This paper argues for the existence of a dynamic interaction between constructional polysemy and coercion in shaping lower-level configurations of the subjective-transitive construction in English and Spanish. In particular, a fine-grained analysis is provided of those configurations featuring coercion via a reflexive pronoun in the object slot. The corpus-based analysis provided here shows that the verbs in question, regardless of their inherent lexical semantics, are construed in this construction as expressing a personal assessment by the subject/speaker about himself/herself, thus providing incontrovertible evidence for a constructionist analysis of the type invoked here. Moreover, the coercion effects examined here lend further credence to the construction-specific and also language-specific nature of constructions, especially in the light of instances of the reflexive subjective-transitive construction after saber (‘know’) in Spanish. This paper also suggests that the explanatory power of the anatomy of a given construction can be further maximized if the morphosyntactic properties of the XPCOMP are mapped onto their inherent meaning properties.
2021. Constructional associations trump lexical associations in processing valency coercion. Cognitive Linguistics 32:2 ► pp. 287 ff.
D'hoedt, Frauke & Hubert Cuyckens
2017. The development of the as-Secondary Predicate Construction: constructionalization and internalization. Language Sciences 59 ► pp. 16 ff.
Gonzálvez-García, Francisco
2009. The family of object-related depictives in English and Spanish: towards a usage-based constructionist analysis. Language Sciences 31:5 ► pp. 663 ff.
2013. Émotions, subjectivité et morphosyntaxe : l'impact de la clôture actancielle sur les verbes pronominaux à attribut de l'objet. Langue française n°180:4 ► pp. 47 ff.
Lauwers, Peter & Dominique Willems
2011. Coercion: Definition and challenges, current approaches, and new trends. Linguistics 49:6
Martín‐Gascón, Beatriz
2022. Why in Spanish “Nos Ponemos Contentos” But not “Satisfechos”: A Cognitive‐Linguistic Review of The “Change‐of‐State Verb Ponerse + Adjective” Construction*. Studia Linguistica 76:2 ► pp. 552 ff.
Masegosa, Alicia Galera & Francisco J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez
2012. Lexical class and perspectivization constraints on subsumption in the Lexical Constructional Model: the case of say verbs in English. Language Sciences 34:1 ► pp. 54 ff.
Peña Cervel, María Sandra
2015. A constructionist approach to causative frighten verbs. Linguistics 53:6
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