Light verbs

Light verbs are very commonly used verbs, which are very versatile due to the fact that their meanings are not as specific as other verbs. For example, a verb like give is rather general in meaning compared to its its synonyms like donate, contribute, transfer.

A light verb often forms a light verb construction (LVC), consisting of a light verb, a noun, and sometimes a modifier or modifier phrase; the noun is often a more general, common, or abstract noun.

Some typical light verbs in different languages include the following.

Language	Light verbs
English	be, come, do, get, give, go
German	sein, kommen, tun, machen, gehen
French	prendre, faire
Spanish	dar, estar, ser, hacer
Latin	agere, haber, esse, facere, ponere
Chinese	作, 是, 給, 有
Korean	하다, 있다, 나다

1 Characteristics

Light verbs can be identified by these common characteristics.

1. General meaning.

A light verb is semantically general, light, or in semantics terminology, semantically weak or underspecified, that is, its meaning is not very specific or specified. The verb give for example has a general, basic meaning that includes presenting something or transferring possession to someone; its meaning is not specific about the type, manner, or context of the giving, while its synonyms are more specific in those respects.

2. Argument structure meaning.

More so than other verbs, the meaning of a light verb comes from its argument structure, or the configuration of semantic roles of the nouns in the sentence. A semantic role refers to the semantic function that a noun plays in the sentence. These roles correspond somewhat to grammatical functions like subject, direct object, and indirect object. Some typical semantic roles in LVCs include:

• Agent: The one doing the action. It is often the subject, as in Mustafa threw the ball.
• Patient: The person or thing that is directly affected by the action. It is often the direct object of a transitive verb, as in Mustafa threw the ball.
• Theme: This is the subject of some intransitive verbs, where the subject is not actually doing anything, but the subject is what the sentence is about; e.g., Mustafa is tired.
• Dative: The one to whom something is given; this generally corresponds to an indirect object, as in Mustafa gave Luna a new basketball.

3. High frequency.

These are generally the most commonly used verbs, especially in daily use, in the language. For example, the most common verbs in English include the light verbs give, take, be, have, set.

4. Early age of acquisition.

These are among the first verbs that children learn in the language, and these are learned before other verbs of similar meanings. Children learn be before other verbs of existence, and give before learning other verbs of giving.

5. Phrasal verbs.

These are particularly common as components of phrasal verbs (though not all phrasal verbs are derived from light verbs, many of them are), e.g., give up, give out, take up, take on, set something up.

6. Idioms.

These are common elements in idiomatic expressions, such as give him an inch and he'll take a mile, get lost, take a hike! or run someone down.

7. Collocations.

A collocation is a regular occurrence of two or more words, often expressions with set meanings, or commonly occurring and meaningful word combinations (expressions) in a language. Light verbs are common in common collocations, e.g., take a chance, take a bath, don't give a damn, get married, set her straight.

8. Grammatically unrestricted.

While we can say Mary gave Tom a cake or Mary gave a cake to Tom, synonyms of the light verb to give are more restricted in meaning, and in the types of arguments they can take. Thus, they may less flexible. The verb give can alternate as in the preceding examples to express different nuances, but most of its synonyms cannot, and the synonyms are more restricted in their use according to context or formality, as their meaning is more specific. Thus, some alternations are possible, but some are not (the starred examples are ungrammatical).

• Mary gave Tom a cake = Mary gave a cake to Tom
• Mary donated a million pounds to the children's home. ≠ *Mary donated the children's home a million pounds.
• Luna contributed ten euros to the charity. ≠ *Luna contributed the charity ten euros.

9. Light verb constructions.

Many collocations and idioms with light verbs qualify as LVCs. These constructions tend to have some of the following characteristics.

• LVCs can have noun objects that are common nouns, e.g., take a bath.
• LVCs can have verbs with noun compliments or objects that are deverbal nouns, i.e., nouns derived from or related to similar verbs; e.g., take a bath cf. to bathe or she made a comment cf. she commented (on it).
• LVCs can sometimes contain more abstract nouns as objects, like get married, make a claim, have hope
• The word order of LVCs is collocational and cannot be easily changed. For example, we can say that Mary gave Tom a headache but not Mary gave a headache to Tom. The latter version might be possible, but it is rare, and the altered word order changes the meaning or nuance of the sentence.

2 English light verbs

The following light verbs form idioms and collocations. (Work in progress)

• be
• come
• do
• get
• give
• go
• have
• make
• put
• run
• set
• take