{"id":{"repo_id":"texas","oai_identifier":"oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/89749"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/texas/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/89749","repository":{"repo_id":"texas","name":"University of Texas","base_url":"https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Syntactic distribution of English denominal verbs","abstract":"Denominal verbs have been at the forefront of English word formation and lexical semantic literature. A common approach to deriving the structural representation of a denominal verb’s meaning involves using the canonical thematic role the parent noun plays to choose what type of event structure it should be slotted into. This predicts that the nominal role interpretation should constrain what type of argument structures the corresponding denominal verb can occur in. Specifically, locative denominal verbs should show evidence of being associated with accomplishment event structures, while instrument denominal verbs should show evidence of being associated with activity event structures. The present study empirically tests this prediction by first subjecting denominal verbs to a range of telicity tests and then looking at tokens of different types of denominal verbs in a large corpus to quantify the range of their argument structures and semantic entailments. Ultimately, the results provide modest evidence for attributing accomplishment event structures to locatives and activity event structures to instrumentals, especially for literal uses of these verbs.","abstract_html":"Denominal verbs have been at the forefront of English word formation and lexical semantic literature. A common approach to deriving the structural representation of a denominal verb’s meaning involves using the canonical thematic role the parent noun plays to choose what type of event structure it should be slotted into. This predicts that the nominal role interpretation should constrain what type of argument structures the corresponding denominal verb can occur in. Specifically, locative denominal verbs should show evidence of being associated with accomplishment event structures, while instrument denominal verbs should show evidence of being associated with activity event structures. The present study empirically tests this prediction by first subjecting denominal verbs to a range of telicity tests and then looking at tokens of different types of denominal verbs in a large corpus to quantify the range of their argument structures and semantic entailments. Ultimately, the results provide modest evidence for attributing accomplishment event structures to locatives and activity event structures to instrumentals, especially for literal uses of these verbs.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Denlinger, Kristin"],"institution":"The University of Texas at Austin","degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Linguistics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Beavers, John (Associate professor of linguistics)","Wechsler, Stephen"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-05-07","date_published":"2021-05-07","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:01:24Z","subjects":["Denominal verbs","Word formation","Lexical semantics","Corpus","Quantitative methods","Syntax","Semantics","Telicity","Argument structure","Idiomaticity","Meaning","Thematic roles"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2152/89749","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Beavers, John (Associate professor of linguistics)","Wechsler, Stephen"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Denlinger, Kristin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2021-11-01T21:01:54Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-11-01T21:01:54Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021-05-07"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Linguistics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The University of Texas at Austin"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Denominal verbs","Word formation","Lexical semantics","Corpus","Quantitative methods","Syntax","Semantics","Telicity","Argument structure","Idiomaticity","Meaning","Thematic roles"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2152/89749"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Denominal verbs have been at the forefront of English word formation and lexical semantic literature. A common approach to deriving the structural representation of a denominal verb’s meaning involves using the canonical thematic role the parent noun plays to choose what type of event structure it should be slotted into. This predicts that the nominal role interpretation should constrain what type of argument structures the corresponding denominal verb can occur in. Specifically, locative denominal verbs should show evidence of being associated with accomplishment event structures, while instrument denominal verbs should show evidence of being associated with activity event structures. The present study empirically tests this prediction by first subjecting denominal verbs to a range of telicity tests and then looking at tokens of different types of denominal verbs in a large corpus to quantify the range of their argument structures and semantic entailments. Ultimately, the results provide modest evidence for attributing accomplishment event structures to locatives and activity event structures to instrumentals, especially for literal uses of these verbs."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Syntactic distribution of English denominal verbs"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Beavers, John (Associate professor of linguistics)","Wechsler, Stephen"],"dc:creator":["Denlinger, Kristin"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2021-11-01T21:01:54Z"],"dc:date.available":["2021-11-01T21:01:54Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021-05-07"],"dc:description.abstract":["Denominal verbs have been at the forefront of English word formation and lexical semantic literature. A common approach to deriving the structural representation of a denominal verb’s meaning involves using the canonical thematic role the parent noun plays to choose what type of event structure it should be slotted into. This predicts that the nominal role interpretation should constrain what type of argument structures the corresponding denominal verb can occur in. Specifically, locative denominal verbs should show evidence of being associated with accomplishment event structures, while instrument denominal verbs should show evidence of being associated with activity event structures. The present study empirically tests this prediction by first subjecting denominal verbs to a range of telicity tests and then looking at tokens of different types of denominal verbs in a large corpus to quantify the range of their argument structures and semantic entailments. Ultimately, the results provide modest evidence for attributing accomplishment event structures to locatives and activity event structures to instrumentals, especially for literal uses of these verbs."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/2152/89749"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:subject":["Denominal verbs","Word formation","Lexical semantics","Corpus","Quantitative methods","Syntax","Semantics","Telicity","Argument structure","Idiomaticity","Meaning","Thematic roles"],"dc:title":["Syntactic distribution of English denominal verbs"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Linguistics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["The University of Texas at Austin"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:01:24Z"}