Abstract
The article discusses the problem of light verb constructions in contemporary English on the basis of novels ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ by J.K. Rowling. We (the authors) state that most of light verb constructions denote either semelfactive or multiplicative meanings within the framework of Smith’s (1997) theory of aspect in which five situation types, namely states, activities, achievements, accomplishments, and semelfactives are distinguished. The aspectual meaning of a light verb construction is concentrated in its nominal component which can be proved by the existence of for, with-phrases like for a better look, where the verbal component is omitted. The singular of the deverbal noun indicates a semelfactive meaning, whereas the plural form expresses a multiplicative one. The verbal component in such constructions may be represented by ‘light’ verbs such as take, have, make, do, give or ‘heavy’ verbs like cast, draw, shoot etc. The qualitative characteristics of light verb constructions can be intensified by prepositive and postpositive modifiers such as quick, short, sharp etc. On the basis of novels ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ by J.K. Rowling 97 and 115 light verb constructions have been singled out and analyzed respectively. The results of the research contribute to the study of verbal plurality in English.
Highlights
The phenomenon of light verb constructions has been in the focus of many linguists’ attention and has been analyzed from different perspectives in the 20th-21st centuries. few scientists pointed out that the main categorical meaning of light verb constructions is considered to be semelfactivity, which, in our understanding, is an aspectual meaning that belongs to the internal properties of the verb and characterizes verb lexemes by the number of ‘instances’, which contributes to the novelty of the research.Light verb constructions are usually made up of two components
Few scientists pointed out that the main categorical meaning of light verb constructions is considered to be semelfactivity, which, in our understanding, is an aspectual meaning that belongs to the internal properties of the verb and characterizes verb lexemes by the number of ‘instances’, which contributes to the novelty of the research
Special attention should be paid to some cases when the verbal component is omitted, which proves that the aspectual centre of light verb constructions is the deverbal noun
Summary
Light verb constructions are usually made up of two components. The first one is a light verb, which bears very little semantic meaning in the context of a construction (scientists distinguish six of them: take, have, make, do, get, and give). It should be mentioned, that sometimes the first element of the construction may be represented by a ‘heavy’ verb (which has a full semantic meaning, e.g. cast, catch, exchange, let out, draw, etc). The second component is a deverbal noun, which is related to the verb and conveys the semantic meaning of the construction
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