Being verbal is distinct from being (syntactically) eventive

Evidence from nominals

Bibliographic Data

ID19218134
AuthorsSebastian Wasak (0000-0002-0933-7473, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume43
Issue2
Pages187-212
Publication date2026-04-02
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Linguistic Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0167-6318 • E-ISSN: 1613-3676
PublisherDe Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/tlr-2025-0011
OpenAlexW7148600503
LanguageEN
References cited22

Much of the debate in the morphosyntactic literature has been concerned with the syntax of language formations known as complex event nominals (CENs), a term coined by Grimshaw (1990. Argument structure . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press). The attention of language researchers has so far been almost exclusively focused on CENs based on lexical verbs (e.g. destruction , formation , demolition ). This paper shows that CENs can be derived not only from verbal roots (i.e. roots that can be categorized as verbs) but also from bound stems (e.g. nutrition , partition , requisition ). The aim of the study is to determine what the existence of such nominals means for the morphosyntactic theory in light of what is already known about the syntax of CENs. The research specifically focuses on the question of whether it is justifiable to refer to event nominals as ‘deverbal’, that is, as constructs whose internal structure projects the cyclic vP layer. The paper argues that such a verbal layer is absent in the structure of CENs (whose structure nevertheless contains a head labelled EventP that introduces event implications) and included only the representation of - ing gerunds

Event (particle physics) · Event structure · Head (geology) · Mental representation · Representation (politics) · Semantic property · Syntax · Term (time) · Categorization, perception, and language · Language and cultural evolution · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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