Metaphorical Mechanisms for Denominal Verbs

Abstract

This paper provides an answer to the problem detected for Qualia-based accounts for denominal verbs. The semantics of denominal verbs are regulated not only by our world knowledge but also by contextual information. The former can be easily captured by Qualia-based accounts but the latter has been the limitation for them. This paper has shown that metaphorical mechanisms that are constrained by our cognitive structure can help overcome the limitation of Qualia-based accounts for denominal verbs. In doing so, this paper has shown two types of metaphorical overriding: explicit metaphorical overriding and implicit metaphorical overridng. Furthermore, this paper has revised Joh (2017) in a way that the delinking process for metaphors is not the necessary part of metaphors but distinctions between contextual extending and contextual overriding cases must be kept. Contextual effects are prevalent in almost all linguistic expressions but this paper attempted to capture those effects focusing on English denominal verbs under the Generative Lexicon Theory. Yet, more investigations should be conducted more thoroughly regarding what can be called contextuals which are especially strongly affected by the context.