Article published in:

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

References

Arsenijević, Boban

. 2010. On the syntactic nature of manner-incorporation. Ms, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.

Beavers, John

. 2008. Scalar complexity and the structure of events. In Event Structures in Linguistic Form and Interpretation , JohannesDölling , TatjanaHeyde-Zybatow & MartinSchäfer (eds.), 245–265. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Brisson, Christine

. 1994. The licensing of unexpressed objects in English verbs. In Papers from the 30th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society , 1: The Main Session , 90–102. Chicago IL: Chicago Linguistic Society.

Fillmore, Charles J.

1970. The grammar of hitting and breaking. In Readings in English Transformational Grammar , Roderick A.Jacobs & Peter S.Rosenbaum (eds), 120–133. Waltham MA: Ginn.

Goldberg, Adele E.

1995. Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure . Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.

2001. Patient arguments of causative verbs can be omitted: The role of information structure in argument distribution. Language Sciences 23: 503–534.

2005. Constructions, lexical semantics and the Correspondence Principle: Accounting for generalizations and subregularities in the realization of arguments. In The Syntax of Aspect , NomiErteschik-Shir & TovaRapoport (eds), 215–236. Oxford: OUP.

Guerssel, Mohamed , Hale, Kenneth , Laughren, Mary , Levin, Beth & White Eagle, Josie

. 1985. A cross-linguistic study of transitivity alternations. In Papers from the Parasession on Causatives and Agentivity , 48–63. Chicago IL: Chicago Linguistic Society.

Hay, Jennifer , Kennedy, Christopher & Levin, Beth

. 1999. Scalar structure underlies telicity in ‘degree achievements’. In Proceedings of SALT 9 , TanyaMatthews & DevonStrolovitch (eds), 127–144. Ithaca NY: Cornell Linguistics Circle Publications.

Kearns, Kate

. 2007. Telic senses of deadjectival verbs. Lingua 117: 27–66.

Kennedy, Christopher

. 2001. Polar opposition and the ontology of ‘degrees’. Linguistics and Philosophy 24: 33–70.

Kennedy, Christopher & Levin, Beth

. 2008. Measure of change: The adjectival core of verbs of variable telicity. In Adjectives and Adverbs in Semantics and Discourse , LouiseMcNally & ChristopherKennedy (eds), 156–182. Oxford: OUP.

Kennedy, Christopher & McNally, Louise

. 2005. Scale structure, degree modification, and the semantic typology of gradable predicates. Language 81: 345–381.

Koontz-Garboden, Andrew & Beavers, John

. 2012. Manner and result in roots of verbal meaning. Linguistic Inquiry 43: 331–369.

Laughren, Mary

. 1988. Towards a lexical representation of Warlpiri verbs. In Thematic Relations [Syntax and Semantics 21], WendyWilkins (ed.), 215–242. New York NY: Academic Press.

Levin, Beth & Rappaport Hovav, Malka

. 1991. Wiping the slate clean: A lexical semantic exploration. Cognition 41: 123–151.

. 1992. The lexical semantics of verbs of motion: The perspective from unaccusativity. In Thematic Structure: Its Role in Grammar , Ignacio M.Roca (ed.), 247–269. Berlin: Foris.

. 1995. Unaccusativity: At the Syntax-lexical Semantics Interface . Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

. 2006. Constraints on the complexity of verb meaning and VP structure. In Between 40 and 60 Puzzles for Krifka , Hans-MartinGärtner , RegineEckardt , RenateMusan & BarbaraStiebels(eds.). <http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/40–60-puzzles-for-krifka/>

. 2013. Lexicalized meaning and manner/result complementarity. In The Subatomic Semantics of Event Predicates , BobanArsenijevic , BeritGehrke & RafaelMarín (eds), 49–70. Dordrecht: Springer.

Mateu, Jaume & Acedo-Matellán, Víctor

. 2012. The manner/result complementarity revisited: A syntactic approach. In The End of Argument Structure , María CristinaCuervo & YvesRoberge (eds), 209–228. Bingley: Emerald.

Mittwoch, Anita

. 2005. Unspecified arguments in episodic and habitual sentences. In The Syntax of Aspect , NomiErteschik-Shir & TovaRapoport (eds.), 237–254. Oxford: OUP.

Rappaport Hovav, Malka

. 2008. Lexicalized meaning and the internal temporal structure of events. In Crosslinguistic and Theoretical Approaches to the Semantics of Aspect [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 110], Susan D.Rothstein (ed.), 13–42. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Rappaport Hovav, Malka & Levin, Beth

. 1998. Building verb meanings. In The Projection of Arguments: Lexical and Compositional Factors , MiriamButt & WilhelmGeuder (eds), 97–134. Stanford CA: CSLI.

. 2005. Change of state verbs: Implications for theories of argument projection. In The Syntax of Aspect , NomiErteschik-Shir & TovaRapoport (eds), 274–286. Oxford: OUP.

. 2010. Reflections on manner/result complementarity. In Syntax, Lexical Semantics, and Event Structure , EditDoron , Malka RappaportHovav & IvySichel (eds.), 21–38. Oxford: OUP.

. 2012. Lexicon uniformity and the causative alternation. In The Theta System: Argument Structure at the Interface , MartinEveraert , MarijanaMarelj & TalSiloni (eds.), 150–176. Oxford: OUP.

Rothstein, Susan

. 2004. Structuring Events: A Study in the Semantics of Aspect . Oxford: Blackwell.

Schalley, Andrea C.

2004. Cognitive Modeling and Verbal Semantics: A Representational Framework Based on UML . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Talmy, Leonard

. 2000. Towards a Cognitive Semantics , II: Typology and Process in Concept Structuring . Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

Tenny, Carol L.

1994. Aspectual Roles and the Syntax-Semantics Interface . Dordrecht: Kluwer.

van der Leek, Frederike

. 1996. The English conative construction: A compositional account. In Papers from the 32nd Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society , 1: The Main Session , 363–378. Chicago IL: Chicago Linguistic Society.

Cited by

Cited by other publications

No author info given

2019. In Encoding Motion Events in Mandarin Chinese [Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse, 11],

Pross, Tillmann

2020. Dispositions and the verbal description of their manifestations: a case study on Emission Verbs. Linguistics and Philosophy 43:2 ► pp. 149 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 june 2020. 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.