Names and Naming Verbs
Abstract
An analysis of naming verbs like ‘to be called’ is presented, which assumes that names act as predicates or arguments according to the syntactic structure in which they appear. In isolation, names are claimed to be linguistic expressions identifying an abstract category of type e. When they denote a name-bearer, they are embedded in a DP and the individual denoted by the DP is associated with the abstract category they identify. This makes it possible to structurally interpret naming verbs as complex copular constructions, which relate a discourse referent to the abstract category named by the name-expression.
Submitted: April 24, 2025 | Accepted: July 20, 2025 | Published Oct. 14, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords Nouns • Names • Naming • Naming verbs • Kinds
Copyright © 2025 Paolo Acquaviva. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2025/14/001