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Actants and aktionsart: The Norwegian verb få as the dynamic counterpart to ha / Actants et mode d'action : le verbe norvégien få comme contrepartie dynamique de ha

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2019

Madeleine Halmøy
Madeleine Halmøy*
Affiliation:
Sogn og Fjordane University College
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Abstract

Following Denis Bouchard's neo-Saussurean Sign Theory of Language, with a focus on the notion of Grammar Semantics, this article sketches a proposal for a unified understanding of the most multifunctional among Norwegian verbs, namely få ‘get’. Based on Bouchard's analysis of French être ‘be’ and avoir ‘have’ and corresponding signs in other languages, I propose that få is the dynamic version of ha ‘have’, which is a bivalent transitive copula. This abstract semantic value is shown to form the basis for the many contextual interpretations få receives, in its use both as a main verb and as an auxiliary. To my knowledge, a monosemic, unified understanding of få that covers all its uses and interpretations has not yet been proposed, especially not one that highlights its relationships with være ‘be’, ha ‘have’ and bli ‘be, become, get’. The study also includes a contrastive analysis of få and the English verb get.

Résumé

Le présent article, axé sur la notion de sémantique de la grammaire, s'inscrit dans le cadre de la théorie néo-saussurienne du signe linguistique de Denis Bouchard et propose une analyse unifiée du verbe få, ‘recevoir, obtenir’, le plus multifonctionnel des verbes norvégiens. L'analyse prend pour point de départ les travaux de Bouchard sur les verbes français être et avoir et leurs équivalents dans d'autres langues. Je propose de trouver en få la contrepartie dynamique de ha ‘avoir’, qui est une copule transitive bivalente. On verra que ce verbe a une valeur sémantique abstraite, qui est à la base des multiples interprétations qu'il est susceptible de recevoir selon les contextes, qu'il fonctionne comme verbe principal ou comme auxiliaire. À ma connaissance, personne n'a proposé à ce jour une analyse monosémique unifiée de få qui couvre tous ses emplois et toutes ses interprétations et qui mette en lumière ses relations avec les verbes være ‘être’, ha ‘avoir’ et bli ‘être, devenir’. Le présent article comporte également une analyse contrastive de få et du verbe anglais get.

Keywords

Norwegian verb fåEnglish verb getvalencyaktionsartmonosemyle verbe norvégien fåle verbe anglais getvalencemode d'actionmonosémie
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 64 , Issue 2: Les signes, leur combinaison et les propriétés fondamentales du langage : un hommage à Denis Bouchard / Signs, their combination, and the fundamental properties of language: A tribute to Denis Bouchard , June 2019 , pp. 216 - 280
Copyright
© Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2019 

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Footnotes

Kristin Eide, Tore Nesset and Bruce Morén-Duolljá have provided valuable feedback on a previous version of this article. I am also indebted to three anonymous reviewers who provided thorough comments. I would like to take this opportunity to also thank Denis Bouchard for everything I have learned from him, for his intellectual and personal openness and generosity, and for his insightful theory.

*

At the final stages of the publication of this issue, we learned with great sadness that Madeleine Halmøy had passed away on June 20, 2018. She will be greatly missed.

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