Verb classes within and across languages

Any attempt to characterize valency patterns within and across languages confronts the phenomenon of verb or valency classes: sets of semantically-related verbs sharing a range of linguistic properties, such as the possible realizations of their arguments and the particular interpretation associated with each possible argument realization. The Leipzig Valency Classes Project provides an excellent context for deepening our understanding of verb classes and, specifically, investigating a big question raised by efforts to classify verbs: which facets of verb classification are universal and which language particular? I begin this paper by reviewing the motivations for recognizing verb classes. With this background, I introduce a broad semantic dichotomy that encompasses many existing verb classes and show its grammatical relevance. I then consider its implications for crosslinguistic studies of verb classes, such as the ones that are being carried out by the Valency Classes Project, through a case study of the argument realization options of hitting verbs.

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