The aspectual properties of nominalization structures

In this paper I will primarily discuss the aspectual properties of Greek verbderived nominalizations and address the question of how these interact withmorphological marking introducing class and number. Greek nominalizationswill be compared to Romanian ones, which have been argued to show clearaspectual distinctions. I argue that Greek derived nominals taking the affix-m- are instances of nominalizations that block culmination and hence arealways atelic and for this reason resist pluralization. A distinction will also bemade between two types of plurality: one introducing tokenization, availablefor count nouns and one expletive available only with mass nouns. The lattertype is not available in the nominalization, as it is a very low marker of plurality, introduced at the level of the basic predicate.

Published online: 17 August 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.178.11ale