The semantic representation of possesseed-raising constructions in terms of reflexivity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.74Abstract
This paper aims to provide arguments in favour of the widely discussed idea that English causative alternating constructions of the type "John broke his arm/His arm broke" are, at least partly, reflexive. As we shall see, several constraints condition this proposal, namely the actor/non-actor category of the first argument of the activity predicate and the concept of control. In addition, I will argue that the recurrent association of this particular causative formal composition to the above mentioned reflexive meaning leads us to consider this alternation as a new construction within the wider scope of causatives. This construction has been labelled as the Possessed-Raising constructionDownloads
References
Bloomfield, L. 1933. Language. New York: Holt.
Croft, W. 1990. Typology and Universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dik, S. C. 1997. The Theory of Functional Grammar I : The Structure of the Clause. Dordrecht: Foris.
Goldberg, A. E. 1995. A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Kövecses, Z. & Radden, G. 1998. “Metonymy: Developing a cognitive linguistic view”. Cognitive Linguistics 9 (1): 37-77.
Levin, B. 1993. English Verb Classes and Alternations. A Preliminary Investigation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Levin, B. & Rappaport Hovav, M. 1995. Unaccusativity. At the Syntax- Lexical Semantics Interface. Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Martín Arista, F. J. 2001. “Adjustment and motivation”. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 42: 167-186 Moreno Cabrera, J. C. 1991. Curso Universitario de Lingüística General. Tomo I: Teoría de la gramática y sintaxis general. Madrid: Sintesis.
Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, F. J. 1999. Introducción a la teoría cognitiva de la metonimia. Granada: Granada Lingvistica y Método Ediciones.
Siewierska, A. 1990. “The Source of the Dative Perspective in Polish pseudo-reflexives”. Working with Functional Grammar: Descriptive and Computational Applications. Eds. Hannay & Wester. Dordrecht: Foris. 1-14.
Van Valin, R. D. Jr. & Lapolla, R.J. 1997. Syntax. Structure, meaning and function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors retain copyright of articles and authorize Journal of English Studies the first publication. They are free to share, redistribute, and/or reprint the article without obtaining permission from the publisher as long as they give appropriate credit to the editor and the journal.
Self-archiving is allowed too. In fact, it is recommendable to deposit a PDF version of the paper in academic and/or institutional repositories.
It is recommended to include the DOI number.
This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
