Verb typology

Abstract

In this paper, I first briefly present a global classification of French verbs, based on a systematic empirical analysis of the constructional and lexical properties of some 3,000 verbs. I briefly present the heuristics, the results, and the limits of the proposed classification. Three important aspects of the relation between verb constructions and the verbal lexicon are further discussed: (1) the existence of three main construction types based on the formal nature of verb complementation: nominal vs. infinitival vs. finite clausal complements, and the hierarchical relations between them; (2) the need to distinguish on the lexical level between three lexical micro-systems and to analyze their impact on the verb typology; (3) finally I will show that a global macro-typology of verbs is a very useful tool for the analysis of verbal polysemy.