In generative grammar, a light verb is a verb that doesn't contribute much semantic content, but plays a more structural role. Its meaning is dependent on the meaning of its complement. For example, in English, "Mary kisses John" can be rephrased as "Mary gives John a kiss" with a light verb "give".
In a syntax tree, light verbs are denoted 𝑣 ("little v") and "light verb phrases" are denoted 𝑣P.
This verb may be an actual word, but sometimes it's an unpronounced node in the syntax tree that we know exists by analogy with other languages.
Kòkú só flãsé hélé Àsíbá. Koku take French teach Asiba (Fongbè) ‘Koku teaches French to Asiba.’
Zhangsan ba shu gei wo. Zhangsan take book give me (Mandarin Chinese) ‘Zhangsan gave the book to me.’
Light verbs help us assign structure to sentences with three participants. In certain theories of syntax, "Mary gives John a book" is analyzed as having a deep structure like "[Mary CAUSE [John give a book]]", where CAUSE is an unpronounced light verb. This is the reason for their inclusion in Toaq.[1]
In Toaq, nä and gö are "pronounced" light verbs, but in fact every clause contains an unpronounced light verb:
- saqsu jí "I whisper" has a deep structure like [ jí 𝑣 saqsu ] (think: I ACT whisper).
- buja jí súq "I kiss you" has a deep structure like [ jí 𝑣 buja súq ] (think: I ACT kiss you).
- do jí súq kúe "I give you the book" has a deep structure like [ jí 𝑣 [ súq do kúe ] ] (think: I CAUSE you give the-book).
These examples show there are different kinds of 𝑣 with different semantics (ACT, CAUSE, and maybe others.)