Download Communication nouns and the selection of dar `to give` and hacer `to

Communication nouns and the selection of dar ‘to give’ and hacer ‘to make’ as light verbs in
Spanish
Begoña Sanromán Vilas
University of Helsinki
It has been repeatedly said that the fact that a noun selects a particular light verb is arbitrary and it
cannot be explained by semantic or other linguistic considerations. In this line, we are familiar with
the evidence that in Spanish paseo ‘walk’ selects dar ‘to give’ (dar un paseo), while in French
promenade ‘walk’ chooses faire ‘to make/do’ (faire un promenade), and in English neither to give
nor to make are accepted by walk, instead it should be to take. However, this cross-linguistic
evidence can be turned around to underline that, without denying that languages exhibit many
disparities in relation to the selection of light verbs, they still show a great amount of coincidence,
an aspect which has hitherto been largely disregarded. Just as the Spanish noun consejo ‘advice’
selects dar ‘to give’ to form dar un consejo ‘to give advice’, the same verb is selected in other
Romance languages: Fr. donner un conseil, It. dare un consiglio, Pg. dar um conselho, and nonRomance languages: En. to give advice, Gm. einen Ratschlag geben, Rs. davat’ sovet, Bq. aholku
eman, Fn. antaa neuvo. The same holds for the selection of hacer ‘to make/do’ within the Spanish
hacer una confesión ‘to make a confession’, and many of its equivalent light verb constructions in
other languages: Fr. faire une confession, It. fare una confessione, Pg. fazer uma confissão, En. to
make a confession, Bq. aitortza egin, Fn. tehdä tunnustus, etc.
This presentation will focus on the assumption that the selection of light verbs by nouns within
light verb constructions, rather than being arbitrary, is based on semantic grounds. Specifically, the
goal of the study will be to identify which semantic component(s) of the noun determines the
selection of dar ‘to give’ and which one(s) controls the choice of hacer ‘to do/to make’, two of the
most frequent light verbs in Spanish. To accomplish this task, I will analyze nouns belonging to the
semantic field of verbal communication previously classified in three groups: 1) nouns which can
co-occur with both verbs, dar and hacer (dar/hacer una sugerencia ‘to give/to make a suggestion’),
2) nouns which combine with dar, but reject *hacer (dar/*hacer una respuesta ‘to give/*to make
an answer’), and 3) nouns co-occurring with hacer, but not with *dar (*dar/hacer una pregunta
‘*to give/lit. to make a question’). The comparison will be done in a paradigmatic and in a
syntagmatic level.