The Null Instantiation of Objects as a Polysemy-Trigger. A Study on the English verb See

Abstract

This paper argues that the phenomenon of the null instantiation of objects, i.e. the property of some transitive verbs to omit their direct complements, can be viewed as a polysemy-trigger. Our study, adopting a lexical complexity perspective, suggests that in the majority of cases verbs retain traits of their prototypical meaning, which becomes the starting point for possible inferences, contributing to the overall interpretative process, and leading to the dynamic emergence of different semantic interpretations and nuances through complex mechanisms of figure and ground.Corpus-data on the verb see support the main typologies of null objects outlined, as well as the main factors attested to play a role in licensing null objects. Moreover, the deprofiling of the object in the case of a nuclear verb like see triggers the emergence of new pragmatic meanings, which cannot be derived from the lexical meanings of the various elements in a proposition taken in isolation, but which are interactionally-driven and surface in unpredictable ways, determining a progressive shift towards the cognitive dimension of the verb.

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