Abstract
This paper provides an account of the mixed verbo-nominal properties of the action nominalization construction in Hebrew and Arabic. Such an account is achieved by postulating an underlying representation in which a VP is the complement of an abstract nominal head, a nominalizer, and a derivation in which the verb is adjoined to the nominalizing morpheme to derive the action nominal that is the head of the construction. A central assumption of this analysis concerns the thematic properties, the argument structure, of the nominalizer and the way these interact with the overall thematic structure of action nominalizations. Finally, the article discusses the issue of lexicalism and develops arguments in favor of the non-lexicalist approach to action nominalizations developed in this work.
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I am greatly indebted to Edwin Williams and Roger Higgins for discussions of and comments on the material presented in this paper. The comments of an NLLT reviewer led to improvements in the organization of this material. H. Borer's editorial comments were helpful in preparing the final version.
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Hazout, I. Action nominalizations and the lexicalist hypothesis. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 13, 355–404 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00992736
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00992736