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Substance-based Grammar – The (Ongoing) Work of John Anderson
Edited by Roger Böhm and Harry van der Hulst
[Studies in Language Companion Series 204] 2018
► pp. 201–224

The substance of the lexicon in a Generative Lexicon

| Université Lumière Lyon 2

In this chapter, Bassac presents and assesses a theory of the lexicon known as “the Generative Lexicon Theory”. He argues that the substance of such a lexicon can provide a neat explanatory account of the semantic and syntactic properties exhibited by middle verbs in the middle form of the transitive/middle alternation. Bassac then discusses the copredication problem raised by ambiguous deverbal event nouns and shows that this problem can be solved if each lexical entry associated with deverbal event nouns contains a type changing function. Eventually, in both cases, this lexical approach to syntactic and morphological phenomena provides support to Anderson’s basic claim that “the core of syntax is the lexicon.”

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A classic Generative Lexicon: Its substance as defined in Pustejovsky (1995)
    • 2.1The Argument Structure
    • 2.2The Event Structure
    • 2.3The Qualia Structure
  • 3.Middle verbs
    • 3.1Definition and properties
    • 3.2An explanatory account: the relevance of the Event Structure
      • 3.2.1Event Structure and lexical distribution
      • 3.2.2The Event Structure and projection to syntax
  • 4.Derived complex event nominals
    • 4.1Outline of previous studies
    • 4.2The classic GL analysis
      • 4.2.1GL: Dynamic operations
      • 4.2.2Dotted types in a classic GL
      • 4.2.3Problems: Copredication and formalization
    • 4.3A solution: A GL enriched with functions associated with each lexical entry
  • 5.Final remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.204.04bas
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