The argument structure of verbs of hitting and breaking in Italian

This paper aims to present a corpus-driven analysis of the argument structure of some semantic classes of Italian verbs (i.e. hit and break-verbs) according to a costructionist and a usage-based approach. Each verb is analyzed according to the following features: i) prototypical and peculiar constructions, ii) argument alternances, iii) patterns common to semantic classes. Ultimately, the analysis shows that argument structure is not determined once and forever in an abstract way, but is built on the basis of the linguistic/situational context.