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Valency of Czech verbal nouns in nominal constructions and in verbonominal constructions with light verbs

Publication at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
2020

Abstract

Comparing valency behavior of two selected types of Czech verbal nouns (ending in -ní/-tí), i.e., those denoting actions, e.g., poučení 'instructing', and those denoting abstract results of actions, e.g., poučení 'advice', we can observe that they differ especially in the surface syntactic expression of their valency complementations. In nominal constructions, the surface expression of valency complementations of verbal nouns denoting actions can be typically derived from valency structure of their base verbs.

In contrast, verbal nouns denoting abstract results of actions often express their valency complementations on the surface in a non-systemic way. In verbonominal constructions, the syntactic center of which is a light verb, verbal nouns denoting actions systematically employ their participant Agent (in a broad sense) on the surface as subject provided by the light verb.

In contrast, verbal nouns denoting abstract results of actions can often express more semantic participants on the surface as v