The Collocation Features of English Light Verb and Deverbal Noun: An Empirical Study Based on the Distribution of Lexical Aspect

This paper adopts the aspectual theory and investigates the collocation features of six types of light verb constructions (LVCs) (make/do/get/have/give/take) based on Smith's (1997) classification of lexical aspect.Corpus data and native speakers'ratings suggest that 1) Most deverbal nouns are converted from dynamic verbs, and "achievements"and"semelfactives" have dominant distributions; 2)Different light verbs collocate with deverbal nouns of different aspectual properties.The collocation pattern is predicted by "Punctuality" instead of "Resultativity"; 3)Legitimate LVCs are not necessarily composed of light verbs and deverbal nouns of the same aspectual types.The results can be explained by aspectual compatibility and the "intention"-highlighting function of light verb constructions.