Verb phrase semantics: Varieties of event reference and event description

DGfS Summer School, U. Bielefeld, Aug. 17-21, 2026

Description: The literature on the semantics of verb phrases (including, of course, verbs themselves) has yielded important insights into how we structure events through language, how languages express the relations between events and their participants, and how verb and verb phrase semantics vary typology, among other questions. However, challenges remain, including how to handle verbal polysemy, especially “figurative” and idiomatic uses of verbs, and how best to capture certain sorts of cross-linguistic variation in verb and verb phrase semantics. In this course we will take a fresh look at some of these challenges, from a semantic perspective that distinguishes the analysis of event reference from that of event description. The goal is to provide a richer range of theoretical tools with which to analyze verb and verb phrase semantics, and to inspire rigorous investigation into lesser studied empirical phenomena, particularly those where linguistic creativity is highly salient. 

Objectives:

  1. Provide background on the classic problems in the analysis of the syntax/semantics interface of event reference and description, with a focus on verbs.
  2. Introduce the main theoretical concepts and tools used in the literature on this interface.
  3. Heighten awareness of systematic cross-linguistic similarities and differences in verb syntax and semantics and offer methodological tools for exploring these.
  4. Provide practice in the application of relevant concepts and tools to specific case studies, especially in relation to linguistic creativity.

Topics and Schedule:

Day 1 (17/8). Foundations. Key problems in the analysis of verb phrase semantics. “Event reference” and “event description”. Theoretical concepts and tools for analyzing event reference/description: Aspectual classes of verbs, (verb) semantic primitives, event (part) structures, event kinds vs. tokens. 

Day 2 (18/8). Verb (phrase) semantic decomposition via primitives vs. event part structures (Reading: McNally 2024, sections 1-2)

Day 3 (19/8). Crosslinguistic variation in event reference and description (I): A first lesson from Spanish reflexive psychological verbs and their English counterparts (Reading: Marín & McNally 2011).

Day 4 (20/8). Crosslinguistic variation in event reference and description (II) / The interaction between descriptive content, event reference, and grammar (I): Cross-linguistic variation in figurative uses of verbs and grammar (Reading: McNally & Spalek 2022, 2026).

Day 5 (21/8). The interaction between descriptive content, event reference, and grammar (II): Idioms and the syntax/semantics interface of descriptive content vs. reference (Reading: Gehrke & McNally 2019).

Key readings: The following are the readings that will form the basis for the sessions. It will help you to follow the discussion and you'll get more out of the course if you can look at them in advance.

Gehrke, Berit, and Louise McNally. 2019. Idioms and the syntax/semantics interface of descriptive content vs. reference. Linguistics 57(4), 769-814. DOI: https://doi.org./10.1515/ling-2019-0016

Marín, Rafael, and Louise McNally. 2011. Inchoativity, change of state, and telicity: Evidence from Spanish reflexive psychological verbs. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 29(2), 467-502. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-011-9127-3

McNally, Louise. 2024. Two approaches to the semantic decomposition of change of state verbs, how they differ, and why it matters. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 9(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.9948

McNally, Louise and Alexandra Spalek. 2022. Grammatically relevant aspects of meaning and verbal polysemy. Linguistics 60(6), 1943-1987. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2020-0167

Spalek, Alexandra and Louise McNally. 2026. The anatomy of a verb: tear, rasgar, and lexical equivalence. Languages in Contrast26(1), 85-108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.00059.spa

Other Bibliography: The bibliography on event reference and description in linguistics is enormous; students are encouraged to consult not only the works below, but also their bibliographies. Here I have included three sorts of works: 1) early, widely cited references; 2) handbooks/textbooks; 3) other works that I specifically draw on in the course sessions.

Beavers, John, and Andrew Koontz-Garboden. 2020. The roots of verbal meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198855781.001.0001

Carlson, Gregory N. 2003. Weak indefinites. In Martine Coene & Yves D’hulst (eds.), From NP to DP, 195-210. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/la.55.09car

Dowty, David R. 1979. Word meaning and Montague Grammar. Springer (reissued). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/la.55.09car10.1007/978-94-009-9473-7

Gutzmann, Daniel, Lisa Matthewson, Cécile Meier, Hotze Rullmann and Thomas Ede Zimmermann (eds.). 2021. The Wiley Blackwell companion to semantics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118788516

Krifka, Manfred. 1989. Nominal reference, temporal constitution and quantification in event semantics. In Bartsch, Renate, Johan van Benthem and Peter van Emde Boas (eds.), Semantics and contextual expression, 75-116. Dordrecht: Foris. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110877335-005

Maienborn, Claudia, Klaus von Heusinger and Paul Portner (eds.). 2011-2013. Semantics. An international handbook of natural language meaning (3 volumes). Berlin: De Gruyter.

McNally, Louise, and Zoltán Gendler Szabó. A Reader's Guide to Classic Papers in Formal Semantics - Volume 100 of Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy. Cham: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85308-2

Parsons, Terence. 1990. Events in the semantics of English: A study in subatomic semantics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Piñón, Christopher. 1997. Achievements in an event semantics. In Lawson, Aaron (ed.), Proceedings of SALT 7, 276-293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v7i0.2781

Pustejovsky, James. 1991. The syntax of event structure. Cognition 41. 47–81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(91)90032-Y

Rappaport Hovav, Malka, and Beth Levin. 2001. An event structure account of English resultatives. Language 77, 766-797. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2001.0221

Rothstein, Susan. 2004. Structuring events: A study in the semantics of lexical aspect. Oxford: Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470759127

Truswell, Robert (ed.). 2019. The Oxford Handbook of Event Structure. Oxford: OUP. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199685318.001.0001

Williams, Alexander. 2015. Arguments in syntax and semantics. Cambridge: CUP. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139042864