11. Mrz 2025
Carolina Marescotti
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Ancient Greek and Latin denominal verbs at the syntax/semantics interface
Abstract: The talk focuses on ancient Greek and Latin denominal/deadjectival verbs in *-ye/o-, with the aim of establishing which semantic features of the derivational base interact with the actionality, telicity, and the voice of the derived verb. It will be shown that the mass/count distinction, the abstract/concrete opposition, and the degree of animacy of a noun-base play a crucial role in determining the actionality, telicity, and the voice of a denominal verb. As for deadjectival verbs, the degree of animacy and agentivity (Dowty 1991) of the putative referent of the adjectival base put constraints on the semantic-syntactic properties of the deadjectival verb, especially affecting its actionality and voice.