Approaching Results in Catalan and Spanish Deadjectival Verbs

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to discuss the morpho-semantic variation in the lexico-syntactic derivation of deadjectival verbs in Catalan and Spanish formed with the sufix -ejar/-ear, such as groguejar/amarillear lit. yellow-ejar/-ear. Specifically, we address two types of questions. On the one hand, we are concerned with the cross-linguistic differences that -ear/-ejar deadjectival verbs exhibit in these two Romance languages. On the other hand, we deal with the theoretical implications of this distinct behavior for the grammar of deadjectival verbal formations. We argue that while Spanish -ear deadjectival verbs are change of state verbs that involve a transition with a terminal coincidence relation, i.e. a morpho-syntactic configuration that includes both a Place and a Path, Catalan -ejar deadjectival verbs are stative predications that include only a Place, headed by the abstract non-terminal coincidence preposition near.