Chapter published in:
Late Modern English: Novel encountersEdited by Merja Kytö and Erik Smitterberg
[Studies in Language Companion Series 214] 2020
► pp. 144–163
A diachronic constructional analysis of locative alternation in English, with particular attention to load and spray
Yasuaki Ishizaki | Nanzan University
This paper is devoted to explaining the
historical development of constructions of the representative
locative alternation verbs load and
spray from a diachronic construction grammar
perspective. These verbs can occur in at least two syntactic frames:
the location-as-object variant (e.g., load the wagon with
hay) and the locatum-as-object variant (e.g.,
load hay onto the wagon). These two variants
have undergone different historical developments. This paper
proposes that the prototype of the constructions with
load/spray was the adjectival “[location] (be)
loaded/sprayed with [locatum]” construction,
from which the location-as-object variant developed. The
locatum-as-object variants for load and
spray, in contrast, developed in the
Present-day English period, independently of the location-as-object
variants or, at most, the two variants are linked metonymically.
Published online: 18 March 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.214.06ish
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.214.06ish
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