Articles

Alternantie en verbale monosemie: Casestudy: de valentie van wissen

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Abstract

This paper is a case study of the valency of the German verb wissen
'to know'. The analysis is based on a descriptive model which combines
the lexical theory of basic core meaning with a syntactic theory of alternation.
Integrating these two theories into a unified model serves two
purposes. Firstly, it is argued that variable valency patterns can be explained
as a structured paradigm on the level of langue. On this level,
the most frequent pattern in a corpus can be regarded as the basic structure
underlying different alternation types. The alternations may be purely
structural or - if the syntactic alternations correspond to changes in
the standard reading of the verb - structural-semantic. Secondly, the
basic meaning of the verb turns out to be analysable by means of paradigmatically
arranged meaning elements. Thus, the analysis shows that
lexical and syntactic structures are mutually determined. The case study
supports the view that both the paradigmatic and the syntagmatic meanings
of valency bearing elements are interrelated in a structured, nonarbitrary
way. It offers both theoretical insights as to which types of
structural-semantic regularities determine variable valency patterns, and
practical ideas for the lexicography of valency bearing elements.

How to Cite:

Coene, A., (2001) “Alternantie en verbale monosemie: Casestudy: de valentie van wissen”, Handelingen - Koninklijke Zuid-Nederlandse maatschappij voor taal- en letterkunde en geschiedenis 55, 109-130. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/kzm.v55i0.17288