Between adjective and noun
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Peter Lauwers
Abstract
This contribution examines the issue of non-canonical usages of lexical items in French, which, as a result of their use in a construction typical of another word class than the one they are usually associated with, exhibit mixed word class properties. Starting from two case-studies: (i) a. le simple et le beau “the simple and the beautiful” (ii) a. voilà comment on fait du très beau avec du simple “that is how you can make beautiful things with simple things” b. des costumes très ‘théâtre’ “very theater-like costumes” it will be shown that both alleged cases of respectively (i) ‘nominalization’ and (ii) ‘adjectivization’ display categorial deficiency with respect to the target category, which should lead to reject all accounts based on null elements or ‘full’ recategorization (morphological conversion, lexical relisting, etc.). Instead, I propose a syntactic (constructional) account based on constructional overrides and coercion that captures both restrictions and meaning effects.
Abstract
This contribution examines the issue of non-canonical usages of lexical items in French, which, as a result of their use in a construction typical of another word class than the one they are usually associated with, exhibit mixed word class properties. Starting from two case-studies: (i) a. le simple et le beau “the simple and the beautiful” (ii) a. voilà comment on fait du très beau avec du simple “that is how you can make beautiful things with simple things” b. des costumes très ‘théâtre’ “very theater-like costumes” it will be shown that both alleged cases of respectively (i) ‘nominalization’ and (ii) ‘adjectivization’ display categorial deficiency with respect to the target category, which should lead to reject all accounts based on null elements or ‘full’ recategorization (morphological conversion, lexical relisting, etc.). Instead, I propose a syntactic (constructional) account based on constructional overrides and coercion that captures both restrictions and meaning effects.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
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PART I. Types of word classes
- Carving verb classes from corpora 17
- Classes of creation verbs 37
- On Light Nouns 51
- The ‘new adjectives’ of Tswana 75
- The Chinese adjective as a word class 95
- Qualifying modifier encoding and adjectival typology 119
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PART II. Minor and neglected word classes
- Hungarian is a classifier language 141
- Cardinal numerals 161
- On the borders of neglected word classes 181
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PART III. Across word classes
- Between adjective and noun 203
- On decategorization and its relevance in German 227
-
PART IV. Radical views: Do we really need word classes?
- Word-class features and reduplicative meaning 245
- Half and other unique words 263
- Index of languages 283
- Index of names 285
- Index of subjects 289
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
-
PART I. Types of word classes
- Carving verb classes from corpora 17
- Classes of creation verbs 37
- On Light Nouns 51
- The ‘new adjectives’ of Tswana 75
- The Chinese adjective as a word class 95
- Qualifying modifier encoding and adjectival typology 119
-
PART II. Minor and neglected word classes
- Hungarian is a classifier language 141
- Cardinal numerals 161
- On the borders of neglected word classes 181
-
PART III. Across word classes
- Between adjective and noun 203
- On decategorization and its relevance in German 227
-
PART IV. Radical views: Do we really need word classes?
- Word-class features and reduplicative meaning 245
- Half and other unique words 263
- Index of languages 283
- Index of names 285
- Index of subjects 289
