Positional verbs: derivation semantics and functioning

Abstract

This research is based on the universal theory of the lexical-semantic category of causation and its specific character. Taking into account the absence of the grammatical category of causation in the German and the Ukrainian languages, I consider the possibility, that it is compensated by the corresponding word-formation category comprised of the positional derived causative verbs. They refer to a class of the causative verbs that semantically encode the change of the body position of the animate beings as well as the location of the inanimate objects in space. Although the positional verbs have been described in many languages, the semantic features of the positional causative verbs have never been previously investigated in German and Ukrainian, which accounts for the novelty of the research. The derivation, semantics, and pragmatics of the positional derived causative verbs are analyzed to describe the peculiarity of locative relations in compared languages.