From movement into action to manner of causation

Changes in argument mapping in the into -causative

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10292575
AutoresSabine Flach (0000-0002-7469-2703, Englisches Seminar, Universität Zürich , Plattenstrasse 47 , 8032 Zürich , Switzerland, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen59
Número1
Páginas247-283
Fecha de publicación2021-01-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling-2020-0269
OpenAlexW3125489221
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas42

Over the last 300 years, the into -causative ( he talked his father into giving him money ) increased in frequency and lexical diversity. Changes of this kind are often taken as evidence of functional expansion. From a Construction Grammar (CxG) perspective, this paper argues that what appears to be a loss of restrictions on the verbal slot results from changes in argument mapping links. As the construction provides the argument roles by mapping semantics (causer, causee, result) onto syntax (subject, object, oblique), stronger mapping links increasingly facilitated the use of verbs that are semantically and syntactically atypical for the expression of causation. Data from the Corpus of Historical American English confirm three predictions of this hypothesis with respect to shifts in (i) the semantic classes of matrix verbs, (ii) their general argument structure preferences, and (iii) voice-marking. The results provide evidence for a subtle semantic change from movement into action to manner of causation . The increase in frequency and productivity are hence explained as the consequence of the syntactic form becoming a more reliable cue for causative meaning. We discuss implications for models of language change against the background of current issues in Diachronic Construction Grammar (DCxG) pertaining to constructionalization vs. constructional change

Action (physics) · Argument (complex analysis) · Argument map · Causation · Causative · Construction Grammar · Epistemology · Grammar · Linguistics · Meaning (existential) · Object (grammar) · Semantic change · Subject (documents) · Syntax · Verb · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation