The Interplay of Synonymy and Polysemy

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Figure 3
. Semantic links relating the verb and noun and the LVC 
The noun maintains all (or most) of its semantic content. It provides most of the 
semantic weight for the LVC. Its participant roles are usually maintained in the LVC, though 
merged with those of the verb. The main characteristic of the noun, though, is that it 
determines the semantic nature of the entire LVC. While the verb gives only an abstract 
concept of an action “moving” from a first participant to a final participant, the noun details 
the exact action being performed. Goldberg (1995:95) states that the difference between an 
LVC such as (7) and monomorphemic paraphrase such as (8) is that the LVC increasingly 
focuses attention on the action denoted by the nominal. She states that (8) can be used in 
cases where there is no focus on the action. So, a further characteristic of LVCs is that they 
place focus on the nominal. The noun in Figure 3 is bolded in order to show this focus.
Figures 2 and 3 represent the general schema for building light verb constructions. 
There are certainly other aspects that play a role. For example, even though I argue that all 
throw-
verbs contribute a similar concept of transitiveness, this does not preclude the addition 
of other semantic or pragmatic factors. It is possible that each 
throw-
verb brings its own 
nuances and details to the LVC. There are also variations on the participant roles that are 
available for the nominal (shown by the optionality of the 
LANDMARK
). The diagrams 
represent a higher level schema, but there may be other lower-level schemas.
An important aspect of the behavior of 
lanzar
is its preferred appearance in LVCs. 
That means that this LVC constructional schema is particularly salient and productive with 
lanzar
. Of course, the schema also appears with the other verbs but to a much lesser extent. 
Arrojar
and 
echar
appear in LVCs though not very frequently. 
Tirar
appears even less 
frequently in LVCs. This constructional schema is an important part of the behavior of 
lanzar
and plays a smaller role with the other 
throw-
verbs.