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Psychology

Morphological effects of lexical aspect

Profile image of Oele KoornwinderOele Koornwinder

2000, Linguistics in the Netherlands

https://doi.org/10.1075/AVT.17.15KOO
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Abstract
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This investigation explores the interaction between lexical aspect and derivational morphology, focusing on the distinction between stative and dynamic verbs. Utilizing a morphological database, 50 true stative and 50 true dynamic verbs were analyzed to construct derivational paradigms. Findings indicate that morphological affixes are sensitive to the dynamicity parameter, influencing suffix selection, while asserting that dynamic properties of the verbs are reflected through these affix choices.

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Table 1. Properties of native suffixes Except for -end, all these suffixes refer to the path structure of the verb in order to specify the function of the suffix. In other words, these suffixes presume dynamic verbs. Generalizing over all verbal suffixes we thus expect” The Morphological Handbook (De Haas en Trommelen 1993) gives a detailed overview of Dutch morphology. Table 1 summarizes the Handbook descriptions of some very productive, native, verb selecting suffixes, using the terminology of Verkuyl (1993).
Table 1. Properties of native suffixes Except for -end, all these suffixes refer to the path structure of the verb in order to specify the function of the suffix. In other words, these suffixes presume dynamic verbs. Generalizing over all verbal suffixes we thus expect” The Morphological Handbook (De Haas en Trommelen 1993) gives a detailed overview of Dutch morphology. Table 1 summarizes the Handbook descriptions of some very productive, native, verb selecting suffixes, using the terminology of Verkuyl (1993).
Table 2. Relation between syntactic verb type and prefixation The transitive effects of (native) prefixation seem to be related to the dynamic presuppositions of verbal prefixes, as can be seen by inspecting the following summary of the descriptions in the Morphological Handbook:
Table 2. Relation between syntactic verb type and prefixation The transitive effects of (native) prefixation seem to be related to the dynamic presuppositions of verbal prefixes, as can be seen by inspecting the following summary of the descriptions in the Morphological Handbook:
Table 3. Function of native prefixes
Table 3. Function of native prefixes
Table 4. Facts about the morphological database The morphological database can be useful for doing morphological research, as it can put together words with the same formal stems. In this way each stem can be assigned a derivational paradigm, i.e. the complete set of possible derivations. By constructing these paradigms for a certain class of stems one can find out whether the shared property has systematic effects on the morphology. If a morpheme has different spelling forms, the underlying suffix abstracts away from this alternation. The suffix -lijk for example refers both to -lijk and -e:lijk, and -bAr to -baar and -bare. It is also possible to stack affixes, like in ongrijpbaarheid. Table 4 presents some important facts about the current database.
Table 4. Facts about the morphological database The morphological database can be useful for doing morphological research, as it can put together words with the same formal stems. In this way each stem can be assigned a derivational paradigm, i.e. the complete set of possible derivations. By constructing these paradigms for a certain class of stems one can find out whether the shared property has systematic effects on the morphology. If a morpheme has different spelling forms, the underlying suffix abstracts away from this alternation. The suffix -lijk for example refers both to -lijk and -e:lijk, and -bAr to -baar and -bare. It is also possible to stack affixes, like in ongrijpbaarheid. Table 4 presents some important facts about the current database.
Table 6. Aspectual classification of native verb stems For each of the underlying stems we constructed a derivational paradigm (the set of formal derivations) by using the morphological database. The paradigms were filtered for disturbing factors like improductive prefixes (we only took into account be-, ver-, ont- and her-) and semi-compounds. It was not yet possible to distinguish between word entries that correspond to independent words and entries that only exist as part of larger words. This leads to a certain amount of noise; the word entry denking ‘thinking’ for example, only appears in prefixed words like overdenking ‘overthinking’. Nevertheless, we will use these paradigms to carry out some computational analyses.
Table 6. Aspectual classification of native verb stems For each of the underlying stems we constructed a derivational paradigm (the set of formal derivations) by using the morphological database. The paradigms were filtered for disturbing factors like improductive prefixes (we only took into account be-, ver-, ont- and her-) and semi-compounds. It was not yet possible to distinguish between word entries that correspond to independent words and entries that only exist as part of larger words. This leads to a certain amount of noise; the word entry denking ‘thinking’ for example, only appears in prefixed words like overdenking ‘overthinking’. Nevertheless, we will use these paradigms to carry out some computational analyses.
Table 7. Relation between lexical aspect and suffix selection Table 7 reveals that most suffixes, namely -er*, -erij, -ster, -baar, -ing, -tje and -lijk have a preference for dynamic verb stems. This is in accordance with hypothesis 1:
Table 7. Relation between lexical aspect and suffix selection Table 7 reveals that most suffixes, namely -er*, -erij, -ster, -baar, -ing, -tje and -lijk have a preference for dynamic verb stems. This is in accordance with hypothesis 1:
Table 8. Relation between lexical aspect and prefix selection The frequencies in Table 8 are based on complete paradigms (i.e. not abstracting from suffix clusters), so many prefixes will have been counted twice or more per selected stem. The prefix entry [—] corresponds with non-prefixed stems. Table 8 suggests that dynamic verbs allow for prefixation more easily than statives do, no matter what prefix is used. This pattern is not significant, however, so hypothesis 2 cannot be confirmed:
Table 8. Relation between lexical aspect and prefix selection The frequencies in Table 8 are based on complete paradigms (i.e. not abstracting from suffix clusters), so many prefixes will have been counted twice or more per selected stem. The prefix entry [—] corresponds with non-prefixed stems. Table 8 suggests that dynamic verbs allow for prefixation more easily than statives do, no matter what prefix is used. This pattern is not significant, however, so hypothesis 2 cannot be confirmed:
Table 9. Relation between lexical aspect, prefixation and -ing/-er selection It can be concluded that prefixation of verbs generally leads to a significant growth of the [—] category, which is the category of verbs that select neither -ing nor -er. Within the remaining group of verbs, the -ing suffix appears to become more popular than the -er suffix, which is independent of dynamicity. Furthermore the number of verb stems which select both -ing and -er (last column) decreases Table 9 shows the effect of prefixation on suffix selection, both for stative and dynamic verbs. It reports about the total number of stems that allows for the suffix -ing or -er, and also about the number of stems accepting neither of these or both. These frequencies are given as a percentage of the total number of inspected stems (given in the first column). of the [—] category, which is the category of verbs that select neither -ing nor -er.
Table 9. Relation between lexical aspect, prefixation and -ing/-er selection It can be concluded that prefixation of verbs generally leads to a significant growth of the [—] category, which is the category of verbs that select neither -ing nor -er. Within the remaining group of verbs, the -ing suffix appears to become more popular than the -er suffix, which is independent of dynamicity. Furthermore the number of verb stems which select both -ing and -er (last column) decreases Table 9 shows the effect of prefixation on suffix selection, both for stative and dynamic verbs. It reports about the total number of stems that allows for the suffix -ing or -er, and also about the number of stems accepting neither of these or both. These frequencies are given as a percentage of the total number of inspected stems (given in the first column). of the [—] category, which is the category of verbs that select neither -ing nor -er.
Table 10. Relation between prefixation and -ing/-er selection Table 10 reveals that 60% of the infinitives lacks a derivation with -ing or -er, which indicates that most verbs do not like to be suffixed at all. Within the remaining group however, again a prefixation effect is visible: bare stems have a slight prefer- ence for derivations with -er, while prefixed verbs have a clear preference for -ing, also compared to non-prefixed stems. So we can safely conclude that prefixation leads to a significant shift from -er to -ing derivation. Probably the absolute decrease
Table 10. Relation between prefixation and -ing/-er selection Table 10 reveals that 60% of the infinitives lacks a derivation with -ing or -er, which indicates that most verbs do not like to be suffixed at all. Within the remaining group however, again a prefixation effect is visible: bare stems have a slight prefer- ence for derivations with -er, while prefixed verbs have a clear preference for -ing, also compared to non-prefixed stems. So we can safely conclude that prefixation leads to a significant shift from -er to -ing derivation. Probably the absolute decrease
Table 11. Relation between prefixation and suffix selection Table 11 shows that only -ing and -baar prefer prefixed verbs; the other suffixes prefer bare verbs. This effect is the same for all prefixes. So again hypothesis 3 is falsified, although it holds for certain suffixes. _ Table 11 gives more detailed information about the relation between prefix- ation and selection of suffixes. The last column specifies the total number of stems that selected at least one of the suffixes we searched for, split out for prefixed and non-prefixed verbs. These totals are the basis for the derivation fractions in the other columns.
Table 11. Relation between prefixation and suffix selection Table 11 shows that only -ing and -baar prefer prefixed verbs; the other suffixes prefer bare verbs. This effect is the same for all prefixes. So again hypothesis 3 is falsified, although it holds for certain suffixes. _ Table 11 gives more detailed information about the relation between prefix- ation and selection of suffixes. The last column specifies the total number of stems that selected at least one of the suffixes we searched for, split out for prefixed and non-prefixed verbs. These totals are the basis for the derivation fractions in the other columns.

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References (8)

  1. De Haas, Wim en Mieke Trommelen (1993) Morfologisch Handboek van het Nederlands. Een Overzicht van de Woordvorming. SDU, Den Haag.
  2. Lieber, Rochelle and Harald Baayen (1993), Verbal prefixes in Dutch: a study in lexical conceptual structure. Yearbook of Morphology, p. 51-78. Kluwer Acad. Publ.
  3. Lieber, Rochelle and Harald Baayen (1998), Nominalizations in a calculus of lexical semantic representations. Yearbook of Morphology, p. 175-197. Kluwer Acad. Publ.
  4. Neeleman, Ad and Joleen Schipper (1992), Verbal prefixation in Dutch: thematic evidence for conversion. Yearbook of Morphology, p. 57-92. Kluwer Acad. Publ.
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  6. Trommelen, Mieke and Wim Zonneveld (1986), Dutch morphology: Evidence for the Righthand Head Rule, Linguistic Inquiry 17, p. 147-170.
  7. Verkuyl, Henk J. (1972) On the Compositional Nature of the Aspects. Diss. Utrecht 1971. Reidel, Dordrecht.
  8. Verkuyl, Henk J. (1993) A Theory of Aspectuality. The Interaction between Temporal and Atemporal Structure. Cambridge Studies In Linguistics 64. Univ. Press.

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