Abstract

This paper aims at verifying how the argument structure of the deverbal nouns in spoken Brazilian Portuguese represents the potential valency of the input verb predicate in searching for generalizations about the rule system which governs the expression forms. The sample examined shows that the predominant form of argument expression is an of-phrase including the potential subject reference in monovalent predicates; as a general rule, the assignment of possessor expression to the second argument predominates over the first one in two-place predicates. The sample also shows a strong preference for deverbal nouns in which no argument is present not even the Goal term. This kind adjustment to bare nominals leads to a progressive increase of referentiality, which makes the nominalization closer to the prototypical noun.