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This book introduces the notion of change construction and systematically studies, within a Cognitive Grammar framework, the rich inventory of its instantiations in English, from well-known structures such as the so-called resultative construction to a variety of largely ignored types such as asymmetric resultatives, sublexical change constructions and mildly causal constructions.
List of contents
Chapter 1 Introduction
1. Two constructions
1.1 The resultative construction
1.2 The at-construction
1.3 The notion of change
2. Cognitive Grammar
2.1. Basic assumptions
2.2. Predication
2.3. Composite structures
3. Preview
Chapter 2 Resultative constructions and change constructions
1. Resultative constructions and phrases
1.1. Transitive resultative constructions
1.2. Intransitive resultative constructions
1.3. Conceptual distance
1.4. Paraphrases for the resultative construction
1.5. Summary
2. The billiard-ball model
2.1. The syntactic realisation of the resultative phrase
2.2. States and positions
2.3. Reverse causal ordering
2.4. Causality and manipulable entities
2.5. A first schematic representation
2.6. Summary
3. The change phrase
3.1. A host of constructions
3.2. Sublexical change
3.3. LIKE change constructions
3.4. Emission verbs
3.5. Summary
4. Conclusion
Chapter 3 Asymmetric resultatives and the change complex
1. Transitivity
1.1. A preliminary analysis based on Levin and Rappaport Hovav (1995)
1.2. The direct object restriction
1.3. Some problematic data
1.4. Summary
2. Summary
2.1. Allative and ablative prepositions
2.2. Prepositions in the change complex
2.3. The problematic examples
2.4. Summary
3. Impossible combinations
3.1. An aesthetic paradox
3.2. Affectedness and objectivity: When properties are not in the eye of the beholder
3.3. Goldberg's (1995) Unique Path Constraint
4. Conclusion
Chapter 4 Motion and idiosyncrasy
1. The motion scenario
1.1. The motion scenario is evoked by the onstruction
1.2. The motion scenario is evoked by the verb
1.3. Summary
2. Tight links and information retrieval
2.1. Transitivity and motion
2.2. Linking events
3. Lexical variation
3.1. Wechsler's (2001) approach
3.2. Gestalt versus part-whole properties
3.3. Summary
4. Interim conclusion
4.1. Transitivity
4.2. Temporality
Chapter 5
1. The Force Change Schema and the Event Change Schema
1.1. The Force Change Schema
1.2. Subcategorised objects
1.3. Mild causality and specification
1.4. Goldberg's (1995) analysis
2. The Event Change Schema
2.1. Temporal coextensiveness
2.2. Temporal sequencing
2.3. The transitive Event Change Schema and subject orientation
3. Conclusion
Chapter 6 The Event Force Change Schema and verb classes
1. The Event Force Change Schema
1.1. The causal variant
1.2. The noncausal variant
2. The lack of object orientation
2.1. On satisfaction and love
2.2. to the point of
2.3. Part-whole variants
3. On indeterminacy and complexity
4. Verb classes
4.1. Middle verbs
4.2. Verbs of manner of motion
4.3. Verbs of accompaniment
4.4. Emission verbs
4.5. Verbs of transformation and creation
5. Conclusion
Chapter 7 at-constructions
1. The conative alternation
1.1. Levin's (1993) definition and list
1.2. Van der Leek's (1996) analysis
2. The allative and ablative scenarios
2.1. The Allative Schema: Translational motion with possible contact
2.2. The Ablative Schema: Necessary contact without translational motion
2.3. The Allative/Ablative Schema: Translational motion with necessary contact
3. Pesetsky's (1995) paradox
4. Conclusion
Chapter 8 Conclusion
About the author
Cristiano Broccias teaches at the Universities of Genova and Pavia, Italy.
