A Semantic and Syntactic Aspects of Czech Light Verb Constructions

Multiword lexical units such as complex predicates, which consist of light verbs and predicative nouns, have long remained on the periphery of traditional syntactic theories. Light verb constructions pose a serious challenge for both theoretical and applied linguistics, as their syntactic structures are not solely determined by verbs alone but also by predicative nouns. There is assumed to be the lack of a comprehensive definition of the concept of light verbs that can account for the cross-linguistic diversity in the types and scope of light verb constructions. In particular, there is still no theoretical framework that adequately describes the complex argument structure formed by the interaction between light verbs and predicative nouns in light verb constructions. This paper investigates the syntactic and semantic representation of Czech light verb constructions. Light verb constructions represent a type of complex predicate where two syntactic elements serve as a single predicate. In this paper I focus to address crucial syntactic-semantic aspects closely related to the fundamental concept of light verbs. Specifically, based on the [+LIGHT] semantic features of desemanticized light verbs, this paper applies reduction and co-reference constraints to analyze the syntactic-semantic structure of light verb constructions. Finally I discuss the question of thematic role assignment between light verbs and predicative nouns.