By Maarten Lemmens
ISBN-10: 1556198825
ISBN-13: 9781556198823
ISBN-10: 9027236712
ISBN-13: 9789027236715
Fusing insights from cognitive grammar, systemic-functional grammar and govt & Binding, the current paintings elaborates and refines Davidse’s view that the English grammar of lexical causatives is ruled through the transitive and ergative paradigms, special versions of causation (Davidse 1991, 1992). besides the fact that, at the foundation of intensive synchronic and diachronic information on verbs of killing (e.g. kill, execute, choke or drown), it's proven that ‘transitivity’ and ‘ergativity’ aren't absolute yet prototypical features of verbs that could be overruled through the semantics of the construal within which they happen. The variable transitive or ergative personality of the verbs unearths the complicated interplay among the semantics of the development and that of the verb. The diachronic analyses additional illustrate how during time verbs may perhaps switch their paradigmatic homes, both quickly (e.g. the ergativization of strangle, throttle and smother) or completely (e.g. the ‘causativization’ of starve or the partial transitivization of abort). The analyses convey that those adjustments are semantically well-motivated and additional illustrate the cognitive fact of the 2 causative versions. The paintings explores the experiential foundation of the prototypical paradigmatic behaviour of verbs (e.g. the ergative predilection of the SUFFOCATE verbs). additionally, it makes an attempt to shed extra gentle at the semantics and regulations of convinced buildings, equivalent to the medio-passive, the derivation of adjectives in –able, or the derivation of agentive nominals in –er.
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Additional resources for Lexical Perspectives on Transitivity and Ergativity: Causative Constructions in English
Example text
Against the background of the above discussion, the following sections introduce the vast complexities of the transitive and the ergative systems operative in the English grammar of actions and events. The description is organized around four sections. The first one presents Langacker's conceptual explanation for the nominative/accusative and ergative/absolutive systems. The second section takes the distinction to a more systematic level, discussing Levin's (1993) categorization of verbs based on the type of alternations they allow (although Levin herself does not distinguish between ergative and transitive).
The last section presents my own lexical-paradigmatic position as a further refinement to Davidse's framework, drawing on insights from my analysis of verbs of killing. 2 Langacker's cognitive approach Langacker largely follows the traditional typological definition of the nominative/accusative and ergative/absolutive systems, He defines the former (henceforth called the 'transitive' system) as one in which "intransitive and THE SEMANTICS OF CAUSATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS 31 transitive subjects have the same form, and the direct object is marked differently" (199lb:378).
Are not directly relevant to my purpose. Davidse offers an original synthesis of a number of studies17 by positing transitivity and ergativity as distinct networks of construals. e. different ways in which the participants participate in the process. Halliday (1967-8) talks about differences in the "inherent voice" relation between the participants and the process. 16 See also Davidse (1992, 1994) for additional discussions. The most important of these include various publications by Halliday, Hopper & Thompson (1980), Keyser & Roeper (1984), Rice (1987a,b), and Langacker (1991b).
Lexical Perspectives on Transitivity and Ergativity: Causative Constructions in English by Maarten Lemmens
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