This paper provides an analysis of Italian complex predicates formed by combining a feminine nominalization in -ata and one of three light verbs: fare ‘make’, dare ‘give’ and prendere ‘take’. We show that the constraints governing the choice of light verb follow from a syntactic approach to argument structure, and that several interpretive differences between complex and simplex predicates formed from the same verb root can be accounted for in a compositional, bottom–up approach. These differences include variation in creation vs. affected interpretations of Theme objects, implications concerning the size of the event described, the (un)availability of a passive alternant, and the agentivity or lack thereof of the subject argument.

This volume contains articles by Kristín M. Jóhannsdóttir, Ingebjørg Tonne, Mai Tungseth and Anne Tamm on perfectivity and telicity in some of the Nordic languages. In this introduction, we summarise the main claims and conclusions of each paper, and briefly discuss the recurring themes and differences in the analyses proposed in the articles included in this special issue of the Nordic Journal of Linguistics.

The second issue of Volume 20 (2007) of the Nordic Journal of Linguistics will be a special issue on Aspect. The guest editors are Raffaella Folli (University of Ulster), Heidi Harley (University of Arizona) and Britta Jensen (University of Cambridge).