The meaning-syntax interface of writing verbstemplates, constructions and linking rules within a lexical grammar of Old English verbal predicates

Abstract

A salient phenomenon recently observed in many languages is the close interrelation between the semantic structure of lexical units and their syntactic behavior; i.e. lexical units sharing a common semantic space tend also to show very similar complementation and alternation structures. The purpose of this paper is, then, to provide a system of lexical decomposition for Old English writing verbs which enables us to derive their adequate morphosyntactic behavior as well as to connect certain meanings with cognitive and cultural aspects of Old English literacy. An attempt will be also made to explain the set of constructions and diathetic alternations exhibited by this group of lexical units, and how they are derived from the lexical template