B. Comrie - Action Nominals Between Verbs and Nouns
B. Comrie - Action Nominals Between Verbs and Nouns
B. Comrie - Action Nominals Between Verbs and Nouns
Bernard Comrie
1. Introduction
(4) Tsez
u- magalu b-ac-si.
boy-erg bread.abs clIII-eat-pstwit
(5) Tsez
(eni-r) u- magalu b-c-ru-i (r-iy-xo).
mother-lat boy-erg bread.abs clIII-eat-pstptcp-nmlz.abs clIV-know-prs
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Action nominals between verbs and nouns
2. Excursus: Adjectives
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Bernard Comrie
(6) German
good wine
nom gut-er Wein
acc gut-en Wein
gen gut-en Wein-s (archaic: gut-es Wein-s)
dat gut-em Wein
(7) Polish
new town
nva now-e miast-o
gen now-ego miast-a
dat now-emu miast-u
ins now-ym miast-em
loc now-ym miesci-e
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Action nominals between verbs and nouns
(8) [ V ]A [ S ]AP
3. Nominalizations
(9) [ V ]N [ S ]NP
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Bernard Comrie
(12) German
ihre Erziehung der Kinder
her education the.gen children
her education of the children
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Action nominals between verbs and nouns
(13) German
Maria liebt den Knig.
Maria love.prs.3sg the.acc king
Maria loves the king.
(14) German
Maria-s Liebe zu-m Knig
Maria-gen love to-the.dat king
Marias love of the king
(15) German
er kmpft fr Transparenz.
he.nom fight.prs.3sg for transparency
he fights for transparency.
(16) German
sein Kampf fr Transparenz
his fight for transparency
his fight for transparency
Moreover, one also finds nouns that are not action nominals taking a
dependent prepositional phrase, as in (17).
(17) German
ein Buch fr Kinder
a book for children
a book for children
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Bernard Comrie
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Action nominals between verbs and nouns
(from Bauer et al. 1960: 323) closely match the structure of (18) in
English.
(19) Czech
Lenin kritizoval myln nzory oportunist.
Lenin.nom criticized erroneous.acc views.acc opportunists.gen
Lenin criticized the erroneous views of the opportunists.
(20) Czech
Leninova kritika mylnch nzor oportunist
Lenin.possadj criticism erroneous.gen views.gen opportunists.gen
Lenins criticism of the erroneous views of the opportunists
Alongside examples like (2) (=(18)), English also has the struc-
ture of (21). Although the action nominal destruction itself does not
show any overt voice opposition corresponding to that between active
destroyed and passive was destroyed, the structure of (21) none the
less closely parallels that of the passive clause (22).
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Bernard Comrie
(24) Russian
razruenie goroda vragom
destruction city.gen enemy.ins
the destruction of the city by the enemy.
(25) Russian
gorod byl razruen vragom.
city.nom was destroyed enemy.ins
the city was destroyed by the enemy.
Two questions arise. First, are structures like (21) and (24)
properly characterized as passives? Second, does the structure with
an agent phrase dependent on a head noun occur elsewhere in the
language, with head nouns that are not action nominals? We address
these two questions in reverse order.
In English, it is indeed possible to have an agent phrase depend-
ent on a head noun that is not an action nominal, as in (26).
(27) Russian
*kniga Tolstym
book Tolstoy.ins
a book by Tolstoy
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Action nominals between verbs and nouns
(28) Italian
la stazione di Pompei era occupata da manifestanti.
the station of Pompei was occupied from demonstrators
Pompei station was occupied by demonstrators.
(29) Italian
loccupazione della stazione di Pompei da parte di manifestanti
the occupation of.the station of Pompei from part of demonstrators
the occupation of Pompei station by demonstrators
(30) German
das Haus wurde vo-m Feind zerstrt.
the house became from-the enemy destroyed
the house was destroyed by the enemy.
(31) German
die Zerstrung des Hauses durch den Feind
the destruction the house.gen through the enemy
the destruction of the house by the enemy.
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Bernard Comrie
(36) Latin
amor Dei
love God.gen
Gods love (of X) or Xs love of God
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Action nominals between verbs and nouns
4. Conclusions
Notes
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Throughout, action nominal is used in a broad sense, to encompass both
productive and nonproductive formations, with interpretations ranging from
denoting actions to denoting facts. The term nominalization is avoided in this
use since it does not in principle exclude, for instance, agent nominals, which are
not the topic of discussion in this article. The following abbreviations are used: A
adjective, abs absolutive, acc accusative, aor aorist, AP adjective phrase,
cl followed by a roman numeral class/gender, dat dative, erg ergative, f
feminine, gen genitive, inf infinitive, ins instrumental, lat lative, loc
locative, m masculine, N noun, nmlz nominalizer, nom nominative, NP
noun phrase, nva nominative-vocative-accusative, pass passive, pl plural,
prs present, pstptcp past participle, pstwit past witnessed, S sentence, sg
singular, V verb.
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Bibliographical References
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