The Syntax and Semantics of The Verb

“The present book is intended to be a compass for those who would like to embark upon the difficult task of studying the syntax and semantics of the verb. As demonstrated by the vast amount of literature centered on this topic, the verbal domain – and probably even more prominently the mapping of the syntax and semantics of the verb – has attracted considerable attention from the part of linguists and philosophers, and has been investigated thoroughly over the last few decades. Although verbs have occupied a prominent place in linguistic theory raising important questions for syntax and semantics, there are still unanswered questions and places of intense debate within this field of study.

Needless to say, an exhaustive presentation and explanation of all the phenomena related to the verbal domain is not only impossible – given the complexity of the topic to be discussed here – but also outside the scope of the present monograph. All we intend to do here is to give an overview of some of the major issues in and contributions to this very generous topic, with special focus on English. Therefore, the book merely attempts to summarize the current state of understanding this vast domain, it sheds light on some problematic – or sometimes even contradictory – aspects of the verb phrase, it identifies researchers, and presents works within the area previously published by others. As such, it does not report new facts or new experimental results, it does not identify gaps in the research, and it does not evaluate the studies published so far.”

The Author