Meaning transfer and the compositional semantics of nominalizations

Abstract

Deverbal nominalizations derived with –ung in German display different sortal readings (e.g. event, result, object) depending on the context that they occur in. However, there are cases that show conflicting evidence and hence pose problems for the compositional process. This paper provides a new explanation for the constructions in which one nominalization is understood as expressing two different readings simultaneously in order to match different semantic restrictions by modifiers or governing predicates. As these cases cannot be explained sufficiently by conventional strategies of interpreting nominalizations in context, I apply Nunberg’s notion of predicate transfer to shift the context rather than the noun: It is claimed that the nominalization expresses just one reading that fits the semantic restriction of the first modifier or predicate, while the second modifier or predicate changes its meaning through meaning enrichment. This analysis allows for the preserving of compositionality and releases other theories of these special cases.