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Linglib.Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023

@cite{wood-2023} — Icelandic Nominalizations and Allosemy #

@cite{wood-2023} @cite{wood-2015} @cite{wood-marantz-2017}

Icelandic Nominalizations and Allosemy. Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198865155.001.0001

Overview #

@cite{wood-2023} argues that Icelandic deverbal nominalizations are built on the structure [nP n [vP v √ROOT]] (a complex head, NOT a phrasal VoiceP), and that the ambiguity between CEN, SEN, and RN readings arises from allosemy of v and n — one syntactic terminal with multiple context-dependent meanings:

Key Claims Formalized #

  1. No Voice in nominalizations (Ch. 3, Ch. 5): The external argument is introduced by a Poss head (= i* from @cite{wood-marantz-2017}), NOT by Voice. Voice diagnostics in nominalizations really test for agentive semantics, which Poss can also provide.

  2. Borer's Generalization (Ch. 5 §5.1.5): CEN reading entails the existence of a morphologically related verb with the same meaning. This follows from the architecture: CEN requires v, and n cannot trigger root suppletion past v.

  3. P-prefixing patterns (Ch. 4): Three patterns of preposition-verb interaction in nominalizations, depending on whether P conditions root meaning.

  4. marg- and endur- diagnostics (Ch. 6): Iterative marg- 'many-' is only compatible with CEN; repetitive endur- 're-' is compatible with CEN, SEN, and result/product RN, but not simple entity RN.

  5. -vaeða verbs always compositional (Ch. 6 §6.5): Because -vaeða is a compound (√VAEÐA adjoins to v), the root cannot interact idiosyncratically with n past v. Therefore -vaeðing nominals never have idiosyncratic RN readings.

Wood's reading derivation: v and n alloseme combinations.

@cite{wood-2023} Ch. 5 (5.4a–e):

  • v eventive + n zero → CEN (noun = verb meaning)
  • v zero + n simpleEvent → SEN (event-entity reading)
  • v zero + n entity → simple entity (entity reading)
  • v eventive + n result → result/product (entity from event)

Whether a nominalization has Voice (it doesn't, per @cite{wood-2023}).

@cite{wood-2023} Ch. 5 §5.1.3: "I will assume, as discussed in Chapter 3, that there is in fact no Voice head in the structure." The external argument is introduced by Poss (= i*), not Voice.

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    Poss head semantics: parallel to Voice but for nominals. @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 5 (5.22): ⟦Poss⟧ ↔ λxλe. agent(x)(e) / __ agentive nP

    @cite{wood-marantz-2017}: Voice and Poss are the same head i*, appearing in different categories (vP vs nP).

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        Poss gets agent reading only with agentive (CEN) nP. @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 5 (5.24): "i* ↔ λxλe. agent(x)(e) / __ (agentive event)"

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          Three patterns of preposition-verb interaction in nominalizations.

          @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 4:

          • Pattern 1: P conditions root meaning, must be prefixed, can also appear as complement PP (ráða umumráðun á)
          • Pattern 2: P conditions root meaning, must be prefixed, cannot be doubled (gera viðviðgerð á, not *viðgerð við)
          • Pattern 3: P does NOT condition root meaning, is not prefixed (hugsa umhugsun um, not umhugsun)
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              Pattern assignment for fragment nominalizations.

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                Verbal prefixes that diagnose nominalization readings.

                @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 6 §6.4:

                • marg- 'many-' adds iterativity to the event. Only compatible with CEN, because only CEN has an event variable at the v level.
                • endur- 're-' adds presupposition of prior eventuality. Compatible with CEN, SEN, and result/product RN (all have event variables), but NOT with simple entity RN or simple state (no event variable). Per (6.46)–(6.53): endurprentun 'reprint' (result RN) is OK, but endur-þvottur 'laundry' (simple entity) is not.
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                    Borer's Generalization: CEN reading entails the existence of a morphologically related verb with the same meaning.

                    @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 5 §5.1.5: This follows from two assumptions: (a) verbs are semantically special (they introduce event variables), (b) n cannot trigger root suppletion past v.

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                      -vaeða verbs are compounds: √VAEÐA adjoins directly to v. Because √VAEÐA is meaningless (like English do-support √DO), the root it compounds with must be categorized (n) first.

                      @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 6 (6.60): [v [n ... √ROOT n] [v √VAEÐA v]]

                      This structure entails:

                      • Root cannot idiosyncratically select complement PPs
                      • -vaeðing nominals never have idiosyncratic RN readings
                      • PP complements of -vaeða verbs are always compositional
                      • -vaeða verbs cannot select ApplP
                      • idiosyncraticPP : Bool

                        Root can condition idiosyncratic complement PP?

                      • idiosyncraticRN : Bool

                        Nominalization can have idiosyncratic RN reading?

                      • selectsApplP : Bool

                        Verb can select ApplP?

                      • alwaysCompositional : Bool

                        Meaning of nominalization always compositional?

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                          -vaeða verbs have maximally restricted properties.

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                            opnun 'opening' connects to opnast 'open-ST' (anticausative). The nominalization is built on the same root as the -st verb; the -st voice morphology does not appear in the nominal (nominalizations lack Voice).

                            Anticausative -st verbs can be nominalized: the nominalization lacks Voice (hence no -st), but retains the root's meaning. @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 3: -st and nominalization both require non-agentive contexts, but the nominal achieves this by lacking Voice entirely rather than having non-agentive Voice.

                            All nominalizing suffixes spell out the same head n. Different suffixes do NOT indicate different functional heads — this is allomorphy of n, not different morphemes. @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 2 (2.1), Ch. 3.