Contact and Other Results

We consider the account of verbs of contact within the framework of Atom Theory and expand the analysis of forceful point-of-contact verbs such as hit and surface contact types like smear to plural surface contact verbs like splash. Atom Theory (AT) is based on the syntactic projection of atomic meaning components. Every verb's meaning reduces entirely to such atoms and all senses and all syntactic frames of a verb derive from this sole, minimal lexical representation. The differences among the contact verb types derive from the particular Manner and Location atoms of which they are composed. The projection and interpretation of these atoms account for the various alternations and the aspectual and thematic variations of all types of contact verbs, without recourse to multiple lexical representations, linking rules, functional categories, or movement. The result is an innovative analysis by which all contact verb structures are analysed as result constructions.