Abstract

I pursue the concept of a generative lexical device, which organizes the mapping between conceptual and linguistic representations. The design of the interface function between grammar and concepts upholds a modular conception of linguistic structure building even in environments where information from various computational levels have to be calculated. Against this background, I argue that the German copula werden (‘become’) imposes two core conditions on its adjectival complement: i.) the state that holds after the denoted transition has to represent a non-controlled property of the subject nominal and ii.) the planned construction must not be blocked by a higher frequent lexical form. Several conceptual and grammatical tests are applied and examined for their explanatory adequacy. As regards the CONTROL restriction, it is illustrated that a generic reading of the subject nominal converts a controlled into a noncontrolled property thus saving the derivation of werden-complexes like kostenlos werden, which fails under a specific (i.e. non-generic) reading. Furthermore, the illegality of DATIVE nominals – tolerated by most unaccusative verbs – is motivated by means of structural rationales, which reflect the semantic CONTROL condition. The factor of BLOCKING is associated, first, with the compositionality of the (semantically identical) blocked form and, second, with the attestability of the blocked form, for which some empirical evidence is gathered. I maintain the position that werden does not impose any rigorous event structural condition on its complement: It realizes both achievement as well as accomplishment expressions to an equal extent.