A view from clean: Manner and result

Levin, Beth; Hovav, Malka Rappaport

doi:10.1075/slcs.147.14lev

Part of

Language Description Informed by Theory
Edited by Rob Pensalfini, Myfany Turpin and Diana Guillemin
[Studies in Language Companion Series 147] 2014
► pp. 337–358

Manner and result

A view from clean

Beth Levin

Malka Rappaport Hovav

As a deadjectival verb, English clean should be a clear-cut result verb, yet it often shows hallmarks of a manner verb. This paper investigates this dual behavior in light of manner/result complementarity: the proposal that verbs lexicalize either manner or result meaning components, but not both. We demonstrate that once lexicalized and contextually determined meaning components are distinguished, clean conforms to manner/result complementarity. It can be a result verb, not entailing a particular manner. However, given its strong association with cleaning routines, some uses simply lexicalize manner. Crucially, in manner uses the result drops out, consistent with manner/result complementarity. The manner-only and result-only uses of clean, then, instantiate related senses, each conforming to manner/result complementarity.

Published online: 28 January 2014

https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.147.14lev

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