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Light verb constructions in Lausberg area

«verb fɛ́ ‘to do’ + reduplicated verb»

 | Università per Stranieri di Siena
Published online: 12 October 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.25010.giu
Abstract
This paper investigates a construction attested in the Cannese dialect, a Calabrese variety of the Lausberg area (more specifically, the Mittelzone), consisting of the light verb fɛ́ ‘to do’ followed by a reduplicated verbal form (V+V). The construction encodes aspectual meanings such as durativity and insistence, which in Standard Italian are typically expressed by adverbial means. The paper examines the morphosyntactic restrictions governing this construction and argues that the reduplicated element functions as the lexical predicate, while fɛ́ behaves as a light verb encoding the inflectional features of the clause and contributing an aspectual function. The analysis shows that, unlike the corresponding Italian V+V action nouns, the Cannese reduplicated forms retain core verbal properties, including argument structure and selectional restrictions, supporting their analysis as verbal compounds within a particular type of Light Verb Construction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Some data and initial observations
  • 3.Characteristics of the V+V compound
  • 4.Restrictions
  • 5.Definition of the V+V compound
  • 6.Analysis and conclusions
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (33)
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