The approach to Subject and Object assignment in Dik<s Functional Grammaris one of the most controversial aspects of the theory. Dik (1997) formulates auniversal hierarchy of semantic functions determining accessibility to theSubject... more
The approach to Subject and Object assignment in Dik<s Functional Grammaris one of the most controversial aspects of the theory. Dik (1997) formulates auniversal hierarchy of semantic functions determining accessibility to theSubject and Object functions. The icut-off pointj for Object assignment inEnglish is established after the Beneficiary. However, it is my contention thatObject assignment is not restricted to Goal, Recipient and Beneficiary terms.As I will try to illustrate in this paper, there are other more marginal possibilitiesthat suggest that the productivity of Object assigment is a matter of degree (cf.Brdar and Brdar Szabó 1993).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In this chapter Pilar Guerrero Medina aims to explore the connection between the English conative construction and what is regarded as an “antipassive” in the functional-typological literature, drawing on corpus data with a sample of... more
In this chapter Pilar Guerrero Medina aims to explore the connection between the English conative construction and what is regarded as an “antipassive” in the functional-typological literature, drawing on corpus data with a sample of verbs from Levin’s (1993) semantic classes of Contact by Impact, Breaking, Cutting and Ingesting. It is here argued that a constructionist approach of the English conative alternation along the lines of Goldberg (1995) is in principle superior to a lexicallybased one. However, in the author’s view, the Goldbergian approach still provides an incomplete picture of the problem, and she furthers claims that the semantic and discourse-pragmatic properties of the conative construction would be better captured under Cooreman’s (1994) definition of the antipassive.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Sociology and Linguistics
Introduction Pilar Guerrero Medina Part I. Theoretically-oriented approaches to the issue of morphosyntactic alternations Alternations as a heuristic to verb meaning and the semantics of constructions Kristin Davidse, University of Leuven... more
Introduction Pilar Guerrero Medina Part I. Theoretically-oriented approaches to the issue of morphosyntactic alternations Alternations as a heuristic to verb meaning and the semantics of constructions Kristin Davidse, University of Leuven The study of alternations in a dialogic Functional Discourse Grammar J. Lachlan Mackenzie, VU University Amsterdam Constraints on syntactic alternation: Lexical-constructional subsumption in the Lexical-Constructional Model Francisco J. Ruiz de Mendoza, University of La Rioja, and Ricardo Mairal Uson, National Distance Education University, Spain Alternation and Participant Role: A contribution from a Systemic Functional Grammar Amy C. Neale, National Digital Research Center, Ireland Part II. Studies of specific alternations II.1 Transitivity alternations involving a change in the configuration of semantic roles The causative/inchoative alternation in Functional Discourse Grammar Daniel Garcia Velasco, University of Oviedo Spontaneous and facilitat...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The main aim of this paper is to consider the issue of lexicalconstructional integration in circumstantial English middles with instrumental and locative subjects, exemplified respectively by Narrow tyres manoeuvre more easily and The... more
The main aim of this paper is to consider the issue of lexicalconstructional integration in circumstantial English middles with instrumental and locative subjects, exemplified respectively by Narrow tyres manoeuvre more easily and The tennis court plays a bit slower (cf. Davidse and Heyvaert 2003, 2007). I will first explore the lexico-semantic mechanisms that may sanction the ascription of a verbal predicate to these extended uses of the middle construction where there is no causative element and the “affectedness” constraint needs to be ruled out. Drawing upon Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal Usón (2007, 2011), I will also try to determine to what extent high-level metonymy may actually apply as an external motivating factor in the explanation of these non-prototypical uses of the middle, also showing how contextual and discourse-pragmatic factors cooperate with each other to enhance the metonymic interpretation of the “circumstantial” middle type.
Research Interests:
This paper explores the interaction between verbal and constructional semantics in the benefactive double object construction in English. My main aim has been to disentangle the semantics of the construction exploring the constructional... more
This paper explores the interaction between verbal and constructional semantics in the benefactive double object construction in English. My main aim has been to disentangle the semantics of the construction exploring the constructional potential of the main alternating verb classes, i.e., verbs of “obtaining”, “creation” and “preparing” (Levin, 1993), and spelling out the cognitive principles that motivate these and other extended uses as cases of lexical-constructional subsumption within the framework of the Lexical Constructional Model (cf. Galera Masegosa & Ruiz de Mendoza, 2012; Ruiz de Mendoza, 2013). Rather than advocating a polysemous analysis of the ditransitive, as proposed by Goldberg (1992, 1995), the position I take here is that ditransitives with beneficiary arguments and ditransitives with prototypical recipient arguments instantiate two different subconstructions which cannot be treated under the same general rubric, in spite of their “shared surface form” (Goldberg,...
Research Interests:
This article puts forward an analysis of productive combinations of agentive -er nouns and compounding within the Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) model, trying to account for the different kinds of lexico-semantic input to the process... more
This article puts forward an analysis of productive combinations of agentive -er nouns and compounding within the Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) model, trying to account for the different kinds of lexico-semantic input to the process and discussing the relevance of Aktionsart and other semantic and pragmatic factors to constrain noun incorporation in synthetic compounding. It is here argued that the FDG theory can account for the compositional approach to predicate-argument formations such as truckdriver, while also allowing for a non-compositional use of these and other less predictable formations such as painkiller, where analogy is assumed to play a role.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Lo fundamental de este trabajo, enmarcado en el area de la lexicologia contrastiva, es reformular las propiedades semanticas y sintacticas que definen una construccion transitiva prototipica. La teoria del prototipo, aplicada a la... more
Lo fundamental de este trabajo, enmarcado en el area de la lexicologia contrastiva, es reformular las propiedades semanticas y sintacticas que definen una construccion transitiva prototipica. La teoria del prototipo, aplicada a la categorizacion gramatical, y la gramatica funcional, con su ideal de adecuacion tipologica, constituyen el marco teorico de este estudio. Partiendo fundamentalmente de las observaciones de Hopper y Thompson (1980), la transitividad es definida como un continuo, como una categoria prototipica, donde la pertenencia es una cuestion de grado. Las repercusiones sintacticas del alejamiento semantico del prototipo son analizadas de forma sistematica en cada una de las tres lenguas que constituyen el objeto de este estudio, I.E., ingles, espanol y aleman. Las propiedades que determinan el grado de transitividad semantica de una construccion sintacticamente transitiva han sido aplicadas a una serie de estados de cosas que, como minimo en una de las tres lenguas, se expresan mediante estructuras formalmente transitivas que contienen los predicados make/hacer/machen, have/tener/haben o take/tomar/nehmen. Este analisis permite establecer la relacion existente entre el alejamiento semantico del prototipo y el comportamiento morfosintactico de las lenguas contrastadas.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... Along the lines suggested by Lakoff (1977), DeLancey (1987: 54) argues that" it is easier to ... Notes * I would like to thank Faber and Faber Ltd for permission to reproduce the ... Volitionality, however, is not always regarded... more
... Along the lines suggested by Lakoff (1977), DeLancey (1987: 54) argues that" it is easier to ... Notes * I would like to thank Faber and Faber Ltd for permission to reproduce the ... Volitionality, however, is not always regarded as a necessary feature of agentivity (see, for instance ...
Research Interests: Sociology and Linguistics
In this paper I will explore the relationship between constructional and verbalsemantics in a two-participant construction exemplified by expressions like Ibroke my arm (when I fell) (Talmy 2000, 518), where the Subject is described asa... more
In this paper I will explore the relationship between constructional and verbalsemantics in a two-participant construction exemplified by expressions like Ibroke my arm (when I fell) (Talmy 2000, 518), where the Subject is described asa mere circumstantial setting for the process (Davidse 1992, 128). Drawing oncorpus data with change-of-state verbs, I will illustrate the syntactic contextswhere this construction occurs in English, analysing how the particular usesof these verbs interact with the semantico-pragmatic value of the construction.Along the lines of Lemmens (2006), and building on previous work of mine(Guerrero Medina 2010), I will adopt a lexico-paradigmatic view and arguethat the paradigmatic behaviour of a verb is actually determined by the entireconstruction.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... 247-256. The Importance of Being Nameless: Exploring Alienation and Mysticism in Margaret Atwood's "Surfacing". Jesús Blanco Hidalga. págs. 257-266. ... 301-310. The Self and the Other: the Motif of Doubles and Mirrors... more
... 247-256. The Importance of Being Nameless: Exploring Alienation and Mysticism in Margaret Atwood's "Surfacing". Jesús Blanco Hidalga. págs. 257-266. ... 301-310. The Self and the Other: the Motif of Doubles and Mirrors in Angela Carter's Last Novels. Maricel Oró Piqueras. págs ...
This article focuses on the so-called get -passive, frequently regarded as a problematic construction in the linguistic literature. It is my contention that a lexically-based approach is insufficient to account for the appropriateness of... more
This article focuses on the so-called get -passive, frequently regarded as a problematic construction in the linguistic literature. It is my contention that a lexically-based approach is insufficient to account for the appropriateness of the get -passive, since pragmatic and contextual factors are also crucial to ascertain its acceptability. Basing my discussion on corpus data, I will analyze how the semantics of the get -passive interacts with the semantic properties of verbs from five semantic types that can be integrated within the construction: affect , giving , motion ( take -subtype), corporeal and annoying . Along the lines of Goldberg a Jackendoff (2004: 563), I suggest that the get -passive should be treated as a family of constructions in order to account for its semantic and pragmatic properties. Two main subconstructions will be posited: the causative get -passive and the spontaneous get -passive.