Degree Gradation of Verbs

Gradation is usually considered to be a property of adjectives. Examples like "The boy loves his mother very much" and "The boy has grown a lot" reveal that gradation is not limited to adjectives but verbs are gradable too. Verb gradation has received considerably less attention in the literature than gradation of adjectives. The aim of the current volume is to explore the notion of verb gradation in more detail.

The book presents a semantic as well as a syntactic analysis of verb gradation and combines three case studies with a general perspective on the phenomenon. Issues addressed in the volume cover, among others, the notion of scalarity in the verbal domain, the interaction of verb gradation with grammatical as well as lexical aspect and verb gradation as a subcompositional phenomenon. These topics are investigated from a cross-linguistic perspective. The languages of investigation include, among others, German, Russian and French.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- List of Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Gradation and degree expressions -- 3 Verb classification -- 4 Syntax of verb gradation -- 5 Gradable predicates and intensifiers -- 6 Change of state verbs -- 7 Verbs of emission -- 8 Experiencer verbs -- 9 Gradation, aspect, and telicity -- 10 General conclusions -- Appendix: Language data -- References -- Index