Your browser does not support the PubReader view.
Go to this page to see a list of supporting browsers.
The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 23, No. 0, pp.516-534
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 30 Jan 2023
Received 18 Apr 2023 Revised 12 Jun 2023 Accepted 16 Jun 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.23..202307.516

Three Types of the Intransitive Resultative Construction in English: A Generative Account

Mun-Hong Choe
Professor, Dept. of English Education, Chonnam National University Tel: 062) 530-2435 munhong@jnu.ac.kr


© 2023 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Through a close examination of the grammatical constraints of English resultatives discussed in the previous literature, this study argues that morpheme-based generative accounts have more explanatory adequacy than constructional-semantic accounts. The constructional view classifies English resultatives into four syntactic varieties: transitive resultatives with a selected/unselected object and intransitive resultatives with/without an object, and considers them to comprise a family resemblance of which the core type is the caused motion-path construction (Goldberg and Jackendoff 2004). Focusing on intransitive resultatives which have been more controversial, we review a range of attested data from previous research sources and make the case that despite their resemblance, they are not identical in semantics. Specifically, we propose that there are at least three distinct types of morphosyntactic derivation: transitivized (agentive), causativized (happenstantial), copularized (extentional) resultatives, and that those with an overt object are instances of argument structure augmentation derived from the verb’s intransitive-to-transitive/causative alterations and those without an object are instances of argument structure augmentation derived from the verb’s unaccusative-to-copular extension. The discussion has led to the conclusion that the semantico-syntactic nature of intransitive resultatives can be explained more adequately by morpheme conflations than by a virtually infinite number of constructional idiosyncrasies on the basis of semantic uniformity.

Keywords:

resultative, syntax-semantics interface, secondary predicate, argument structure, constructional grammar

References

  • Aue-Apaikul, P. 2006. Transitivized Instransitives in English: Syntactic, Semantic and Constructional Issues. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
  • Boas, H. C. 2003. A Constructional Approach to Resultatives. Stanford: CSLI Publications.
  • Boas, H. C. 2005. Determining the productivity of resultatives: A reply to Goldberg and Jackendoff. Language 81(2), 448-464. [https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2005.0050]
  • Bowers, J. 1993. The syntax of predication. Linguistic Inquiry 24(4), 591-656.
  • Bowers, J. 2002. Predication. In M. Baltin and C. Collins, eds., The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory, 299-333. Maiden: Blackwell. [https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756416.ch10]
  • Carrier, J. and J.H. Randall. 1992. The argument structure and syntactic structure of resultatives. Linguistic Inquiry 23(2), 173-234.
  • Embick, D. 2004. On the structure of resultative participles in English. Linguistic Inquiry 35(3), 355-392. [https://doi.org/10.1162/0024389041402634]
  • Ettlinger, M. 2005. The syntactic behavior of the resultative phrase: Evidence for a constructional approach, Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 145-160.
  • Ferris, C. 1993. The Meaning of Syntax: A Study in the Adjectives of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Hoekstra, T. 1988. Small clause results. Lingua 74(2-3), 101-139. [https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(88)90056-3]
  • Iwata, S. 2020. English Resultatives: A Force-recipient Account. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. [https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.26]
  • Jackendoff, R. 1990. Semantic Structure. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
  • Kuno, S. 1992. Grammar and Discourse Principles. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Goldberg, A. E. 1995. Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Goldberg, A. E. and R. Jackendoff. 2004. The English resultative as a family of constructions. Language 80(3), 532-568. [https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2004.0129]
  • Larson, R. 1988. On the double object constructions. Linguistic Inquiry 19(3), 335-391.
  • Larson, R. 1990. Double objects revisited: Reply to Jackendoff. Linguistic Inquiry 21(4), 589-632.
  • Levin, B. and M. Rappaport Hovav, M. 1995. Unaccusativity. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
  • Levin, B. and M. Rappaport Hovav, M. 2004. The semantic determinants of argument expression: A view from English resultative constructions. In J. Gueron and J. Lecarme, eds., The Syntax of Time, 477-494. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
  • Mondorf, B. 2010. Variation and change in English resultative constructions. Language Variation and Change 22(3), 397-421. [https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394510000165]
  • Radford, A. 1997. Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139166898]
  • Radford, A. 1998. Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Rappaport Hovav, M. and B. Levin. 2001. An event structure account of resultatives. Language 77(4), 766-797. [https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2001.0221]
  • Roberts, I. 1988. Predicative APs. Linguistic Inquiry 19(4), 703-710.
  • Rothstein, S. 1992. Case and NP licensing. Natural Language and Theory 10(1), 119-139. [https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00135360]
  • Talmy, L. 2000a. Toward a Cognitive Semantics: Concept Structuring Systems. Cambridge: The MIT Press. [https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001]
  • Talmy, L. 2000b. Toward a Cognitive Semantics: Typology and Process in Concept Structuring. Cambridge: The MIT press. [https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6848.001.0001]
  • Van Valin, R. D. and D. P. Wilkins. 1996. The case for ‘effector’: Case roles, agents, and agency revisited. In M. Shibatani and S. Thompson, eds., Grammatical constructions: Their form and meaning, 289-322. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Van Valin, R. D. 2007. The role and reference grammar analysis of three-place predicates. Suvremena lingvistika 33(63), 31-63.