Patterns of meanings between syntax and lexicon. A lexicological and lexicographic overview of italian partially lexically specified constructions

This investigation proposes a qualitative and quantitative corpus-driven description of a subtype of combinatorial units characterised by a low degree of lexical specification and a high degree of semantic predictability: partially lexically specified constructions. These constructions contain both fixed and empty slots, show different levels of productivity, and can be associated with different syntactic structures and semantic values. As prototypical constructions, partially lexically specified constructions are pairings of form and function, since their semantic/syntactic configuration can convey particular semantic/pragmatic values. They are language-specific, but the phenomenon occurs in several languages and deserves special attention from both theoretical and applied viewpoints. Through the analysis of authentic data extracted from an Italian corpus, this contribution aims at i) identifying and analysing a set of partially lexically specified constructions, ii) classifying them according to qualitative and quantitative criteria (e.g. the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic features, as well as their degree of productivity, lexical variation and schematicity), and iii) discussing possible lexicographic representations of such syntactic-semantic patterns.