@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:
- CEN (Complex Event Nominal): v = eventive, n = Ø (identity). The noun inherits the verb's meaning, including event variable and argument structure (Ch. 5, (5.14)).
- SEN (Simple Event Nominal): v = Ø, n = SEN alloseme. Event reading without full argument structure (Ch. 5, (5.6)).
- Result/Product Nominal: v = eventive, n = result alloseme. Entity whose existence results from the event (Ch. 6, (6.30)).
- Simple State: v = Ø, n = state alloseme. State reading (e.g. aðdáun 'admiration' as lasting state) (Ch. 1, (1.18)).
- Simple Entity: v = Ø, n = entity alloseme. Entity reading with no event connection (e.g. þvottur 'laundry') (Ch. 5, (5.13)).
Key Claims Formalized #
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.
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.
P-prefixing patterns (Ch. 4): Three patterns of preposition-verb interaction in nominalizations, depending on whether P conditions root meaning.
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.
-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)
CEN and SEN differ in which head contributes eventive meaning: CEN = v eventive (event from verb), SEN = v zero (event from n).
The five reading types from @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 1 (1.18) are pairwise distinct.
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).
- agent : PossReading
- possessor : PossReading
- experiencer : PossReading
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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 um → umráðun á)
- Pattern 2: P conditions root meaning, must be prefixed, cannot be doubled (gera við → viðgerð á, not *viðgerð við)
- Pattern 3: P does NOT condition root meaning, is not prefixed (hugsa um → hugsun um, not umhugsun)
- pConditionsDoubles : PPrefixPattern
- pConditionsNoDouble : PPrefixPattern
- pDoesNotCondition : PPrefixPattern
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Pattern assignment for fragment nominalizations.
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P-prefixed nominalizations use pattern 2 (no doubling).
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.
- marg : VerbalPrefix
- endur : VerbalPrefix
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Whether a prefix is compatible with a reading.
Key distinction: endur- is compatible with result/product nominals (where v is eventive and the entity is computed from the event) but NOT with simple entity nominals (where v is zero, no event variable). @cite{wood-2023} Ch. 6 (6.46)–(6.53).
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- Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.prefixCompatible Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.VerbalPrefix.marg Morphology.DM.Allosemy.NominalizationReading.complexEvent = true
- Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.prefixCompatible Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.VerbalPrefix.marg x✝ = false
- Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.prefixCompatible Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.VerbalPrefix.endur Morphology.DM.Allosemy.NominalizationReading.complexEvent = true
- Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.prefixCompatible Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.VerbalPrefix.endur Morphology.DM.Allosemy.NominalizationReading.simpleEvent = true
- Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.prefixCompatible Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.VerbalPrefix.endur Morphology.DM.Allosemy.NominalizationReading.result = true
- Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.prefixCompatible Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.VerbalPrefix.endur x✝ = false
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marg- only compatible with CEN (@cite{wood-2023} Ch. 6 (6.38)).
endur- compatible with CEN, SEN, and result/product RN, but not simple entity RN (@cite{wood-2023} Ch. 6 (6.46)–(6.53)).
marg- is strictly more restrictive than endur-.
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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All CEN-capable nominals in the fragment have base verbs (Borer's Generalization holds).
-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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- Phenomena.Morphology.Studies.Wood2023.instBEqVaedaProperties.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false
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-vaeða verbs have maximally restricted properties.
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All -vaeða restrictions hold simultaneously.
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.
The Voice flavor of the -st verb is irrelevant for the nominal: nominalizations derive readings from v/n allosemy, not from 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.
The same suffix (-un) can yield different readings: opnun has CEN + simple entity, notkun has CEN only. The reading is determined by allosemy, not by the suffix.
Different suffixes can yield the same reading type: opnun (-un) and þvottur (-stur) both have CEN readings. The reading comes from v/n allosemy, not from the suffix.