Very strict selectional restrictions

TL;DR

This paper analyzes two classes of verbs in French and Portuguese characterized by strict selectional restrictions, focusing on their syntactic features and nominal complement distribution.

Contribution

It identifies and describes the specific syntactic and semantic restrictions of these verb classes across two Romance languages, highlighting their unique properties.

Findings

Verbs have only one essential direct object complement.

Limited noun distribution in the complements, excluding idiomatic or complex constructions.

The class excludes reduced or complex constructions, emphasizing core verb features.

Abstract

We discuss the characteristics and behaviour of two parallel classes of verbs in two Romance languages, French and Portuguese. Examples of these verbs are Port. abater [gado] and Fr. abattre [b\'etail], both meaning "slaughter [cattle]". In both languages, the definition of the class of verbs includes several features: - They have only one essential complement, which is a direct object. - The nominal distribution of the complement is very limited, i.e., few nouns can be selected as head nouns of the complement. However, this selection is not restricted to a single noun, as would be the case for verbal idioms such as Fr. monter la garde "mount guard". - We excluded from the class constructions which are reductions of more complex constructions, e.g. Port. afinar [instrumento] com "tune [instrument] with".