DOCSLIB.ORG

A Cognitive-Linguistic Study of Change-Of-State Constructions: Analytical Perspectives and Pedagogical Applications

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Cognitive-Linguistic Study of Change-Of-State Constructions: Analytical Perspectives and Pedagogical Applications TESIS DOCTORAL Título A Cognitive-linguistic Study of Change-of-state Constructions: Analytical Perspectives and Pedagogical Applications Autor/es Jiang Wangmeng Director/es Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez y Asunción Barreras Gómez Facultad Facultad de Letras y de la Educación Titulación Departamento Filologías Modernas Curso Académico A Cognitive-linguistic Study of Change-of-state Constructions: Analytical Perspectives and Pedagogical Applications, tesis doctoral de Jiang Wangmeng, dirigida por Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez y Asunción Barreras Gómez (publicada por la Universidad de La Rioja), se difunde bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 3.0 Unported. Permisos que vayan más allá de lo cubierto por esta licencia pueden solicitarse a los titulares del copyright. © El autor © Universidad de La Rioja, Servicio de Publicaciones, 2019 publicaciones.unirioja.es E-mail: [email protected] TESIS DOCTORAL A Cognitive-linguistic Study of Change-of-state Constructions: Analytical Perspectives and Pedagogical Applications Jiang Wangmeng Supervisors: Prof. Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez Dr. María Asunción Barreras Gómez 2019 Acknowledgements This dissertation is more than a dissertation. It witnessed my golden years of life with sad stories and lovely people. I am very grateful to my two supervisors, Prof. Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez and Dr. María Asunción Barreras Gómez, who are like my families in my heart. Many thanks for understanding the difficulties and barriers for a foreign girl. It is the luckiest and happiest thing to be your student. My previous teachers also help to build the groundwork for my study. Big thanks to Prof. Jeannette Littlemore (University of Birmingham, UK), Prof. Katrin Kohl (University of Oxford, UK), Prof. Si Fuzhen (Beijing Language and Culture University, China). I will also remember our smart and kindhearted research team members, Dr. Sandra Peña, Dr. Aneider Iza Erviti and so on. I may doubt the truth. I may doubt the world. But I never doubt that my families and I love each other forever, even though we are in a distance of 8,783 km for 5.5 years. Last but not least, thanks to the financial support from projects (FFI2017-82730-P, FFI2013-43593-P, EMMA-658079) and scholarships (FPI, ATUR, EEBB). Resumen La presente tesis realiza una investigación lingüística transversal sobre la familia de construcciones de cambio de estado, incluida la construcción de movimiento causado, la construcción resultativa, la construcción incoativa, la construcción causativa y la construcción media. No solo proporciona la descripción y explicación comparativa de cada construcción en L2 (inglés) y L1 (chino) desde una perspectiva cognitivista, sino que también aplica los hallazgos teóricos a las actividades pedagógicas en el contexto del inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL). En el estudio se adopta un enfoque de investigación cualitativa basada en corpus. Después de revisar teorías representativas en gramáticas de construcción, se ha demostrado que el Modelo Léxico Construccional (MLC) aporta una base teórica sólida que logra una adecuación explicativa y proporciona un marco de análisis unificado mediante la integración del lexicalismo y el construccionismo. En los análisis detallados de cada miembro de las construcciones de cambio de estado, hemos encontrado cómo se codifica el cambio de estado y se muestran las similitudes y diferencias en L1 y L2. Al explorar los factores de constricción, encontramos que la metáfora, la metonimia, los rasgos tipológicos, la iconicidad y la telicidad motivan las construcciones. En el campo pedagógico, este estudio aporta una muestra práctica en tres pasos de implementación pedagógica para profesionales chinos del inglés como lengua extranjera: (i) enseñar la motivación cognitiva que subyace a las oraciones que contienen ciertas construcciones en inglés y compararlas con las respectivas en L1, (ii) ilustrar la construcción meta con una amplia selección de ejemplos reales en inglés, y (iii) practicar la construcción con el fin de conseguir precisión y fluidez (repetir los pasos 1 o 2 si es necesario). Se han diseñado en detalle quince muestras de aplicación pedagógica en un formato amigable. Abstract The present dissertation conducts cross-linguistic research on the family of change-of-state constructions, including the caused-motion construction, the resultative construction, the inchoative construction, the causative construction, and the middle construction. It not only provides the comparative description and explanation of each construction in L2 (English) and L1 (Chinese) from a cognitivist perspective but also applies the theoretical findings to pedagogical pursuits in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL). A corpus-based qualitative research approach is adopted in the study. After reviewing representative theories in Construction Grammars, the Lexical Constructional Model(LCM) has been proved to be a solid theoretical foundation that achieves explanatory adequacy and provides a unified framework of analysis by integrating lexicalism and constructionism. In the detailed analyses of each member of change-of-state constructions, we have found how the change of state is captured and the similarities and differences in L1 and L2 are displayed. When exploring the licensing factors, we have found the metaphor, metonymy, typological preference, iconicity and telicity motivate the constructions. In the pedagogical field, this study develops a practical three-step sample of pedagogical implementation for Chinese EFL teachers: (i) teach the cognitive motivation behind sentences that contain certain English constructions and compare them with L1, (ii) illustrate the target construction with ample selection of real English examples, and (iii) practice the construction in terms of accuracy and fluency (repeat Step 1 or 2 if necessary). Fifteen teaching samples are designed in detail in a user-friendly style. CONTENTS List of tables I List of figures II List of abbreviations III Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Aims of the study 1 1.2 The five constructions under analysis 2 1.3 The structure of this dissertation 5 Chapter 2 Methodology 9 2.1 A corpus-based qualitative approach 9 2.2 Data sources 14 2.2.1 Computerized corpora 14 2.2.2 Search engines 16 Chapter 3 Theoretical Background 21 3.1 Change of state 21 3.1.1 Classification of verbs 21 3.1.2 Verbs of change of state 24 3.1.3 Events of state change 27 3.2 Construction Grammars 30 3.2.1 Fillmore’s Case Grammar 31 3.2.2 Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar 32 3.2.3 Goldberg’s Cognitive Construction Grammar 36 3.2.4 Croft's Radical Construction Grammar 38 3.2.5 Assumptions in common and differences 39 3.3 Towards an integration of lexicalism and constructionism: The Lexical 41 Constructional Model Chapter 4 The Caused-motion Construction 51 4.1 Event structure 51 4.2 Change of state in the caused-motion construction 53 4.3 The caused-motion construction in L2 57 4.3.1 Lexical patterns 57 4.3.2 Prepositions: co-predicators of the verb 60 4.3.3 Various interpretations 61 4.3.4 Interaction between the construction and argument selection 63 4.4 The caused-motion construction in L1 69 4.4.1 Lexical patterns 69 4.4.2 Linguistic markers 71 4.4.3 The non-marker caused-motion construction 76 4.4.4 Temporal marker 78 4.5 Cross-linguistic comparisons 78 4.5.1 The causer 79 4.5.2 The causee 81 4.5.3 The driving force 83 4.5.4 Lexical constraint 84 4.6 Licensing factor: typological preference 85 Chapter 5 The Resultative Construction 89 5.1 Event structure 89 5.2 Change of state in the resultative construction 91 5.3 The resultative construction in L2 95 5.3.1 Transitive resultatives 95 5.3.2 Intransitive resultatives 99 5.4 The resultative construction in L1 100 5.4.1 Transitive resultatives 100 5.4.2 Intransitive resultatives 103 5.5 Cross-linguistic comparisons 105 5.5.1 Similar features 105 5.5.2 Similarities and differences in fake reflexive resultatives 106 5.5.3 Cultural differences in resultative expressions 109 5.6 Licensing factor: iconicity 111 5.6.1 Iconic sequence 111 5.6.2 Iconic proximity 113 Chapter 6 The Causative Construction 119 6.1 The causal chain and classification 119 6.2 Change of state in the causative construction 126 6.3 The causative construction in L2 130 6.3.1 Lexical causatives 130 6.3.2 Morphological causatives 132 6.3.3 Periphrastic causatives 133 6.4 The causative construction in L1 135 6.4.1 Lexical causatives 135 6.4.2 Morphological causatives 136 6.4.3 Periphrastic causatives 136 6.5 Cross-linguistic comparisons 140 6.5.1 Same event, different types 140 6.5.2 Differences in peripheral causative constructions 143 6.6 Licensing factor: metonymy 145 6.6.1 Metonymy and affixation 146 6.6.2 Metonymy in the class shift 148 Chapter 7 The Inchoative Construction 151 7.1 Inchoative verbs 151 7.2 Change of state in the inchoative construction 152 7.3 The inchoative construction in L2 156 7.3.1 Lexical patterns 156 7.3.2 Inchoative verbs 157 7.3.3 Types of change of state 159 7.4 The inchoative construction in L1 160 7.4.1 Lexical patterns 160 7.4.2 Unmarked passive 161 7.4.3 Inchoative verbs 162 7.4.4 A second participant in the process 163 7.5 Cross-linguistic comparisons 164 7.5.1 Structure 164 7.5.2 Verbs in the causal chain 165 7.5.3 Tense and aspect 168 7.6 Licensing factors 170 7.6.1 Metonymy 170 7.6.2 Telicity 173 Chapter 8 The Middle Construction 177 8.1 Implicity and genericity 177 8.2 Change of state in the middle construction 178 8.3 The
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Modelling the Causative-Inchoative Alternation
    Modelling the causative-inchoative alternation Christopher Piñón (Düsseldorf) Abstract. The causative-inchoative alternation has traditionally been modelled in terms of the causa- tivization of inchoative verbs. I argue that this analysis conflicts with the way the causative- inchoative alternation is predominantly expressed crosslinguistically, which would sooner suggest that the causative-inchoative alternation involves the decausativization of causative- inchoative verbs. After considering two further models for the causative-inchoative alterna- tion (that of Parsons (1990) and Levin and Rappaport Hovav (1995)) and finding them want- ing as well, I propose a new model (the Y-model) that derives the meaning of a causative- inchoative verb and its inchoative counterpart from the meaning of their shared verb stem. The Y-model does justice both to the morphological facts of the causative-inchoative al- ternation and to the idea that an inchoative verb is a decausative (or more precisely: a deagentive) version of its causative-inchoative counterpart. 1 Introduction The causative-inchoative alternation is traditionally said to be a lexical causative alternation.1 In what follows, I will speak of ‘alternating pairs of verbs’, or more simply of ‘alternating verbs’, for pairs of verbs that participate in this alternation. Such pairs consist of a transitive and an intransitive member that are semantically related in roughly the following way: the intransitive member (a.k.a. an inchoative verb) denotes a change of state and the transitive member (a.k.a. a causative-inchoative verb) denotes a bringing about of this change of state. This informal characterization can be tested against the following pairs of sentences containing alternating verbs: (1) (a) Rebecca broke the pencil.
    [Show full text]
  • The Semantic Determinants of Argument Expression: a View from the English Resultative Construction
    To appear in J. Gueron´ and J. Lecarme, eds., The Syntax of Time, MIT Press, Cam- bridge, MA. The Semantic Determinants of Argument Expression: A View from the English Resultative Construction July 2002 Beth Levin Malka Rappaport Hovav Stanford University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ([email protected]) ([email protected]) 1 The Appeal of Aspectual Determinants of Argument Expression In recent literature, argument expression is often taken to be most immediately determined by aspectual properties. This idea is reflected in statements as strong as Tenny’s Aspectual Interface Hypothesis that “Only the aspectual part of the- matic structure is visible to the universal linking principles” (1994:2) and in van Hout’s (1996) proposal that many argument expression alternations are instances of event type-shifting — i.e., aspectual reclassification. It is also implicit in Verkuyl’s (1993:20) Plus Principle, a compositionality principle which requires objects to contribute to bounding an event, preventing push and other basically atelic transi- tive verbs from being analyzed as true transitives (329-349). The most frequently cited aspectual semantic determinants include predicate (or event)-related notions such as telicity and boundedness and NP (or entity)-related notions such as incre- mental theme (Dowty 1991), measure (Tenny 1987, 1992, 1994), delimiter (Borer 1994; Ritter and Rosen 1998; Tenny 1987, 1992, 1994), and subject of result (Borer 1998). Researchers crucially tie these aspectual notions to the transitivity of the predicate and to the direct objecthood of the relevant NPs. In this paper, we argue that the impact of traditionally recognized aspectual properties — particularly the notions just cited — on argument expression has been overestimated (see also Reinhart 2000).
    [Show full text]
  • Inchoative—Causative Alternation in Persian
    M-E L L T (2015) | 89 Inchoative-causative alternation in Persian ? M S-D ?Dept. of Linguistics, École Normale Supérieure, 75230 Paris, France A The present study mainly aims to describe the mechanics of [email protected] causative-inchoative alternation in modern Persian as well as the causative struc- ture of its verbal system. In this scope, we provide a brief description of the phrase structure of the modern Persian and discuss its main causative-inchoative codification strategies: morphological, lexical and analytic causatives. When giv- ing Persian examples, we use the Transcription procedure for Iranian toponymic See UNGEGN (2013). items implemented by the Iranian National Committee on the Standardization of Geographic names and subsequently adopted and approved by the United Na- See UN (2012). tions in 2012. I T change of state, causative, transitive, inchoative, Persian Introduction C Cross-linguistically, a causative is a verb form that indicates that a subject causes another agent to do or to be something, or causes a change of state (COS) event that is non-volitional. Certain verbs that express such a change of state are used transitively or intransitively. When used transitively, such verbs are said to be causative, while when used intransitively, thay are referred to as inchoative or anticausative. This phenomenon of double- facedness is then called “causative-inchoative alternation”. The first thorough analysis of the causative-inchoative alternation and that of the behaviour of the COS verbs is attributed to Jespersen (1927). In a chapter Jespersen, O. (1927). A Modern English discussing transitivity, he asserts that many verbs participate in both intransitive Grammar: On Historical Principles (Part III Syntax.
    [Show full text]
  • A Finer Look at the Causative-Inchoative Alternation
    A Finer Look at the Causative-Inchoative Alternation Christopher Piii6n UniversitiitDusseldor f 1. Introduction The causative-inchoative alternation is a lexical alternation thatcharacterizes pairs of verbs which stand in approximately the fo llowing semantic relation to each other: the intransitive member of the pair, a.k.a. an inchoative verb, denotes a change of state, and the transitive member of the pair, a.k.a. a causative-inchoative verb, denotes a bringing about of this change of state. The sentences in (1 }-(3) illustrate the causative-inchoative alternationwith typical pairs of alternatingver bs. (1) a. Rebecca broke the pencil. b. The pencil broke. (2) a. Maria opened the door. b. The door opened. (3) a. Thomas dried the clothes. b. The clothes dried. For example, the sentence (lb), which contains the inchoative verb break ill incho' describes a change of state in which the pencil becomes broken, whereas the sen­ tence in (la), which contains its causative-inchoative counterpart break _ caus incho' describes Rebecca's bringing it about that the pencil becomes broken. There are two central questions looming in the background of the causative­ inchoative alternation: the first is why not every inchoative verb has a causative­ inchoative counterpart, and the second-which is really the inverse of the first-is why not every causative-inchoative verb has an inchoative counterpart. For exam­ ples bearing on the first question, consider the contrasts in (4)-(6). 1 (4) a. The roses bloomed. b. *Rebecca bloomed the roses. (5) a. The iron gate rustedaway. b. *Maria rusted away the iron gate.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical and Comparative Perspectives on A-Prefixing in the English of Appalachia
    HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON A-PREFIXING IN THE ENGLISH OF APPALACHIA MICHAEL B. MONTGOMERY University of South Carolina abstract: This article both expands and confirms research on a relic grammatical feature, the prefix a- on present participles. Because previous work has concen- trated on its occurrence in the English of Appalachia and only synchronically, first its superregional distribution is shown. The article then surveys its evolution from a preposition (on or at) + gerund in Early Middle English to the prefix a- + participle. The article assesses possible transatlantic sources, arguing that southern England to be most plausible. Previous work, especially Wolfram (1980, 1988) in West Virginia and Feagin (1979) in Alabama, have identified both grammatical and phonological constraints on its occurrence and possible semantic or discourse meaning, for the prefix. These are tested against a large corpus from an area intermediate between the two, the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. Four major quantita- tive constraints prohibiting the prefix, originally proposed by Wolfram, are strongly substantiated, but a small number of exceptions to each argues that they are not categorical. With respect to other, more minor patterns, the prefix in the Smoky Mountains has a different distributed from West Virginia, but overall Wolfram’s pio- neering work is corroborated. Documenting and tracking these linguistic constraints through the history of English remain tasks for future corpus linguists. A well-known feature of regional American speech, often associated with the English of Appalachia, is the syllable a- prefixed to verb present participles, as in (1) and (2): 1. Wilford was kind of sick his last years a-teaching.
    [Show full text]
  • Causative/Inchoative Verb Alternation in Altaic Languages: Turkish, Turkmen, Nanai and Mongolian
    International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 10, No. 5; 2020 ISSN 1923-869X E-ISSN 1923-8703 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Causative/Inchoative Verb Alternation in Altaic Languages: Turkish, Turkmen, Nanai and Mongolian Wenchao Li1 1 Department of Japanese Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China Correspondence: Wenchao Li, Department of Japanese Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. E-mail: [email protected] Received: July 30, 2020 Accepted: September 25, 2020 Online Published: September 29, 2020 doi:10.5539/ijel.v10n5p399 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v10n5p399 Abstract The purpose of the study is two-fold. First, a statistical analysis of the morphology of causative/inchoative verb alternation is carried out in Japanese and in 13 Altaic languages, i.e., Turkish, Turkmen, Nanai, Khakas, Udihe, Uzbek, Sakha, Manchu, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Kazakh, Ewen, and Azerbaijani. The findings reveal that causative/inchoative verb alternation (a) can be realised via the insertion of an infix (‘-uul-’, ‘-e-’, ‘-g-’, etc.); (b) can be inchoative root-based, with transitive verbs derived via attaching a suffix to the inchoative verb roots (‘-dur-’, ‘-t-’, ‘-ir-’, ‘-dyr-’, ‘-wəən-’, ‘-buwəən-’, ‘-r-’, ‘-wənə-’, ‘-nar-’, ‘-ier-’, ‘-er-’, ‘-bu-’, ‘-ʊkan-’); (c) can be causative verb-based, with inchoative verbs being derived via attaching a suffix to the causative verb roots (‘-p-’, ‘-n-’, ‘-ul-’, ‘-il-’); and (d) can be realised via consonant alternation (‘-r-’ (transitive) / ‘-n-’ (intransitive); ‘-t-’ (transitive) / ‘-n-’ (intransitive)). This study further attempts to pin down the affiliation of these languages with the Japanese language. It compares the morphological findings with Japanese bound morphemes in causative/inchoative verb alternation and then delves into the phonological issues, i.e., consonant alternation and vowel harmony.
    [Show full text]
  • Inchoatives in Causative Clothing Change of State in Modern Hebrew Hexyiz
    The Linguistic Review 2019; aop Itamar Kastner∗ Inchoatives in causative clothing Change of state in Modern Hebrew heXYiZ https://doi.org/10.1515/tlr-2019-2025 Abstract: The “causative” template heXYiZ in Hebrew is the morphological form of verbs which are usually transitive. I discuss cases in which specific roots give rise to the labile alternation, otherwise unattested in the language. A straightfor- ward analysis is suggested for the majority of cases, based on causative Voice[+D]. This analysis is then extended to account for the labile exceptions, which inform how the idiosyncratic meaning of roots influences syntactic computation. Keywords: degree achievement, causative, Hebrew, inchoative, morphology 1 Introduction The verbal morphology of Modern Hebrew famously consists of seven “tem- plates”, in which consonants (here X, Y and Z) slot into vocalic and affixal patterns (Doron 2003; Arad 2005; Borer 2013; Kastner 2016). Our focus is on the template heXYiZ, often called the “causative” form; verbs in it are generally active, as in (1).1 (1) a. Causative: heS mid ‘destroyed’, hexnis ‘inserted’, hekpi ‘froze’, . b. Unergative: heţpin ‘went north’, hedrim ‘went south’, hejmin ‘went to the right’, heemin ‘believed’, hegzim ‘exaggerated’, hemtin ‘awaited’, heflig ‘set sail’, hebit ‘looked’, heria ‘cheered’, . 1 This template usually appears in the literature as hiXYiZ, with an /i/-/i/ vocalic pattern. Yet contemporary speakers use /E/ (Trachtman 2016), and so I transcribe “e” throughout. Con- versely, the initial /h/ is usually dropped in speech but I retain it for two reasons. First, /h/ is still pronounced by some older speakers and certain sociolinguistic groups, often marginalized ones (cf.
    [Show full text]
  • Labile Relational Verbs in English and Their Dutch Counterparts a Contrastive, Corpus-Based Study of Bureaucratic Language
    LABILE RELATIONAL VERBS IN ENGLISH AND THEIR DUTCH COUNTERPARTS A CONTRASTIVE, CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF BUREAUCRATIC LANGUAGE Marthe Lemeire Studentennummer: 01404739 Promotor: Prof. dr. Miriam Taverniers Masterproef voorgelegd voor het behalen van de graad van Master in de richting Taal- en Letterkunde: Nederlands – Engels Academiejaar: 2017 – 2018 Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Miriam Taverniers for her guidance throughout my writing process and for answering my countless e-mails. Even when everything got very busy, she still helped me when I needed it. I also want to thank her for the faith she had in me when she asked me to continue research in this very complex domain of grammar. Secondly, I would like to thank three of my university friends. To begin with, Ellis Oosterlinck and Marlien Ruysschaert, who were always there to support me with their pep talks. Also, I would like to thank Kimberley Hellenbrand, who was equally struggling with writing a paper and with whom I could always share my thoughts. These friends helped me find the courage not to give up. Without everyone’s support I truly do not think I could have finished this thesis. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 5 2. Literature overview ........................................................................................................................... 7 2.1. Lability in English .....................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Causative Constructions in Persian: a Critical Review of the Voice-Bundling Approach PARISA TARAHOMI
    Causative Constructions in Persian: A Critical Review of the Voice-Bundling Approach PARISA TARAHOMI The structure of causatives has been the subject of debate since Pylkkänen’s (2008) proposal of a voice-bundling parameter, in which languages either employ a fused functional head which unifies the functions of Voice and little v (i.e., categorial and voice features) in a single projection, or separate little v and Voice heads that carry these features (Key 2013, Harley 2017, Nabors 2019).This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the typology of causative constructions in Persian. A challenging problem is data from Persian which demonstrate that the language allows both Voice-bundling and non-Voice-bundling constructions. Harley (2017) proposes that Persian light-verb causatives can be considered as Voice-bundling where verbalization and agent- introduction are all realized in a single v head. This proposal works perfectly for the light verb constructions in Persian, but other causative constructions in the language have different properties and a single head cannot be responsible for both Voice and little v functions (Karimi 1997, Folli et al. 2005, Nabors 2019). Nabors (2019) argues that Persian morphological causatives are formed with a root attaching causative morpheme, -an, and this morpheme cannot bundle under the same head with little v. The conclusion that can be drawn is that both Voice-bundling and non-Voice-bundling constructions can be present in the same language, as in Persian.* 1. Introduction A large number of existing studies in the broader literature have addressed the causative constructions cross-linguistically. The main purpose of this study is to provide a review of literature about the typology of causative construction in Persian (i.e., lexical, morphological, light-verb alternation and syntactic/periphrastic) followed by the examination of two types of the Persian causative constructions in light of the Voice- bundling approach (Pylkkänen 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • On the Notion «Inchoative Verb» in Kinyarwanda
    I.E KINYARWANDA,Jaosue bantu do Rwanda ·Iltudes ~ F. IOUANNET.(~.).1983.PariB. SBLAF (I.aqutlaet Cul_afi:k:alnos 2) ON THE NOTION «INCHOATIVE VERB» IN KINYARWANDA by Robert D. BOTNE INTRODUCTION The verbs described in this article constitute a significant, but inadequately explored, group of Kinyarwanda verbs. They have been desc~1bed variously by different linguists as "statives" (van OVERSCHEL' DE 1968, OVERDULVE 1975), as "non-progressive (versus progressive) sta­ tives" (KlMENYI 1973), and as a commixture of lexically ·stative" and "non-stative" verbs (COUPEZ 1980). Each of these different descriptions characterizes the verbs in question as being in some way "stative"; yet such a characterization captures only a small part of the nature of these verbs and, moreover, is not true of the entire group. Further­ more, they fail in general to provide any explanation for the diffe­ rences in linguistic behavior between these verbs and other verbs in the language. In the analysis that follows I propose a semantic/syntac­ tic framework for characterizing these differen~es. In general this set of verbs serves to express a change of condi­ tion or location of the subject; many of them characterize the change, or transition, from one state to another l • Consequently, I will refer (1) These definitions are based on OtLLON (1977 126). "'I 150 151 to them throughout the analysis as "inchoative verbs". Included.in this sion will be concerned with the linguistic interaction of tense and set of inchoative verbs are verbs such as the following : aspect with the verbs naming these events. Before proceeding with the ku-rwaara2 "to be (come) 9icl<" proposed analysis of inchoative verbs, it is both necessary and expe­ kw-)~cara Uta be (come) seated" dient to examine briefly the theoretical assumptions upon which the uura" , "to reside/live" analyses of tense, aspect and the temporal structures of events are to be based.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Derivation of Causative and Inchoative Verb Forms in Polish in Comparison with English and Other Languages
    Magda Ro ści ńska-Frankowska On the Derivation of Causative and Inchoative Verb Forms in Polish In Comparison with English and Other Languages Generative Linguistics in Wrocław is published by the Center for General and Comparative Linguistics (Pracownia J ęzykoznawstwa Ogólnego i Porównawczego) at the University of Wrocław. Address: Ku źnicza 22 50-138 Wrocław Poland Editor of the series — Joanna Błaszczak Copy-editing — Marcin Orszulak Proof-reading — Joanna Błaszczak Layout — Marcin Orszulak Cover design — Marcin Orszulak © Copyright by Magda Ro ści ńska-Frankowska, 2012 This book is available without payment on the website of the Center for General and Comparative Linguistics. No part of this book may be reproduced without the permission of the author. ISBN 978-83-932687-0-2 About the series Generative Linguistics in Wrocław (GLiW) is meant to provide a suitable forum for the presentation and discussion of the Polish research within the field of generative linguistics. We are interested in studies that employ generative methodology to the synchronic or diachronic analysis of phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax. Apart from that, we express a keen interest in interdisciplinary research that is based on typology, diachrony, and especially experimental methods taken from psycho- or neurolinguistics and applied so as to provide a psycholinguistic reality to purely theoretical research. We believe that the dissemination of ideas is fundamental to any scientific advancement and thus our choice is to publish research studies in the form of e-books, which are available for free on our website. Joanna Błaszczak on behalf of the Editorial Board Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ▪ 7 1.1.
    [Show full text]
  • Gothic Syntax
    7 ______________________________________________________________________ Gothic Syntax 7.1 Weak and strong adjectives Adjectives in Germanic have a strong and weak inflection. In Gothic, strong forms are used in predicative constructions (1-2) and most attributive constructions (3-5): (1) braid daur jah rūms wigs (Mt 7: 13) ‘broad (is) the door and roomy the way’ (2) ƕan aggwu þata daur (Mt 7: 14) ‘how narrow (is) that door’ (3) inngaggaiþ þairh aggwu daur (Mt 7: 13) ‘go in through the narrow door’ (4) galeiko ina waira frodamma (Mt 7: 24) ‘I liken him to the wise man’ (5) izwara goda waurstwa (Mt 5: 16) ‘your good works’ Weak adjectives may have originated as -n- stem nouns. Their primary use in Gothic is appositional (Harbert 2007: 130ff.). The following contrast is most informative: (6) Ik im hairdeis gods. I am shepherd good 2 Gothic Syntax Hairdeis sa goda saiwala seina lagjiþ … (Jn 10: 11) shepherd the good soul his lays ‘I am the good shepherd. A shepherd, the good one, lays down his soul …’ The contrast is stark between attributive gods (strong) and appositional goda (weak). In both constructions, the Greek original has ho poimḕn ho kalós [the shepherd the good] ‘the good shepherd’. This implies that (i) the translator elected to interpret the passage rather than translate it directly, and therefore (ii) both Gothic constructions are native since neither is calqued on the corresponding Greek text. The appositional context for weak adjectives is typical: (7) sunus meins sa liuba (Lk 9: 35) son mine the beloved ‘my beloved son’ Weak adjectival forms can also accompany a noun in the vocative (8) and when the noun head of the NP is null, as in (9) (Mossé 1956: 170).
    [Show full text]