Satellite-framed lexicalization of creation events in French?

Abstract

As a typical verb-framed language, French has only limited ability to combine manner verbs with result-denoting constituents in the VP. Based on an event structural approach, this contribution explores the compatibility of different types of manner verbs with two syntactic means of lexicalizing the product/result of a creation event, namely effected objects and resultative PPs headed by en. Data from two acceptability judgment tasks show the following findings: 1) Manner verbs that do not allow for an effected object canonically can still be coerced into a creation reading as long as no general constraint is violated. 2) Resultative PPs prove as acceptable across verb classes, but acceptability is shown to vary based on the internal makeup of the PP, which embeds either a bare noun or a full DP. Verbs that allow for an effected object are judged as well-formed with PPs of both types, whereas verbs not selecting an effected object are only fully acceptable when a bare noun is embedded in the PP. Creation event lexicalizations that can be regarded as satellite-framed are, thus, not only subject to general structural constraints, but also to more subtle and verb‑specific restrictions

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