Nullabgeleitete Nomina und deverbale Nominalisierung: eine empirisch orientierte Perspektive

• Antragstellerin: Dr. Gianina Iordachioaia
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Einzelsprachwissenschaften, Historische Linguistik ; Allgemeine und Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Experimentelle Linguistik, Typologie, Außereuropäische Sprachen
• Förderung: Förderung von 2018 bis 2023
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 404208593

• Erstellungsjahr: 2022

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

This project investigated the morphosyntax and lexical semantics of deverbal zero-derived nouns (ZNs) as in (1a), whose zero suffix in English contrasts with overt suffixes such as -ion in (1b), -ing in (1c) and others in suffix-based nominalizations (SNs): (1) a. to divide − the divide-Ø (ZN) b. the divis-ion (SN) c. the divid-ing (SN). Generative literature following Grimshaw (1990) has argued that ZNs crucially differ from SNs in that they are idiosyncratic and fail to inherit compositional event structure from the base verb. This claim is in line with non-separationist theories of morphology, which posit a one-to-one mapping between form and meaning and predict that zero morphology cannot encode any underlying meaning. My guiding hypothesis in (2) follows separationist theories like Distributed Morphology in assuming a clear separation between form and meaning, such that zero morphology can encode underlying semantics. (2) Guiding hypothesis: ZNs exhibit both idiosyncratic and compositional readings, like SNs. This project substantiated several challenges to the non-separationist view by analyzing ZNs in relation to the semantic classes of their base verbs. Three research questions (Qs) were formulated: Q1: How do different semantic verb classes correlate with compositional and idiosyncratic ZNs? Q2: Which verb classes derive ZNs that realize verbal arguments? Q3: How do ZNs semantically and morphologically differ from SNs (if at all)? The project created, among others, two datasets of 1,202 English and 334 Italian ZNs with verb class information and dictionary interpretations as an empirical background for theoretical research, and the different types of ZNs were modeled in Distributed Morphology. The three research questions were answered as follows: Q1-Q2: The richer verb classes in the dataset (change of state, change of possession, creation, removing, putting, motion) build compositional (besides idiosyncratic) ZNs in both English and Italian, but psych verbs in English yield only idiosyncratic nominals, whether ZNs or SNs. Change of state verbs and verbs with particles were argued to form a substantial proportion of compositional ZNs that realize argument structure, which makes Borer’s (2013) claim that compositional ZNs are rather exceptional untenable. Q3: While SNs are considered to all show compositional readings, many ZNs are idiosyncratic only. In addition, although they show polysemy patterns available with SNs, ZNs are more polysemous, and many do not express events. ZNs impose morphological and etymological restrictions on the base, which explains their reduced productivity, but such restrictions are also found with some overt suffixes, so they are not due to their zero suffix. Future research on the ZN-SN competition targeting individual verb classes should determine the extent of the ZN-SN compositionality contrast, and what role the covertness of the suffix plays, if any. The findings in this project support the guiding hypothesis in (2) with the implication that the base verb semantics is more telling for the behavior of a nominalization than the overtness of its suffix. Moreover, it supports separationist theories of morphology, by showing that there is no one-to-one mapping between suffix overtness and compositional structure, given that many ZNs are compositional, while psych SNs are idiosyncratic only.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

• Categorization and nominalization in zero nominals. Nominalization, 231-254. Oxford University Press.
  Iordăchioaia, Gianina
  
• Compositionality in English deverbal compounds: The role of the head. In S. Schulte im Walde & E. Smolka, eds., The Role of Constituents in Multiword Expressions: An Interdisciplinary, Cross-lingual Perspective, 61-106. Berlin: Language Science Press
  Iordăchioaia, G., L. van der Plas & G. Jagfeld
  
• D and N are different nominalizers. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 5(1).
  Iordăchioaia, Gianina
  
• Deverbal zero-nominalization and verb classes: Insights from a database. Zeitschrift für Wortbildung / Journal of Word Formation, 4(2), 120-142.
  Iordăchioaia, Gianina; Schweitzer, Susanne; Svyryda, Yaryna & Buitrago, Cabrera Maria Camila
  
• Event structure and argument realization in English zero-derived nominals with particles. Nordlyd, 44(1), 35-51.
  Iordachioaia, Gianina
  
• Paradigmatic aspects of deverbal noun conversion in English. Studies in Language Companion Series, 155-180. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  Iordăchioaia, Gianina
  
• Zero-derived nouns and deverbal nominalization: Databases for English and Italian (1.0) [Dataset]. Zenodo
  Iordăchioaia, G. & C. Melloni
  
• The meaning of zero nouns and zero verbs. The Semantics of Derivational Morphology, 63-102. De Gruyter.
  Barbu, Mititelu Verginica; Iordăchioaia, Gianina; Leseva, Svetlozara & Stoyanova, Ivelina
  
• The zero suffix in English and Italian deverbal nouns. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, 42(1), 109-132.
  Iordăchioaia, Gianina & Melloni, Chiara
  
• Zero affixes in derivational morphology: Introduction. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, 42(1), 1-11.
  Iordăchioaia, Gianina & Melloni, Chiara