Article published in:
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 27:1 (2014) ► pp. 140–167

Complex predicates and light verb constructions in Modern Irish

| Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Dublin
This paper characterises complex predicates and light verb constructions in Modern Irish. Light verbs are attested in many of the world’s languages (Alsina, Bresnan & Sells, 2001; Butt, 1995, 2003). Cross linguistically, there appears to be a common class of verbs involved in these constructions and generally there is agreement that light verbs contribute to the formation of complex predicates. Light verbs seem have a non-light or ‘heavy’ verb counterpart. In this paper we discuss the light verb constructions (LVC) as found in modern Irish and how they form complex predicates. We claim that the light verb (LV) encodes the event process initiation (or cause) and the matrix verb indicates the bounded component or result. In light verb constructions, the matrix verb appears in Modern Irish syntax as a verbal-noun form. The function of light verbs in these constructions is to modulate the event and sub-event semantics. We distinguish between auxiliary verbs constructions (AVC) and those constructions involving complex predicated and light verbs (Aikhenvald & Dixon, 2006; Anderson, 2006). We provide evidence based on an analysis of Irish data that shows how aspect and argument structure considerations are resolved for the complex predicate within the light verb construction via the linking system between semantics and syntax. We motivate a functional account, based on Role and Reference Grammar (Nolan, 2012; Nolan & Diedrichsen, 2013; Van Valin, 2005; Van Valin & LaPolla, 1997), that appeals to the analysis of complex predicates within a consideration of the layered structure of the clause.
Keywords: argument realisation, light verbs, complex predicates, event structure
Published online: 08 August 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.27.1.06nol
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Moezzipour, Farhad & Mina Ghandhari
2017.  In Argument Realisation in Complex Predicates and Complex Events [Studies in Language Companion Series, 180], ► pp. 413 ff. Crossref logo
Nolan, Brian
2016. Dynamicity in the construal of complex events in Irish English and Modern Irish. English Text Construction 9:1 ► pp. 165 ff. Crossref logo
Nolan, Brian
2017.  In Argument Realisation in Complex Predicates and Complex Events [Studies in Language Companion Series, 180], ► pp. 13 ff. Crossref logo
Saeedi, Zari
2017.  In Argument Realisation in Complex Predicates and Complex Events [Studies in Language Companion Series, 180], ► pp. 373 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 january 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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