Abstract

The aim of this work is to analyse and characterise two specific light verbs (SLVs) of the Galician language. We will study the synonymic SLVs chantar and espetar through the light verb collocations (LVCs) they form, to compare their collocational apparatuses with each other and with the domain of the general light verb that contains them, dar. We will collect their LVCs from several Galician corpora and from web searches. Our analysis focuses on the number of different LVCs collected, their exclusivity and the semantic values that can be attributed to this type of semiphrasemes. The collocational apparatuses of both specific light verbs should be similar, but the differences that we find in them indicate that there is an asymmetrical fixation and that they are not only specialised in comparison with the general verb dar, but also with each other to the point of being able to talk about a deactivation of the principle of lexical inheritance, which we believe is related to a different desemantization between these two light verbs. However, we believe that it is necessary to review and refine the classification of values in order to obtain more convincing conclusions about the apparatuses that form these specific light verbs, which have a much lower collocational range than other general verbs, such as dar, as they may require a more precise scale for their study.