Light Verb Constructions as Means of Expressing Semelfactive/Multiplicative Meanings in J.K. Rowling’s Discourse (on the basis of novels ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’)

Introduction

The phenomenon of light verb constructions has been in the focus of many linguists’ attention and has been analyzed from different perspectives in the 20th-21st centuries.

However few scientists pointed out that the main categorical meaning of light verb constructions is considered to be semelfactivity, which, in our understanding, is an aspectual meaning that belongs to the internal properties of the verb and characterizes verb lexemes by the number of ‘instances’ (i.e. indicate a series of repeating identical quanta and a single quantum of a multiplicative action respectively, i.e. denote instantaneous actions), which contributes to the novelty of the research.

Light verb constructions are usually made up of two components. The first one is a light verb, which bears very little semantic meaning in the context of a construction (scientists distinguish six of them: take, have, make, do, get, and give). However, it should be mentioned, that sometimes the first element of the construction may be represented by a ‘heavy’ verb (which has a full semantic meaning, e.g. cast, catch, exchange, let out, draw, etc). The second component is a deverbal noun, which is related to the verb and conveys the semantic meaning of the construction.

Theoretical Framework

The in-depth study of these constructions belongs to Beavers, Ponvert & Wechler (2009), Brinton (1998), Brugman (2001), Butt (2010), Chae (1997), Grimshaw & Mester (1988), Kiparsky (1997), Lin (2001), Liu (1997), Tron’ (2008), and other linguists. Light verb constructions are very productive in some languages, e.g. Persian, Urdu, and Japanese (Karimi, 1997; Miyagawa, 1989; Matsumoto, 1996; Miyamoto, 2000; Mohammad & Karimi, 1992). Whereas, they are considered to be semi- productive constructions in French, Italian, Spanish and English (Wierzbicka, 1982; Alba-Salas, 2002; Kearns, 2002).

Though traditionally they are called light verb constructions, some scientists call them support verb constructions (Bjerre, 1999; Langer, & Schnorbusch, 2005; Nesselhauf, 2004; Baptista, Rassi & Santos-Turati, 2014); multi-word verbs (Claridge, 2000); complex/composite predicates (Cattel, 1984; Traugott, 1999); complex verbal phrase (Cattell, 1984); transitive copulas (Curme, 1935); “neutral” verbs (Halliday, 1994); stretched verb constructions (Allerton, 2002).

Some broader terms have been used in Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Biber, 1999): ‘multi-word verb constructions’ or ‘verb plus noun phrase’ (Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, (Biber, 1999: 403)). Wierzbicka (1982) uses the term ‘periphrastic verbal construction’ or ‘have/give a V frame’ (Wierzbicka, 1982: 753) focusing on the verbal nature of the phrase. Stein (1991) refers to ‘verbo-nominal constructions’ and highlights the opposition of ‘simple verb’ and ‘phrasal verb’ (Stein, 1991: 2-3). Algeo (1997) calls them ‘expanded predicates’ and distinguishes between ‘the core expanded predicates’ and ‘pseudoexpanded predicates’ (Algeo, 1997). Thus, it is clear, that linguists interpreted ‘light verb constructions’ differently.

Analyzing light verb constructions the linguists focus on a prominent semantic or structural feature of them. In A Comprehensive Grammar of English Language (1985) they are called as ‘the constructions with the eventive object’ (Quirk et al., 1985: 751), the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002) treats them as ‘light verb alternant’ as opposed to ‘associated verb alternant’ (CamGEL, 2002: 290).

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (Hornby A.S. & Wehmeier, 2000) uses the term ‘idioms containing give/make’ focusing on the idiomatic character of the construction (OALD, 2000: 568, 808), while Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (Crowther, 2002) classifies light verb constructions as ‘collocations with common verbs’ (OCD, 2002: 10).

Analyzing light verb constructions, Butt (2010) states that the verbal component of these constructions belongs either to auxiliary or to main verbs. He argues that ‘light verbs should be recognized as a separate syntactic class’ (Butt, 2010: 10). The function of light verbs, in her view, is to ‘modulate the event predication of a main predicator in the clause’. She states that ‘different light verbs will do so in different ways and some of the semantic contributions are quite subtle’. This is due to the ‘flexible interpretation of the underlying lexical semantics’ (Butt, 2010: 24).

While some scientists concentrated only on true light verb constructions with certain light verbs, only object-verb pairs are analyzed in other studies (Stevenson et al., 2004, Tan & Cui, 2006, Fazly & Stevenson, 2007).

Light verb constructions are considered to be a ‘special type of multi-word expressions, formed from a commonly used verb and usually a noun phrase in its direct object position’, which do not fall into the ‘discreet binary distinction of compositional or non-compositional expressions’. On the contrary, they ‘stand somewhat in between and are typically semi- compositional’ (Tu & Roth, 2011).

According to Stevenson et al., (2004), light verb constructions as well as verb-particle constructions may ‘extend the meaning of the component words in interesting ways’, but verb- particle constructions involve a wide range of verbs in combination with a small number of particles, whereas light verb constructions involve a small number of verbs in combination with a wide range of co-verbal elements (Stevenson et al., 2004: 1).

Some scientists point out, that light verb constructions are complex predicates in which the verb is semantically bleached (‘light’) and only expresses aspect, directionality or actionsart of the predicate (Butt, 2010, Wittenberg, 2014). The predicative meaning in these constructions mostly comes from an event nominal within the construction (Beavers, Ponvert & Wechsler, 2009).

However, Ogonovska (1991) believes that because these are verbs of broad meaning, they do not have a semantic weakening. They are indicators of a number of grammatical categories (person, number, time, state, mode of action), without which the realization of predication is not possible. Moreover, she believes that the verbs that fill the position of the first component of light verb constructions, express two contrasting directions: from subject and to subject. The researcher calls the verbs give, make, do – the centrifugal variant of light verb constructions, which function in this model expressing an active action. She considers the verbs take and get to be a centripetal variant of the model, which make the models passive. If the direction of the action is irrelevant, the position of the verb component is filled by the verb have, which does not express the direction of the action, because it is a static version of the construction (Ogonovska, 1991: 61-62).

It should be mentioned, that in most languages, light verbs are considered to be the most frequently used in the lexicon, e.g. the light verbs take, have, make, do, and give are among the twenty most frequent verbs in English (Palmer, Gildea & Kingsbury, 2005).

As for the deverbal noun, it may be related to the verb in several ways: the correspondence may be identical, when the noun has the same form as a verb (have a chat cf chat, give a glance cf glance, take a walk cf walk); it can be derived from a verb (make arrangements or make a decision); or it may be semantically, but not formally, related to a verb, e.g. make an effort, have a game (Quirk et al., 1985: 751).

In this abstract we aim at analyzing light verb constructions made up of either light or heavy verbs and a deverbal noun (which is identical to the related verb) preceded or followed by a determinator or not. Thus, we exclude constructions of the type make arrangements and those, where a deverbal noun is a part of a prepositional phrase like take into account.

Methodology

The texts constituting the empirical material for the research are two novels by the prominent British writer J.K. Rowling ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’. The corpus comprises two hundred and twenty-one light verb constructions obtained by means of employing the manual selection procedure. The total number of pages of the excerpted texts is seven hundred and two pages.

The methodology in the research presupposes the following methods: narrative (for selecting, rendering and interpreting factual material), the method of discourse analysis (for analyzing excerpts of light verb constructions), classification and systematization (for grouping light verb constructions under study on different source domains), a quantitative analysis of English light verb constructions with qualitative data of their usage. The results of the research can be seen in Tables 1–3 in 3.2.1, Tables 4–8 in 3.2.3.

Results and Discussion

Nominal component as a semantic center of light verb constructions

We state that the aspectual meaning of a light verb construction is concentrated in its nominal component, so the singular of the deverbative noun indicates a semelfactive meaning (1), whereas the plural form – a multiplicative one (2), (3).

(1) Harry let out a gasp of surprise that no one could her (Rowling, 1999: 93) (2)Harry had suddenly gone a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd (Rowling, 2008: 233) (3) Professor Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steading gasps clutching her chest (Rowling, 1999: 337)

In (1) the deverbal noun gasp indicates a semelfactive action, while in (2) and (3) the plural form gasps points out a multiplicative one.

In the studied constructions the value of the whole is distributed between the components, i.e. there is a ‘distribution of formal and semantic load: the formal core of these structures is the verb, which shows the dynamics of action in time and its mode of action. There is a nominal component that names the action itself’ (Keller, 2015: 27). Thus, the semantic center of light verb constructions is the noun component.

Special attention should also be paid to some cases when the verbal component is omitted, which also proves that the aspectual centre of light verb constructions is the deverbal noun. Analyzing the excerpted texts we came across the following cases (11 of them). Compare:

(4) But the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its exhaust (instead of giving one last snort) (Rowling, 1999: 86) (5) Mr. Weasley started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard, Harry turning back for a last look at the house (instead of to have a last look) (Rowling, 1999:76)

As it can be seen from examples (4), (5) the verbal component is substituted by for, with- phrases, but the deverbal nouns snort and look indicate a semelfactive action.

Nowadays, the lexical restrictions on the formation of structures of this type remain ambiguous. We claim that deverbal nouns can belong to the following groups: breathing, work of vocal cords: cry, chirp, gasp, giggle, sigh, shout, bray, whistle, snort, scream, wail; actions related to food consumption: drink, swallow, gulp, snack, sip; body parts movement: crack, flick, kiss, rick, tug, turn, wink, wave, rap, slap, shove, thump, turn; actions related to the external / non-sound reaction of the subject: smirk, smile, grimace, grin; abstract deverbal nouns that denote emotional reactions: hate, pride, dislike, like, hope.

Structural types of light verb constructions

In J.K. Rowling novels ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ there are 97 and 115 light verb constructions respectively. It should be mentioned that the verbal component of the analyzed constructions is expressed either by light verbs (146 cases, or 68,9%) or by ‘heavy’ verbs (66 cases, or 31,1%).

Light verbs take, have, make, do, and give as a verbal component of light verb constructions

Give + N (81 cases)

We claim that deverbal nouns in the construction give + N can belong to the following groups:

1) breathing, work of vocal cords: belch (1), blast (1), burp (1), cheer (1), cough (1), gasp (2), guffaw (1), heave (1), laugh (4), scream (1), shriek (1), snort (1), sob (1), squeal (2), squeak (1), yell (1), yelp (1); 2) body movement: jerk (1), jump (1), lift (1), lurch (2), shake (4), start (2), thrill (1), tug (1), wobble (1); 3) movement of body parts: jolt (1), flick (1), kick (2), kiss (1), leap (1), pat (1), prod (1), push (1), rumble (1), slap (2), smile (6), tap (2), wave (1), whack (1), wink (2); 4) perception: look (16), sniff (1); 5) actions related to the external / non-sound reaction of the subject: chuckle (1), creep (1); 6) acts of talking: hint (2).

The quantitative analysis of light verb constructions with the verb give is represented in Table 1.

Table 1.
Give as a verbal component of light verb constructions (own authorship)

Take + N (35 cases)

The light verb take is used in the following constructions:

1) breathing, work of vocal cords: breath (11), gasp (1); 2) actions related to food consumption: gulp (2), bite (2), drink (1), swig (2); 3) body movement: turn (1), step (9), jump (1); 4) movement of body parts: swipe (1); 5) perception: look (3), view (1).

The quantitative analysis of light verb constructions with the verb take is represented in Table 2.

Table 2.
Take as a verbal component of light verb constructions (own authorship)

Have + N (14 cases)

The construction have + N is represented by the following groups: 1) actions related to food consumption: drink (1); 2) body movement: fight (1); 3) perception: glint (1), look (5), notice (1), watch (1); 4) actions related to the external / non-sound reaction of the subject: laugh (2); 5) acts of talking: chat (2). Table 3 presents the quantitative analysis of light verb constructions with the verb have.

Table 3.
Have as a verbal component of light verb constructions (own authorship)

Make + N (7 cases)

The deverbal nouns in the construction make + N can belong to such groups:

1) movement of body parts: grab (2), snatch (1); 2) actions related to the external / non-sound reaction of the subject: start (1); 3) acts of talking: call (1), remark (1), sound (1).

Get + N (6 cases)

The deverbal nouns in the construction give + N can belong to the following groups:

1) breathing, work of vocal cords: breath (1); 2) movement of body parts: grip (1); 3) perception: look (1).

Do + N (3 cases)

The deverbal nouns in the construction do + N can belong to the following groups:

1) body movement: jig (1), somersault (1); 2) acts of talking: spell (1).

As it can be seen from what has been discussed above the most frequently used light verbs in the novels ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ are give, take and have. The verbs make, get and do have been used by the author not so often.

‘Heavy’ verbs as a verbal component of light verb constructions

There are 66 cases of ‘heavy’ verbs used as a verbal component of light verb constructions, namely: aim (1), allow (1), cast (5), catch (7), come (5), draw (6), drop (1), earn (1), emit (1), exchange (7), fix (2), flash (1), laugh (2), let loose (1), let out (14), perform (1), shoot (5), swap (1), throw (3), twitch (1).

The deverbal nouns in the construction with ‘heavy’ verbs can belong to the following groups:

1) breathing, work of vocal cords: bark (1), bellow (1), breath (4), gasp (4), groan (1), grunt (1), moan (1), scream (4), screech (1), snort (1), squeal (1), squeak (1), whistle (1), yell (1); 2) body movement: halt (1); 3) movement of body parts: blow (2); 4) perception: eye (2), gaze (1), glance (3), glimpse (3), look (17), sight (2), stare (2), whiff (1); 5) actions related to the external / non-sound reaction of the subject: grin (2), laugh (2), smile (2); 6) light emission: blaze (1), glare (1), glow (1).

In the research we single out a separate group of light verb constructions, the verb component of which duplicates the semantics of the noun, such as: to laugh a laugh, as in (6), (7).

(6) Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn’t suit him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry’s neck (Rowling, 1999: 320) (7) “Hagrid’s my friend”, said Harry, his voice now shaking. “And you framed him, didn’t you? I thought you made a mistake, but – “Riddle laughed his high laugh again (Rowling, 1999: 321)

Qualitative characteristics of an action expressed by light verb constructions

The results of the study showed that the most frequently used in these constructions are deverbal nouns indicating the specifics of visual perception (8–10):

(8) She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn’t, so she went on (Rowling, 2008: 20) (9) It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face – and was startled to see that she was in tears (Rowling, 2008: 182) (10) Mrs.Weasley was clattering around, cooking breakfast a little haphazardly, throwing dirty looks at her sons as she threw sausages into the frying pan (Rowling, 1999: 44)

As it can be seen from (8–10), there are different deverbal nouns that indicate the visual perception, e.i. glance, glimpse, look, etc. In (8) and (9) the singular of the deverbative nouns glance, glimpse indicates a semelfactive meaning, whereas the plural form looks (10) denotes a multiplicative action.

We believe that the qualitative characteristics of an action in these sentences are expressed by light verb constructions, but prepositive and postpositive modifiers play an important role in these constructions as well (they are expressed primarily by adjectives that characterize and modify the action):

a) emotional colouring: bewildered, curious, dirty, encouraging, frightening, furious, hearty, horrible, mystified, nasty, nervous, panicstricken, piercing, quelling, satisfied, stern, terrible, terrified, etc. (11-13)

(11) He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother’s arms (Rowling, 2008: 33) (12) “Yeh don’ know... yeh don’ know...”. Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare (Rowling, 2008: 60) (13) Professor McGonagall gave him a piercing look, but he was sure she had almost smiled. Her mouth looked less thin, anyway (Rowling, 1999: 92)

b) length in time: long, momentary, quick, short, sharp, slow, swift, steady, etc. (14), (15):

(14) “A clever plan,” said Dumbledore in a level voice, still staring Mr. Malfoy straight in the eye. “Because if Harry here –” Mr. Malfoy shot Harry a swift, sharp look “and his friend Ron hadn’t discovered this book, why Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame” (Rowling, 1999: 345) (15) Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Fred’s Filibuster fireworks out of his pocket, and gave it a quick prod with his wand (Rowling, 1999: 197)

c) intensity: vague, deep, tiny, light, gentle, tight, small, hefty, severe, weak, see (16–19): (16) Harry took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He turned to face the black flames (Rowling, 2008: 297) (17) The effect of this simple sentence on the rest of the family was incredible: Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that shook the whole kitchen; Mrs. Dursley gave a small scream and clapped her hands to her mouth; Mr. Dursley jumped to his feet, veins throbbing in his temples (Rowling, 1999: 12) (18) Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it (Rowling, 2008: 22) (19) Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him (Rowling, 2008: 118)

d) direction: upward, backward, up and down, forward (20–22) (20) A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him (Rowling, 2008: 139) (21) He took a step forward and Neville dropped Trevor the toad, who leapt out of sight (Rowling, 2008: 283) (22) Harry tried to take a step backward but his legs wouldn’t move (Rowling, 2008: 303)

In the sentence (23) the action is characterized by the postpositive attribute like little hissing fires all over the hall. Besides the adverbial intensifier suddenly outlines the semelfactive action.

(23) As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall (Rowling, 2008: 131)

The quantitative analysis in Table 4 presents positive, negative and neutral connotations expressed by the determinators in light verb constructions (see Table 4).

Table 4.
Types of light verb constructions according to human emotions(own authorship)

As it can be seen from Table 4 the number of light verb constructions expressing negative emotions (88 cases out of 212, or 41,5%) is much greater than positive ones (40 cases out of 212, or 18,9%). Neutral emotions are represented in the text by 84 cases which make up 39,6%.

As a result of the research we state that the semelfactive intensifiers, such as another, quick, sharp, sudden, swift, and others may be used as part of light verb constructions (24), (25). (24) “Very well,” Snape cut in. “We’ll have another little chat soon, when you’ve had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie” (Rowling, 2008: 236) (25) His broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch (Rowling, 2008: 199)

The quantitative analysis in Table 5 presents the usage of adjective, pronoun determinators in light verb constructions.

Table 5.
The usage of adjective, pronoun determinators in light verb constructions (own authorship)

Besides the semelfactive action can be modified by the intersifier once, as in (26)

(26) Once he caught sight of a flash of gold, but it was just a reflection from one of the Weasleys’ wristwatches, and once a Bludger decided to come pelting his way, more like a cannonball than anything, but Harry dodged it and Fred Weasley came chasing after it (Rowling, 2008: 197)

There are 7 cases in which the semelfactive action is modified by the intensifier expressed by a numeral one as in (27), (28).

(27) Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart (Rowling, 2008: 187) (28) Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them (Rowling, 2008: 69)

In (28) the semelfactive action is expressed not only by the numeral one, but also adjective last [happening or existing at the end, with no others after (Summers, 2003: 905).

In the sentences (29–32) the qualitative characteristic of multiple action is taken beyond the nomination of the visual act (31), act of breathing (29), (30), (32). This feature is realized in the sentences with the help of postpositive prepositional-noun combinations of horror (29), of delight (30), of deep disgust (31) and of laughter (32) respectively.

(29) “STOP! I FORBID YOU!” yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror. “Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,” said Hagrid. “Harry –yer a wizard” (Rowling, 2008: 60) (30) It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight (Rowling, 2008: 169) (31) She ruffled her feathers and gave him a look of deep disgust (Rowling, 1999: 32) (32) Seamus Finnigan couldn’t control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn’t mistake for a scream of terror (Rowling, 1999: 111) The quantitative syntaxemes of degree, expressed by the adverbs much, little, a little, few, a few, are used with the predicates indicating either a semelfactive (33), (34) or a multiplicative meaning (35). (33) Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words (Rowling, 2008: 137) (34) At this, Neville let out a little moan, and Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks (Rowling, 2008: 259) (35) He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful (Rowling, 2008: 47)

The quantitative analysis in Table 3 presents the use of quantitative syntaxemes of degree in light verb constructions (see Table 6).

Table 6.
The usage of quantitative syntaxemes of degree in light verb constructions (own authorship)

The comparative syntaxeme in the sentences with light verb constructions may be represented with the following examples, see (36) and (37).

(36) When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me... decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me... (Rowling, 2008: 301) (37) The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look (Rowling, 2008: 40)

It is obvious that in (36), (37) the comparative syntaxeme is expressed by the adjective closer in a higher degree of comparison.

The great majority of verbal components in light verb constructions are usually used in preposition to the deverbal noun (207 cases out of 212, or 97,6%). Rarely they are used in postposition (only 5 cases out of 212 have been singled out, or 2,4%) (see Table 7).

Table 7.
The usage of the verbal component in preposition and postposition (own authorship)

In (38) the light verb to give is used in postposition to the deverbal noun look, whereas in (39) it is used prepositionally to the same noun.

(38) A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage (Rowling, 2008: 60) (39) Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look 187)

The results of the text analysis show that the majority of the cases indicate the semelfactive action (193 cases out of 212, or 91%), while only 19 cases denote the multiplicative situation (9%), see Table 8.

Table 8.
Semelfactive and multiplicative meanings in light verb constructions (own authorship)

As it has been mentioned before, light verb constructions usually express a multiplicative meaning when the deverbal noun is used in the plural form. However there are some heavy verbs (swap, exchange), light verb constructions with which always indicate a multiplicative action (see (40), (41)).

(40) “Come now,” he cried, beaming around him. “Why all these long faces?” People swapped exasperated looks, but nobody answered (Rowling, 1999: 280) (41) Harry and Ron exchanged panicstricken looks, then threw the Invisibility Cloak back over themselves and retreated into a corner (Rowling, 1999: 270)

In the novel we single out some constructions of the type to give / take + deverbal noun formed from a semelfactive, where both of them are used to express the corresponding semelfactive meaning. Compare (42) and (43), (44) and (45).

(42) Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, “Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!” (Rowling, 1999: 24) (43) Dudley’s mouth fell open in horror, but Harry’s heart gave a leap (Rowling 2008: 32) (44) Ron started to say that he didn’t think so, somehow, but stopped in midsentence when Harry kicked him hard under the desk (Rowling, 1999: 280) (45) The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick (Rowling, 2008: 143)

In sentences (42) and (44) the verbs to leap and to kick are used as semelfactives, whereas in (43), (45) they are used as parts of light verb constructions to give a leap and to give a kick to express an even more ‘punctual’ action.

Conclusion

The findings of the research allow us to conclude that an attempt has been made to study the phenomenon of light verb constructions as one of the main means of expressing semelfactive and multiplicative meanings in contemporary English. It is notable that although there exist multiple researches on the light verb constructions, most linguists focused their attention on prominent semantic or structural features of them and their idiomatic character, while very few of them pointed out their main categorical meaning – semelfactivity or multiplicativity which accounts for the novelty of the current research.

Semelfactivity is analyzed as an aspectual meaning belonging to the internal properties of the verb characterizing an action by the number of ‘instances’.

In this research light verb constructions made up of either light or heavy verbs and a deverbal noun identical to the related verb preceded or followed by a determinator or not have been analyzed. We exclude constructions of the type make arrangements and those, where a deverbal noun is a part of a prepositional phrase like take into account.

Analyzing J.K. Rowling novels ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ 97 and 115 light verb constructions have been singled out respectively.

We state that the aspectual meaning of a light verb construction is concentrated in its nominal component which bears the main semantic load. Another fact that encounters for this statement is the existence of for, with-phrases like for a better look, where the verbal component is omitted.

The deverbal nouns can belong to the groups of breathing, work of vocal cords, body movement, movement of body parts, perception, actions related to the external / non-sound reaction of the subject and acts of talking.

We claim that 91% of the analyzed cases (193 out of 212) indicate the semelfactive action, while only 19 cases denote the multiplicative situation (9%). A multiplicative meaning is expressed in the sentences in which the deverbal noun is used in the plural form whereas the semelfactivity is indicated both by semelfactive verbs and light verb constructions. The verbal component of the analyzed constructions is expressed either by light verbs (146 cases, or 68,9%) or by ‘heavy’ verbs (66 cases, or 31,1%). The most frequently used light verbs in the analyzed novels are give (81 cases), take (35 cases) and have (14 cases).

The semelfactive meaning of light verb constructions is often modified by adverbial modifiers such as suddenly, sharply, swiftly, at once etc.