A grounding approach to the semantic meaning of the light verb Da

Abstract

Da has vacant or dull semantic meaning although phonologically it is a verb. Its specific semantic meaning in a certain context is the result of grounding. According to the Grounding Theory of Cognitive Grammar, a bare verb designates a type of process; while a verb in a clause is grounded, and its semantic meaning is an instance of the type of process the bare verb designates. The interpretation of the semantic meaning as an instance of a process type is achieved through the interaction between the speaker and the hearer through which the speaker and the hearer achieve coordinated mental access to the event that the clause designates. On the linguistic level, the speaker anchors the event that the clause designates at a certain position in time and space through the use of grounding elements such as tense and modality, thus singling out the semantic instance of the verb from the instances of its semantic type. Meanwhile, the hearer identifies this semantic instance through these grounding elements, thus achieving coordinated mental access to the same event together with the speaker and making the semantic meaning of the verb specified and grounded. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.