Chapter 4
A constructional approach to causative support verbs in
Spanish
Complex predicates formed with a semantically
bleached verb and a predicating nominal (take a
walk) have posed a challenge to grammatical theories.
One must explain how the two elements integrate into a semantic and
syntactic unit, without losing sight of the lexical constraints the
so-called support or light verb constructions are subjected to
(*give a jog). In this work, centered on a
family of Spanish phrases featuring an emotional state noun and
associated with a causative meaning (cf. dar
miedo ‘to frighten’, lit. ‘to give
fear’), we adopt Goldberg’s
(1995, 2006)
analysis of “argument structure constructions”, introducing
necessary adjustments to fit the composite nature of the predicate,
and we show how Cognitive Construction Grammar offers a particularly
well-suited model to handle linguistic expressions that combine
regular syntactic properties with lexical idiosyncrasies.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Support verb constructions in previous accounts
- 3.Constructionist approaches to support verbs
- 4.The caused emotion construction
- 4.1Definition
- 4.2Integration of the predicative noun with the
construction
- 4.3Introduction of the support verb
- 4.4Collocational restrictions
- 4.5Conventional pairs of form and meaning
- 5.Conclusions
-
Notes
-
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