36.3591, FYI: VALGER: Verb Valency in Germanic Project

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3591. Mon Nov 24 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3591, FYI: VALGER: Verb Valency in Germanic Project

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Valeriia Vyshnevetska
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Mara Baccaro, Daniel Swanson
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Daniel Swanson <daniel at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 24-Nov-2025
From: Matteo Tarsi [matteo.tarsi at unipv.it]
Subject: VALGER: Verb Valency in Germanic Project


Verbal valency is the number of core arguments a verb can take, hence
instantiating a particular valency frame. There are for instance
zero-valent verbs e.g. to rain (Eng. it rains); monovalent verbs e.g.
to sleep (Eng. I sleep); bivalent verbs e.g. to kiss (Eng. the girl
kisses the boy); trivalent verbs e.g. to give (Eng. the boy gives a
present to the girl); etc. The project’s overarching aim is to map out
and analyze the valency patterns of Germanic. This is done by
selecting a number of representative language varieties within
Germanic (= Gmc) and by tracing the evolution and variation of valency
patterns for a selection of verb meanings, following the
methodological gold standard set out by the ValPaL project.
The to-be-researched languages are: Gothic (East Gmc); English,
German, Dutch, and Frisian (West Gmc); Icelandic and Swedish (North
Gmc). The present project contributes to advancing that methodology
and it is inscribed in the research activity carried out by the Pavia
Linguistics Team within the Pavia Verbs Database project (PaVeDa).
The overarching aim of my project is made up of the following
objectives:
1) to gather all elicited data in a digital resource;
2) to pursue a diachronic analysis of valency patterns within the
history of single languages;
3) to carry out a synchronic analysis of valency patterns in the
Germanic languages at different language stages;
4) to reconstruct valency patterns of Germanic in prehistoric times.
The most relevant direct outcomes of the project are:
1) to make the data available to other researchers;
2) to contribute to the actual research in diachronic morphosyntax;
3) to expand the PaVeDa database with diachronic data for Germanic;
4) to establish a well-defined benchmark within the addressed research
area, by implementing a standard tool designed at the host
institution.
Please visit the project's website at
https://sites.google.com/view/valencygermanic/

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
                     Morphology
                     Syntax

Language Family(ies): Germanic



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List, a U.S. 501(c)(3) not for profit organization:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Brill https://www.degruyterbrill.com/?changeLang=en

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Peter Lang AG http://www.peterlang.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3591
----------------------------------------------------------