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Delimitation of information between grammatical rules and lexicon

Publication at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
2014

Abstract

The present paper contributes to the long-term linguistic discussion on the boundaries between grammar and lexicon by analyzing four related issues from Czech. The analysis is based on the theoretical framework of Functional Generative Description (FGD), which has been elaborated in Prague since 1960s.

First, the approach of FGD to the valency of verbs is summarized. The second topic, concerning dependent content clauses, is closely related to the valency issue.

We propose to encode the information on the conjunction of the dependent content clause as a grammatical feature of the verb governing the respective clause. Thirdly, passive, resultative and some other constructions are suggested to be understood as grammatical diatheses of Czech verbs and thus to be a part of the grammatical module of FGD.

The fourth topic concerns the study of Czech nouns denoting pair body parts, clothes and accessories related to these body parts and similar nouns. Plural forms of these nouns prototypically refer to a pai