Fugu Me! Roots and Denominal Verb Productivity: New Data

Abstract

Abstract-earhas become a highly productive option in denominal verb formation in Spanish. The unparalleled productivity and range of verb classes obtained invites us to revisit fundamental questions on verb formation and interpretation: e.g., which domain (lexical/syntactic/semantic) primarily drives and constrains denominal verb use and interpretation, which verb types are possible, whether or not acanonical use constraintcan correctly predict and capture the role of the root in verb meaning, as assumed in mainstream accounts. Based on analytical and (preliminary) experimental data, we consider syntactic and semantic (aspectual) behavior of denominal verbs, including both traditional and novel verbs with -ear. We observe that: (i) productive types include verb classes untapped in the existent literature; (ii) the range of verb classes obtained coincides with a significant range of possible interpretations and uses, suggesting that a ‘same’ verb (lexical and morphotactic composition) can be associated with distinct structural configurations; (iii) the interpretation is highly sensitive to the grammatical context. We argue that (i) verb meaning and behavior are not deterministically driven by one (e.g., lexical/conceptual) domain but rather in interaction; (ii) syntax plays a nontrivial role in verb meaning/interpretation; (iii) non-univocity arises as a distinctive property ofearverbs.