The present thesis is concerned with the topic of multi-word verbs (MWV) use in the speech of native and non-native (Czech) speakers of English. More precisely, it aims to give a quantitative as well as qualitative analysis of the use of three main MWV categories: phrasal verbs (PhV), prepositional verbs (PrV) and phrasal-prepositional verbs (PPV). In addition, it summarizes the main research areas in the field of MWV, one of them being the avoidance of MWV by non-native speakers of English, which has been an inspiration for conducting this study. The material comes from two spoken corpora: LINDSEI_CZ corpus of Czech speakers and its referential LOCNEC corpus of English native speakers. The analysis tries to disprove or prove three hypotheses, i.e. non-native speakers' usage of MWV is lower than that of native speakers, prepositional verbs are the favoured MWV by non-native speakers, and non-native speakers overuse certain MWV. The results show that the biggest difference is in the use of PhV as the non-native speakers use significantly fewer PhV than the native speakers; their usage of phrasal-prepositional verbs and especially prepositional verbs is rather comparable to native speakers. Non-native speakers also overuse (and conversely underuse) certain MWV that are far less (or conversely more)...

Cette thèse présente une réflexion sur les verbes à particule et les verbes prépositionnels en anglais. La relation qui existe entre la syntaxe et la sémantique est une des pierres angulaires de cette étude. Nous étudierons le rôle de la configuration syntaxique, de la structure argumentale et des connaissances extralinguistiques dans la construction du sens. Nous analyserons également le nombre d’arguments, tels qu’ils apparaissent dans une combinaison, ainsi que leur type sémantique en contexte et la manière dont ces deux paramètres peuvent influencer l’interprétation sémantique finale. Les aspects théoriques abordés sont la catégorisation des particules et des prépositions, l’interaction du sémantisme des particules - prépositions et le sémantisme verbal, la structure interne des verbes à particule, et les raisons pour lesquelles les particules peuvent apparaître soit avant, soit après le complément régi par le verbe. Nous aborderons également certaines questions plus générales telles que la conceptualisation du mouvement, la résultativité, la transitivité et la polysémie. Le travail a été effectué à partir d’un corpus de 286 combinaisons formées d’un élément verbal et over. Chaque combinaison est analysée en contexte afin d’identifier les facteurs qui influencent l’interprétation sémantique finale de la combinaison. Au cours de cette étude, nous identifierons toute une gamme de facteurs qui influencent l’interprétation sémantique finale des verbes à particule et des verbes prépositionnels anglais ainsi que leur interaction. / This thesis explores the construction of sense in English particle and prepositional verbs. It departs from the premise that meaning is something constructed during the process of situated usage. A corpus of 286 combinations formed through the association of a verbal element with over are analysed in context in order to identify the various factors which influence final semantic interpretation. A particular focus of the study is the relationship between form and meaning. The relationship between syntactic configuration and semantic interpretation is investigated and the various ways in which the number and nature of the verbal and/or prepositional arguments can impact semantic interpretation is explored. The role of the extralinguistic in the construction of sense is examined. The major theoretical questions dealt with concern the categorisation of particles and prepositions, the interaction between particle/prepositional semantics and verbal semantics, the internal structure of particle verbs, and the reasons why the particle in a particle verb can either precede or follow the verbal object. The study also explores several more general areas of linguistic investigation including the conceptualisation of movement, resultativity, transitivity and polysemy. During the course of the study a wide range of factors which influence the final semantic interpretation of particle and prepositional verbs in English are identified.