The semantics of P in prepositional predicates: An investigation using corpus, cross-linguistic, and diachronic data
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2023-05-31
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en
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Literature on prepositional predicates often describes how the preposition in such constructions has undergone semantic bleaching—it does not express any spatiotemporal information, but marks a grammatical object. The choice of preposition is thought to be arbitrary; this thesis questions whether that is accurate. Three studies explore the relationship between preposition and verb, aiming to shed more light on the semantic value of the preposition in such constructions. First, modern corpus data were analysed using Latent Semantic Analysis. Second, Dutch predicates were compared to their English and German counterparts. Finally, diachronic data was used to investigate the evolution of a smaller subset of predicates. Claims that the preposition is truly meaningless are proven untrue, as are statements on the idiosyncratic nature of the choice of a preposition. Prepositions are selected based on the semantics of both the verb and (a metaphorical interpretation of) that preposition.
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Faculteit der Letteren