The Role of Light Verbs in English Syntax: Crosslinguistic Perspectives and Structural Implications

Résumé

Abstract:
The following paper investigates the contribution of light verbs to the syntax of English and the ways in which these semantically bleached verbs combine with nominal complements in effective and efficient ways. The research reported on at present examines the usage of light verbs in spontaneous and elicited varieties of spoken and written English, emphasizing their syntactic and pragmatic functions. Crosslinguistic comparisons are also made to Persian, Japanese, and Hindi; such comparisons catalog both universal and language-specific characteristics of light verbs and delimit their intersection of syntax and cultural context. These findings are underlining the position of light verbs concerning syntactic economy and suggest possible implications for linguistic theory and language pedagogics. Future research directions include cognitive and pedagogical applications of light verbs.