Questions tagged [verbs]
Part of speech whose members indicate an action or a state of being.
7
votes
1answer
108 views
Do most languages have the same basic verb tenses?
I am a student learning languages who is interested in linguistics! In trying to keep myself organized with my own study sheets, I wanted to know, do all languages have the same basic verb tenses? I'm ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
Cross-linguistic study of distribution of number of verbal arguments
I think I remember reading once that cross linguistically, at least in "normal" spoken or written language, verbs almost never take more than ~4-5 obligatory arguments. This seems to be true in my ...
2
votes
1answer
47 views
Where can I find an analysis of the semantic overlap of English “to have” and “with”?
For years I've understood via my native speaker intuition and my interest in languages and linguistics that the preposition "with" can carry the semantic meaning of the verb "to have".
The man who ...
-2
votes
2answers
66 views
Why some verbs have -tion while others don't, when being nounified
Verbs like animate become a noun animation, and others like graduate become graduation. But then there are verbs that are just straight converted into nouns, like capture the verb and a capture the ...
-1
votes
1answer
49 views
The most different meanings a verb has been found to have
After considering How we can use the same word in multiple different ways and distinguish it so easily, I'm wondering now how complex it can get. I'm wondering what an example is from any language ...
1
vote
3answers
93 views
How Nesting Verbs Works (and if it is Even Possible)
Wondering the different ways you can nest verbs, and what is technically allowed from a mental perspective, not necessarily from a grammatical perspective b/c I imagine it would vary significantly ...
0
votes
0answers
24 views
Causative/factitive vs denominalizing morpheme
Generally, a morpheme combined with a verb and that increases the valency as 'make', it is considered causative/factitive morpheme. But If it is combined with a noun/adjective, either the same ...
7
votes
3answers
171 views
Is there a language where another verb form is simpler/more basic than the imperative?
Imperative tends to be the simplest verb form, cf. Latin dic, fac. English is not very inflecting, so other verb forms can be just as simple as the imperative. Nevertheless, is there a language, where ...
0
votes
2answers
68 views
Stolen, part of speech
I've checked several dictionaries for the word "stolen" only to find it labeled a verb. Virtually all of the examples sentences use it in a manner that I would have considered an adjective:
"The ...
1
vote
2answers
80 views
Is there a language where semantic aspect determines which tense is unmarked in a verb?
For every language there is a tense that is morphologically closest to the root, e.g. English present is more basic than perfect since perfect either adds a suffix -(e)d or has ablaut as tense marker. ...
1
vote
0answers
37 views
Resource for getting agentive noun from verb automatically
I am trying to get (in some automated fashion) the agentive noun of a given verb. For instance we have
buy, buyer
sell, seller
invest, investor
I was wondering whether there is some resource that ...
1
vote
3answers
2k views
What is the past tense of 'yeet'?
Yeet (/ji:t/) is a recently coined verb in English that seems to have taken on the characteristics of a strong verb, as seen in this hilarious urban dictionary definition.
In English, the strong ...
0
votes
1answer
96 views
Why is there not passive imperative? [closed]
It doesn’t exist. I have the proof. Look. It’s missing.
1
vote
0answers
46 views
English verbs requiring PP
Are there a set of English verbs that require a prepositional phrase? For example:
"The set consists of A and B." = GOOD
"The set consists" = BAD
Is there a name for this type of verb? They seem to ...
5
votes
1answer
70 views
(A)Telicity & Events
Dowty's (1979) classified predicates into:
1. States 'the woord is burning' ---Atelic
2. Activities 'Mary pushed the cart' ---Atelic
3. Accomplishments 'Mary melted the chocolate' ---Telic
4. ...
4
votes
3answers
158 views
Is there any language where the past tense is the base form of a verb?
The fictional language Flaidish has this feature. But I recently found out about a natural language (Mixtec) where the present isn't the base form of a verb, its the future tense.
I found this ...
1
vote
3answers
103 views
What functional motivations are there for the choice of light verb constructions over full verbs?
I am doing a reasearch on light verbs and wondered if anyone could give some opinions on why people tend to use light verb cosntructions, such as "take a shower", "make a decision" etc., over the ...
3
votes
1answer
80 views
Is there a language in which personal suffix precedes the temporal suffix in conjugation?
A fictional example:
zelun (zel- (verb stem: "to make leather") + u (personal suffix, 3rd person sg.) + n (temporal suffix, present))
vs. zelud (u (3rd sg.) + d (preterite))
zelun = "He/She/It is ...
6
votes
1answer
108 views
What is the concept of verb agreement with passive-active level in Hebrew?
In this Duolingo discussion, 'S.Liebermann' mentions that in Hebrew and Arabic, "the verb needs to agree with the level of passive/active" and "Hebrew has 7 degrees of passive/active, while Arabic has ...
0
votes
1answer
89 views
Periphrastic verb forms in Gothic
What periphrastic verb form are attested in the Gothic language, the oldest Germanic language we have substantial records from?
Skimming through a grammar of Gothic I found that for the past tense ...
-1
votes
3answers
202 views
Is there a natural language that doesn’t use an action verb to describe death?
English uses “activity” verbs such as the verb “to be” to describe that a person is dead, as in “He is dead,” or “He died.” Is there a language that doesn’t do this?
I know that some languages have ...
3
votes
1answer
61 views
Are copulas object/complement heads? P&P & LFG
In P&P, I assume that 'be' occupies the head of VP as P&P doesn't allow for empty heads. From that I assume that copulas head objects/complements in the same way that a lexical verb would?
In ...
1
vote
0answers
59 views
Does a main verb undergo inversion in “Has he any shame?”
My undergraduate textbook builds a case to posit separate classes of verbs as lexical, auxiliary, modal in nature. One criterion is how auxiliary and modals (unlike main verbs) undergo inversion but ...
1
vote
0answers
37 views
When was the concept of verbs' principal parts codified, and by whom?
For example, I'm wondering whether the Greek/Roman grammarians already wrote about six/four basic forms based on which a Greek/Latin verb can be conjugated in all its forms.
If they did, did they ...
4
votes
1answer
74 views
Romance-like pronominal verbs elsewhere
Romance languages are known to have lots of so-called pronominal verbs, which are always conjugated with a reflexive pronoun even though the action is not actually reflexive: for example, Spanish irse,...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
Is there a term for an adjective or noun becoming a verb, like “to adult”?
Is there a term for a word that is traditionally an adjective or noun becoming a verb over time? A word I'm thinking of is "adult", which Merriam-Webster has reported has become increasingly used as a ...
2
votes
0answers
27 views
What explains the semantic sameness in 'Verb + preposition + Direct Object' and 'Verb + Direct Object'?
Why can prepositions following a verb not affect the meaning of Verb Phrases that differ by only a preposition? I.e., what explains the semantic sameness between Verb Phrases that differ by only a ...
7
votes
0answers
150 views
Are there any languages that either effectively don't have verbs or that somehow get around using a “standard” verb system?
By this, I'm asking whether there are languages (natural or constructed) which somehow function without verbs, relying instead upon other types of words like prepositions or something like that.
...
3
votes
2answers
164 views
Verb pairs similar to “buy” and “sell”?
"buy" and "sell" that are basically the same action/event, but reverse arguments (subject of one, the object of the other):
X sold his car to Y.
Y bought a car from X.
Is there a any special name ...
4
votes
1answer
69 views
Why use “être” with pronominal verbs in complex tenses in french?
While some verbs in french with intransitive sense use "être" for complex tenses (Je suis entré), other verbs with transitive sense use "avoir" to show subject-object relations: Je les ai vus. ("Je" - ...
6
votes
1answer
202 views
Why is the verb “to need” and “to observe” always imperfective in Slavic languages?
I have been reading into Balto-Slavic languages and come across a problem. "To need" is always imperfective.
If I use the imperfective past verb, "to need," I am going to be still, presently needing ...
2
votes
1answer
377 views
How can the perfective aspect apply to the present tense?
The perfective aspect is makes it so that the verb is viewed "outside" the verb, while imperfective verbs have an internal view into the verb.
This makes sense for past tense verbs, in order to view ...
3
votes
2answers
192 views
Tenses, voices, moods, and what else?
John sings the hymn. John sang the hymn.
John sang the hymn. The hymn was sung by John.
It is important that John is at the meeting. (This presupposes that he is and says that is ...
3
votes
2answers
240 views
Why does 'seem' behave differently?
Mary seems[ t to be here]
Mary tried [PRO to be here]
Why can't Mary be generated in spec VP of 'seems' but can in 'tried'?
Instead it looks like it works more like a passive verb:
Mary is believed ...
3
votes
3answers
133 views
How do we explain the fact that agreement comes from the object with 'there'?
For example:
There is a man.
There are men.
How do we explain that agreement of the verb comes from the object in this case alone? What movement happens in the verb complex of the xbar tree of the ...
1
vote
1answer
75 views
How to know whether a word is context appropriate? [closed]
So as we all know in both Englisch und Deutsch there are many nouns/verbs that either mean the same or close to the same as eachother, but are chosen based on the context (ex: damp, moist, soggy, etc.....
1
vote
2answers
362 views
What languages have a Perfect Imperative and what is the meaning of such a tense-mood combination?
I self-studied Greek long ago, and I found this Perfect Imperative. Now all the Greek grammars I looked at just throw it at you, expecting you to either completely ignore or downright not have what ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
Is a language possible without verbs or without nouns?
Is a language without nouns possible? And another one without verbs?
And other ones without adjectives or adverbs?
Is there some real examples? (In preference: non-constructed languages, because ...
1
vote
1answer
262 views
Do-So Tests for VPs and PPs
How will a Do-So test help in identifying if a PP is an adjunct or complement to the verb? Example : I ran to work. I need two pieces of evidence to prove the status of PP in a sentence.
2
votes
0answers
48 views
Why do so many grammars divide a clause into Subject and Verb instead of Subject and Predicative?
I used to start learning a few languages, admittingly my interest ,stamina and brain force didn't last for more than a couple of days each.
Nethertheless, I noticed , that the different grammars ...
0
votes
1answer
87 views
Do other languages than English have verbals ,too?
As I understand it, verbals are nouns,adjectives and adverbs which are derived from verbs.
I don't understand if a verbal is indeed one of the three parts of speeches mentioned or a part of speech of ...
3
votes
0answers
49 views
Why can the Internal Argument of “Matter” NOT Raise?
The internal arguments of unaccusative verbs in English must raise to subject position to obtain case and satisfy the EPP. For example, verbs like melt, fall, die, arrive, etc.must have their internal ...
1
vote
1answer
158 views
Lithuanian possessive perfect
Can someone explain what exactly the 'possessive perfect' is? The book I read gave the following example:
Turiu atsinešęs maisto.
have:PRS.1SG bring:PTCP.PST.ACT.NOM.SG....
1
vote
1answer
55 views
English sentence patterns or verbs in the order of the degree of introduction
I've been wondering if there is any classification, academically established or researched, of verbs or sentence forms that introduce new referents, with the forms/verbs enumerated in the order of the ...
3
votes
1answer
396 views
How to detect verb in a sentence where the verb is invisible in the sentence?
In case of some Indo-European languages it seems there is no visible verb in the sentence. This is specially visible in languages like Bangla, Hindi etc.
For example the sentence
Who is there?
is ...
1
vote
4answers
330 views
What does every verb have in common?
Am trying to deduce what the essential function that all verbs have in common, they are defined as:
a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence
To see the issue that am having, let my ...
2
votes
1answer
124 views
Syntactic vs Morphological features for generation of English VGs
NEW QUESTION
From a production/generation perspective, one can say that a realization X is the result of a collection of features (attribute-value pairs) applied to the base form of a word. For ...
5
votes
1answer
341 views
Understanding implicit arguments
We started learning about argument structure in my syntax class, and I am confused by implicit arguments, which our book hardly touches on.
What is the argument for a verb having an implicit argument ...
3
votes
1answer
553 views
Does English have [ inchoative aspect ]?
Does English have the [ inchoative aspect ] ?
The first passage quoted below says NO, but the second says YES. . . . So I guess it depends on the definition.
Is English generally/usually said to (...
4
votes
0answers
63 views
Using (e.g.) Stanford NLP for retrieving specific “indirect” objects
I am a computer scientist using Stanford NLP for extracting a Semantic Graph from plain text.
Through this tool I am already getting the universal dependencies but now I want to get all the possible ...
