 30 1. Approaches to Semantics 30 1. Interpretative vs. Generative 5 2. Empirical Study 3. Paradigmatic vs. Syntagmatic 2. Semantic Features 1. In Structural Semantics 2. In Transformational-Generative Grammar 3. Lexical Entries 1. Examples from Chomsky 2. Examples from Weinreich 3. Examples from Katz 4. Examples from Bierwisch 5. Examples from Bendix 6. Examples from Fillmore 7. Examples from Anderson 8. Examples from Baumgärtner 4. The Status of Semantic Features 1. Any Modifier vs. Distinctive Features 2. Animate and Inanimate 3. Word Classes of Features and Definitions /4. Selection Restrictions 1. General Remarks 2. Eat and its Selection Restrictions 5. Word-Field, Archilexeme, Ciasseme 6. Syntactic and Semantic Features 5. Semantic Tests 1. General Remarks 2. The VW-Test 3. The Polarity-Test 4. The But-Test and the So-Test 6. Predicate Logic, Verbs, and Semantic Components 1. Transitive and Intransitive vs. 1-Place and Many-Place Verbs 2. Verbs and Predicates 3. The Component ,Cause* 4. The „Surface Verbs" Kill and Remind 5. Become, Be and Have 6. Designators vs. Formators, Semantic Formulas 7. The Goals of the Present Analysis 7. Semantic Analysis and Collocations 1. The Necessity of Including Collocations 2. Collocation and Colligation 3. Collocation and Selection 8. Semantic Analysis and Idioms 1. Idiomaticity and Familiär Collocations 2. Idioms and Constituent Structure 3. General Remarks on Idiomaticity 4. The Present Approach to Idiomaticity 3. THE SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF VPCs AND WORD-FORMATION 1. General Remarks 1. Word-Formation and Zero-Derivation 2. Technical Questions of Presentation 3. Stylistic Questions, American English and British English 2. Deadjectival VPCs 1. General Remarks, Suffixal and Zero-Derivatives 2. VPCs with out 3. VPCs with up 4. VPCs with clean and clear 1. General Remarks 2. One-Place Verbs, Object Transfer 3. Two-Place Verbs 4. Remove and Empty 3. Denominal VPCs 1. General Remarks 2. Denominal Derivatives with out 1. BECOME and CAUSE + BE 2. Instrumental Adverbials: T 1 3. Manner Adverbials 4. The Noun as Object 3. Denominal Derivatives with up 1. BECOME and CAUSE + BE: T 2, T 3 2. HA VE and CAUSE + HA VE: T 4, T 5 3. Instrumental Adverbials: T 6, T 7 4. Manner Adverbials: T 8 5. The Noun as Object, Isolated Cases 4. Deverbal Derivatives 11: 1. Preliminary Remarks 1. VPCs which are not Deadjectival or Denominal 2. VPCs and Verb-Adjective Constructions 3. VPCs as a Case of Divided Allegiance 2. Deverbal VPCs with out 1. Remove: T 9 2. Other cases 3. Deverbal VPCs with up: T 10 5. Problems of Productivity 12! 1. General Remarks: Transformations, Restrictions, Norm 2. Morphological Restrictions vs. Semantic Restrictions 3. Participial Adjectives 131 1. General Remarks 2. Participial Adjectives with out 3. Participial Adjectives with up 4. Zero-Derived Nouns 131 1. Productivity and Polysemy 2. Different Groups of Nouns 3. Types of Reference: General Remarks 4. Denotation and Types of Reference 5. Tests of Productivity 6. Nouns as Premodifiers? 5. Productivity and other Restrictions 152 1. ,Empty Verbs' and VPCs 2. Collocations with it 6. Tests of Productivity \b\ 1. Corpus Study 2. Three Types of Corpus Used 3. Other Sources of Material 4. Concluding Remarks on Productivity 8 6. VPCs and Prefixal Combinations 162 7. Simplex Verbs and VPCs 165 1. General Remarks: Kennedy, Live, Fräser, Meyer 2. Transitivity 168 1. Changes in Transitivity: Poutsma, Jespersen 2. The Feature Cause 3. Object Deletion 4. Object Transfer 5. Prepositional Phrase Reduction 6. Object Transfer, DifTerent Set of Objects, Object Deletion 7. Figurative Usage 3. The Particle as a Locative Adverbial 177 1. Involving —Dynamic 2. Involving + Dynamic, Locative Pronouns, Point of Reference 3. Position 4. Other Functions of the Particle 180 1. Aspect vs. Mode of Action 2. Ingressiveness 3. Completive VPCs 4. Degree 5. Other Adverbial Functions 4. SEMANTIC FEATURES AND WORD-FIELDS 190 1. General Remarks 190 1. Feature Analysis and Word-Formation 2. Overlapping Methods of Analysis 2. Semantic Features 192 1. Preliminary Remarks 1. Formators vs. Designators 2. Features and Tests 3. Effected Object, ±Together 2. VPCs with out 197 1. Involving POSITION 2. Involving BE and BECOME 3. VPCs with up 203 9 1. Involving POSITION 2. Involving BE and BECOME 3. Involving HAVE 4. Features in the VPCs and the Simplex Verbs 1. Features Contained in the Simplex 2. Features not Contained in the Simplex 5. The Status of the Features 3.Word-Fields 216 1. Word-Fields and Archilexemes 2. VPCs with out 3. VPCs with up 5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 222 t. Summary 222 1. Chapter One 2. Chapter Two 3. Chapter Three 4. Chapter Four 2. Conclusions 225 1. Concerning the VPCs 2. The Dictionary, Competence, Corpus Study 3. Transitivity 4. General Problems of Semantics 1. Interpretative, Generative, and Structural Semantics 2. Lexical Entries and Semantic Features 3. Predicates, Formators, and Designators 4. Collocations and Idiomaticity 3. Specific Results 228 4. General Observations 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY 231 Studies of Verb-Particle Constructions 239 Dictionaries 242 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 243 INDEX OF PERSONS 245 INDEX OF SUBJECTS 248 10 PREFACE The present study was accepted as a „Habilitationsschrift" by the „Fachbereich Neuphilologie" of the University of Tübingen in the spring 1971. A preprint version appeared in 1971. In its original, basic form it was completed in December 1970. The final version went to print in March 1972. A number of publications which either appeared or came to my knowledge after 1970 have not influenced the study as thoroughly as earlier research, but have all been duly considered if mentioned in the bibliography. All observations and results in these publications, including material concerning verb-particle con- structions, have been incorporated here insofar as they seem relevant to my discussion. The preceding remarks hold espe- cially for Bolinger (1971a), Meyer (1970b, 1971), Spasov (1966), Sroka (1962, 1965). They are also valid for a number of theoretical articles, in particular those concerning the recent rapid development of generative semantics. Only those books and articles which have directly influenced my study have been included in the bibliography. Examples quoted from American sources are always given in American spelling. Single quotation marks are used throughout either for technical terms or to explain the meanings of certain forms, whereas double quotation marks are used in their normally accepted form. A number of persons have helped me in one way or another to bring this book into the form in which it is now going to press. My chief informant has been Ania Viesel. Other native Speakers who have generously given of their time to check the data on verb-particle constructions are Glen Burns (American English), Michael Carr, Muriel Keutsch, Alison and Richard Meredith. I also wish to express my gratitude to Allan R. 11 James and Dr. Oliver Grannis, who, at various stages, re- vised the English of my manuscript. I am very grateful to Professor Randolph Quirk, who gave me the opportunity to use the flies of the Survey of English Usage. For comments on various aspects of the study I am indebted to Professor Eugenio Coseriu and Dr. Dieter Kastov- sky. I am particularly aware of the great debt I owe to Profes• sor Hans Marchand, without whose guidance and inspiration this book would never have been written. The „Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" especially deserves my gratitude for enabling me to pursue my research while on leave with a „Habilitationsstipendium". It has also generously subsidized the printing of this book. Finally, I would like to thank my wife for her patience, constant encouragement, and invaluable help. Frankfurt/Main March 1972 12 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Preliminary Remarks 1.1.1. The verb-particle construction (in the following ab- breviated as VPC) is here regarded as a class of lexical items which have a common morpho-syntactic surface structure. The present study aims to develop methods for the description of the underlying semantic structures. At the same time it at- tempts to describe the surface structure as thoroughly as possible. The results of the empirical investigation are also intended to provide data for theoretical considerations of semantic problems. These results, to be read in conjunction with the discussion in Chapter Two, are intended to throw some light on such questions as the Status of semantic features, the form of lexical entries, semantic tests, and the nature of idiomaticity and lexicalization. Certain ^andidates'1 for uni• versal semantic features are set up. Other general problems such as productivity, transitivity, object deletion, and object transfer are dealt with in detail. A combination is used of various methods which Supplement each other but which also yield partly overlapping results.