Perception Verbs in Periphrastic Verbal Phrases: Have a Taste, Give a Look and Take a Listen
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to study periphrastic phrases involving perception verbs, such as have a look. Perception verbs do not all have corresponding periphrastic constructions (for example, see). The incompatibility of some perception verbs with such phrases, as well as the impossibility for the nominalized verb stem to be pluralized (*have looks), are accounted for. To do so, the syntactic and semantic features of these phrases are defined and the extent of their fossilization determined. The usage constraints associated with periphrastic constructions, along with the motivations for their use, are also examined. Two types of comparisons are introduced: first between a given periphrastic phrase and its corresponding simple verb so as to highlight their semantic differences and identify the rhetorical and discursive strategies inherent to each one; second between the three most frequent types of phrases including nominalized perception verbs – have a V, give a V and take a V.