英语形容词修饰语与同源宾语构式句法、语义的实证研究

An Empirical Study on English Adjectival Modifier with the Syntax and Semantics of Cognate Object Construction

同源宾语构式是语言中一种特殊的现象,其句法、语义特点是历来研究的重点。同源宾语构式中的形容词修饰语是该构式中不可或缺的组成部分。本文以美国当代英语语料库为语料来源,以Stefanowitsch &Gries开发的构式搭配分析法为数据计算的工具,并以Goldberg的构式语法为理论基础采用实证的方式考察同源宾语构式的句法、语义特点。通过分析同源宾语构式中形容词的语义类型,发现该构式的整体义为施事发出的动作致使受事呈现出某种状态以及表示受事类型的含义,且前者成为该构式的核心义。句法方面,在隐喻机制的作用下,成为特殊的单宾语构式且该构式并不可作为非宾格和非作格动词的诊断句式。

Cognate object construction is a special phenomenon in language and its syntactic and semantic characteristics have always been the focus of studies. Adjectival modifier is an indispensable component in cognate object construction. Based on the American Contemporary English Corpus, this paper uses the Collostructional Analysis developed by Stefanowitsch and Gries as the method of data calculation and Goldberg’s construction grammar as a theoretical basis to analyze the syntax and semantic characteristics of English cognate object construction in an empirical way. By analyzing the semantic types of adjectives in cognate object construction, this paper finds that this construction has two meanings. The first one is that the agent cause the patient to present a certain state and the second one indicates the meaning of the type of patient. Moreover, the first one is the core constructional meaning. As for the syntax, motivated by the metaphorical mechanism, it becomes a special monotransitive construction. Furthermore, it can’t be the syntactic diagnostics of unaccusative verbs and unergative verbs.