Syntactic Constructions in English

370 Pages·2020·13.149 MB·English

by  Jong-Bok Kim and Laura A. Michaelis

SyntacticConstructionsinEnglish
ConstructionGrammar(CxG)isaframeworkforsyntacticanalysisthat
takes constructions – pairings of form and meaning that range from
the highly idiomatic to the very general – to be the building blocks of
sentencemeaning.OfferingthefirstcomprehensiveintroductiontoCxG
tofocusonbothEnglishwordsandtheconstructionsthatcombinethem,
this textbook shows students not only what the analyses of particular
structures are, but also how and why those analyses are constructed,
with each chapter taking the student step by step through the reasoning
processes that yield the best description of a data set. It offers a wealth
of illustrative examples and exercises, largely based on real language
data,makingitidealforbothself-studyandclassroomuse.Writteninan
accessibleandengagingway,thistextbookwillopenupthisincreasingly
popular linguistic framework to anyone interested in the grammatical
patternsofEnglish.
JONG-BOK KIM is Professor of English Linguistics at Kyung Hee
University,Seoul.
LAURA A. MICHAELIS is Professor of Linguistics at the University of
ColoradoBoulder.

Syntactic Constructions
in English
JONG-BOK KIM
KyungHeeUniversity,Seoul
LAURA A. MICHAELIS
UniversityofColoradoBoulder
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108470339
DOI:10.1017/9781108632706
(cid:2)c Jong-BokKimandLauraA.Michaelis2020
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
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noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
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Firstpublished2020
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd,PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Kim,Jong-Bok,1966–author.|Michaelis,LauraA.,1964–author.
Title:SyntacticconstructionsinEnglish/Jong-BokKim,LauraA.
Michaelis-Cummings.
Description:1.|NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2020.|Includes
bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2019057511(print)|LCCN2019057512(ebook)|ISBN
9781108470339(hardback)|ISBN9781108632706(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Englishlanguage–Syntax.|Englishlanguage–Grammar.
Classification:LCCPE1361.K5652020(print)|LCCPE1361(ebook)|DDC
425–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019057511
LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019057512
ISBN978-1-108-47033-9Hardback
ISBN978-1-108-45586-2Paperback
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Contents
Preface pagexi
1 WhatIsaTheoryofEnglishSyntaxAbout? 1
1.1 LinguisticandSyntacticCompetence 1
1.2 GenerativeGrammars 5
1.3 HowWeDiscoverDescriptiveRules 5
1.4 TwoDifferentViewsofGenerativeGrammar 9
1.4.1 DeductiveReasoningandtheNativistView 10
1.4.2 InductiveReasoningandtheConstraint-BasedView 12
1.5 EvidenceThatGrammarIsConstruction-Based 14
1.6 GoalsofThisBook 15
2 LexicalandPhrasalSigns 19
2.1 LinguisticSignsandConstructionsasForm-MeaningPairs 19
2.2 FromLexicalSignstoPhrasalSignsasaContinuum 20
2.3 LexicalSigns 24
2.3.1 ClassifyingLexicalSigns 24
2.3.2 GrammarwithLexicalCategoriesAlone 29
2.4 PhrasalConstructionsandConstituencyTests 31
2.5 FormingPhrasalConstructions:PhraseStructureRules 34
2.5.1 NP:NounPhrase 34
2.5.2 VP:VerbPhrase 35
2.5.3 AP:AdjectivePhrase 37
2.5.4 AdvP:AdverbPhrase 38
2.5.5 PP:PrepositionPhrase 39
2.5.6 CPandConjP:ComplementizerandConjunction
Phrases 40
2.6 GrammarwithPhrasalConstructions 40
2.7 Multi-wordExpressions:BetweenLexicalandPhrasal
Constructions 45
2.7.1 FixedExpressions 45
2.7.2 Semi-fixedExpressions 46
2.7.3 SyntacticallyFlexibleMulti-wordExpressions 47
2.8 Conclusion 49
v
vi Contents
3 Syntactic Forms, Grammatical Functions, and Semantic
Roles 53
3.1 Introduction 53
3.2 GrammaticalFunctions 54
3.2.1 Subjects 54
3.2.2 DirectObjectsandIndirectObjects 56
3.2.3 PredicativeComplements 58
3.2.4 ObliqueComplements 59
3.2.5 Modifiers 59
3.3 BringingFormandFunctionTogether 60
3.4 Form-FunctionMismatches 61
3.5 SemanticRoles 63
3.6 Conclusion 66
4 Head,Complements,Modifiers,andArgumentStructures 70
4.1 BuildingaPhrasefromaHead 70
4.1.1 Internalvs.ExternalSyntax 70
4.1.2 TheNotionofHead,Complements,andModifiers 71
4.2 DifferencesbetweenComplementsandModifiers 73
(cid:3)
4.3 PSRules,X-rules,andFeatures 76
4.3.1 ProblemsofPSRules 76
4.3.2 IntermediatePhrasesandSpecifiers 78
4.3.3 IntermediatePhrasesforNon-NPs 84
4.4 LexiconandFeatureStructures 84
4.4.1 FeatureStructuresandBasicOperations 85
4.4.2 FeatureStructuresforLinguisticEntities 87
4.5 ArgumentsandArgument-StructureConstructions 89
4.5.1 BasicPropertiesofArgumentStructure 89
4.5.2 TypesofArgument-StructureConstructions 90
4.5.3 ArgumentStructuresasConstructions:Formand
MeaningRelations 94
4.6 Conclusion 96
5 CombinatorialConstructionRulesandPrinciples 99
5.1 FromLexemestoWords 99
5.2 HeadFeaturesandHeadFeaturePrinciple 101
5.2.1 PartsofSpeechValueasaHeadFeature 101
5.2.2 VerbFormasaHeadFeature 101
5.2.3 MappingbetweenArgument-Structureand
ValenceFeatures 104
5.3 CombinatoryConstructionRules 105
5.4 Nonphrasal,LexicalConstructions 111
5.5 FeatureSpecificationsontheSyntacticComplement 113
5.5.1 ComplementsofVerbs 113
Contents vii
5.5.2 ComplementsofAdjectives 116
5.5.3 ComplementsofCommonNouns 117
5.6 FeatureSpecificationsontheSubject 118
5.7 ClausalComplementandSubject 119
5.7.1 VerbsSelectingaClausalComplement 119
5.7.2 VerbsSelectingaClausalSubject 126
5.7.3 AdjectivesSelectingaClausalComplement 128
5.7.4 NounsSelectingaClausalComplement 129
5.7.5 PrepositionsSelectingaClausalComplement 131
5.8 Conclusion 131
6 NounPhrasesandAgreement 134
6.1 ClassificationofNouns 134
6.2 SyntacticStructures 135
6.2.1 CommonNouns 135
6.2.2 Pronouns 139
6.2.3 ProperNouns 140
6.3 AgreementTypesandMorphosyntacticFeatures 141
6.3.1 Noun-DeterminerAgreement 141
6.3.2 Pronoun-AntecedentAgreement 143
6.3.3 Subject-VerbAgreement 143
6.4 SemanticAgreementFeatures 145
6.5 PartitiveNPsandAgreement 150
6.5.1 BasicProperties 150
6.5.2 TwoTypesofPartitiveNPs 151
6.5.3 MeasureNounPhrases 157
6.6 ModifyinganNP 158
6.6.1 AdjectivesasPrenominalModifiers 158
6.6.2 PostnominalModifiers 160
6.7 Conclusion 161
7 RaisingandControlConstructions 164
7.1 RaisingandControlPredicates 164
7.2 DifferencesbetweenRaisingandControlVerbs 165
7.2.1 SubjectRaisingandControl 165
7.2.2 ObjectRaisingandControl 168
7.3 ASimpleTransformationalApproach 169
7.4 ANontransformational,Construction-BasedApproach 172
7.4.1 IdenticalSyntacticStructures 172
7.4.2 DifferencesamongtheFeatureSpecificationsin
theValenceInformation 174
7.4.3 AMismatchbetweenMeaningandStructure 178
7.5 ExplainingtheDifferences 181
7.5.1 ExpletiveSubjectandObject 181
viii Contents
7.5.2 MeaningPreservation 181
7.5.3 Subjectvs.ObjectControlVerbs 182
7.6 Conclusion 183
8 AuxiliaryandRelatedConstructions 186
8.1 BasicIssues 186
8.2 TransformationalAnalyses 188
8.3 AConstruction-BasedAnalysis 190
8.3.1 SharedPropertiesofRaisingVerbs 190
8.3.2 Modals 191
8.3.3 BeandHave 193
8.3.4 PeriphrasticDo 196
8.3.5 InfinitivalClauseMarkerTo 198
8.4 CapturingNICEProperties 199
8.4.1 AuxiliarieswithNegation 199
8.4.2 AuxiliarieswithInversion 204
8.4.3 ContractedAuxiliaries 208
8.4.4 AuxiliarieswithEllipsis 209
8.5 Conclusion 212
9 PassiveConstructions 216
9.1 Introduction 216
9.2 TheRelationshipbetweenActiveandPassive 217
9.3 ApproachestoPassive 219
9.3.1 FromStructuralDescriptiontoStructuralChange 219
9.3.2 ATransformationalApproach 220
9.3.3 AConstruction-BasedApproach 221
9.4 PrepositionalPassives 226
9.5 TheGet-Passive 229
9.6 Conclusion 233
10 InterrogativeandWh-questionConstructions 237
10.1 ClausalTypesandInterrogatives 237
10.2 Movementvs.FeaturePercolation 239
10.3 FeaturePercolationwithNoAbstractElements 242
10.3.1 BasicSystems 242
10.3.2 NonsubjectWh-questions 245
10.3.3 SubjectWh-questions 250
10.4 IndirectQuestions 253
10.4.1 BasicStructures 253
10.4.2 Non-whIndirectQuestions 257
10.4.3 InfinitivalIndirectQuestions 258
10.4.4 AdjunctWh-questions 261
10.5 Conclusion 263