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Article published In:
The Wealth and Breadth of Construction-Based Research
Edited by Timothy Colleman, Frank Brisard, Astrid De Wit, Renata Enghels, Nikos Koutsoukos, Tanja Mortelmans and María Sol Sansiñena
[Belgian Journal of Linguistics 34] 2020
► pp. 79–86

Argument structure satisfaction via unselected adjuncts

The case of the Japanese causal node construction

| The University of Tokyo
| Independent scholar

This paper presents a frame-based constructional approach to argument structure satisfaction via unselected adjuncts, by focusing on one such case in Japanese. It points out an intriguing constructional phenomenon whereby causal adjunct clauses marked with node ‘because’, as used with main-clause predicates that evoke communication frames (such as Telling and Warning), serve to satisfy main-clause argument structure. The node clause precedes the main-clause speech act of telling/warning, and can be interpreted as a speech-act causal (Sweetser 1990). The node clause at the same time conveys the content of informing or warning, i.e., the core Frame Element message, which is absent as a main-clause complement. This analysis of argument structure satisfaction via unselected adjuncts provides evidence for a Frame Semantic approach to argument structure that incorporates Construction Grammar.

Keywords: argument structure satisfaction, adjuncts, Japanese causal node construction, construction grammar, frame semantics, FrameNet
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The target phenomenon: Observations
    • 2.1[[ clause … ] node ‘because’, osirase simasu ‘inform (you)’] ‘inform (you) because …’
    • 2.2[[clause…] node ‘because’, speech act] ‘speech act because …’
  • 3.A frame-based constructional account for the phenomenon
  • 4.Other cases of argument structure satisfaction via unselected adjuncts
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 28 May 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.00036.fuj
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