Description

Book Synopsis

This book deals with the characterization and history of the reaction object construction (ROC), as in Pauline smiled her thanks. The ROC consists of an intransitive verb followed by a nonprototypical object that expresses a reaction such that the whole syntactic unit acquires the extended meaning "express X by V-ing" (e.g. "Pauline expressed her thanks by smiling"). The hypothesis is put forward that ROCs follow a similar pathway as other valency-increasing constructions such as the cognate object construction and the way-construction, occurring first with more transitive-like verbs and then expanding to intransitives. Historical corpus evidence from several complementary data sources confirms this idea and reveals striking parallelisms with the way-construction.



Table of Contents

I Transitivization, Reaction Objects and Construction Grammar

II Hands- On with Data: A Usage- Based Approach to the History of the ROC

Changes in Argument Structure: The Transitivizing

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A Hardback by Maurizio Gotti, Tamara Bouso-Rivas

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    View other formats and editions of Changes in Argument Structure: The Transitivizing by Maurizio Gotti

    Publisher: Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
    Publication Date: 28/05/2021
    ISBN13: 9783034340953, 978-3034340953
    ISBN10: 3034340958

    Description

    Book Synopsis

    This book deals with the characterization and history of the reaction object construction (ROC), as in Pauline smiled her thanks. The ROC consists of an intransitive verb followed by a nonprototypical object that expresses a reaction such that the whole syntactic unit acquires the extended meaning "express X by V-ing" (e.g. "Pauline expressed her thanks by smiling"). The hypothesis is put forward that ROCs follow a similar pathway as other valency-increasing constructions such as the cognate object construction and the way-construction, occurring first with more transitive-like verbs and then expanding to intransitives. Historical corpus evidence from several complementary data sources confirms this idea and reveals striking parallelisms with the way-construction.



    Table of Contents

    I Transitivization, Reaction Objects and Construction Grammar

    II Hands- On with Data: A Usage- Based Approach to the History of the ROC

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