Les noms d’activité parmi les noms abstraits: Propriétés aspectuelles, distributionnelles et interprétatives

This paper deals with nouns morphologically and/or semantically paired with verbs denoting activities. We show that (contra N. Flaux & D. Van de Velde 2000) such nouns are not to be divided in three subclasses. Based on their distribution and interpretation (particularly the well-established count/mass distinction), we suggest that they denote either activities or occurrences. We provide a comparison with simple (i.e. non deverbal) nouns exhibiting the same behaviour when occurring in light verb constructions.