语言学论文.docx

语言学论文.docx

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语言学论文

COURSEPAPER

Abstract

DativealternationinEnglish,asweknow,involvesthealternatingverbswithtwomeanings:

acausedpossessionmeaningrealizedbythedoubleobjectframeandacausedmotionmeaningrealizedbythetovariant.Certainexpertsthoughtthedoubleobjectframeisoriginatedfromdativeconstruction,whileothersjusthavetheoppositeviews.Some,however,thoughtthetwoaresimilarinseveralways.Basedonthelatestresearchonlanguageacquisition,andotherrelatedstudies,thisthesismainlystudiesthenatureandvariousrestrictionsofdativealternationfromtheprospective:

themultiplemeaningapproachandthesimplemeaningapproach.

KeyWords:

dativealternation,nature,variant,restriction,doubleobjectconstruction

Introduction

Dativealternationisaconsistentlyandintensivelystudiedphenomenonthatisfeaturedbytherelativeoptionalityoftheorderingoftwointernalargumentsinaditransitiveverb.Itreferstoparticularlythedifferentrealizationsofverbwitharecipientandathemeargument.

AnyanalysisofthedativealternationinEnglishneedstomentionthequestionsbeinghotlydiscussedofthesedaysofwhatactuallyleadtothealternation.Thealternationincludesverbsthatillustratetworealizationsofthesamearguments.Verbsdenotingakindoftransfermayoccurintwodifferentconstructions. AswhatareexampledinthefollowingsentencesTheDativeAlternationinvolvesthevariationbetweenthedoubleobject（DO）constructionandtheprepositionalobject（PO）construction

Differentconstructionsendowsentencesofthesameoriginwithdistinctemphasisandfordifferentpragmaticuses.

AnalysisofNatureBasedontheTwoResearchApproaches

Therearetwomainwaystoanalyzethedativealternation:

Thesinglemeaningresearchaswellasthemultiplemeaningresearch.Thefirstoneisthatbothvariantsarerelatedtothesamemeaningwithwhichtwoargumentrealizationoptionsareallowed.Thesecondoneisthatvariantsareassociatedwithalittlebitdifferentbutrelatedmeanings,witheachmeaningleadingtodistinctargumentrealizationpatterns.Thefirstoneisdefinedasthesinglemeaningapproachandthesecondmultiplemeaningapproach1.Andnowadays,inthelinguisticfield,thesecondmultiplemeaningapproachdominates.Itindicatesthenon-derivationalrelationbetweenvariants:

eachoneisconnectedwithitsownmeaning,thoughthesearenotalwaysdistinguishableunderatruthconditionandeachleadstoitsownargumentrealization2

Onmostinstantiationsoftheapproach,theto-variantexpressescausedmotion.UsingGoldberg’s（1995）characterization:

anagentcausesathemetomovealongapathtoagoal,wherethemovementandpathareinterpretedinthepossessionalfieldThedoubleobjectconstructionillustratesthecausepossession:

tocauseareceivertopossessanentitywithabroadlyconstructeddefinition3.

ManydativeverbssuchasgivecategorizeeitherforanNPdirectobjectandaPPindirectobject（b）,whichcanbereferredastheprepositionalstructure.

a.LilygaveBillaticket.（DO）

NP1VNP2NP3

b.LilygaveatickettoBill.（PO）

NP1VNP3toNP2

Sentenceaandbcanbeinterpretedrespectivelyas:

a.NP1CAUSESNP2TOHAVENP1

b.NP1CAUSESNP3TOGOTONP24

Anotherfoursentencesincomparison:

c.LilysentBillabox（DO）

d.LilysentaboxtoBill（PO）

e.LilysentBeijingabox

f.LillysentaboxtoBeijing

In（c）,Billistheprojectedpossessorofthebox,whereasin（e）,Beijingisjustalocation,thefinaldestinationoftheboxbutnotaprojectedpossessor.

g.Theplacegivesmethecreeps

h.Theplacegivesthecreepstome

Asonthemultiplemeaningapproach,thisalternationisdirectlyreflectedbythedifferentinterpretationsconnectedwitheachvariant:

adistinctrealizationofargumentsisarousedbyeachmeaning.Inthetovariantform,theargumentsofaverbarerealizedinthesamemannerastheargumentsofcausedmotionverbs.ThedoubleobjectconstructionshowstherealizationofargumentskeptinEnglishforeventsofcausedpossession.Whenonevariantisappropriateandtheotherisnot,theexplanationislinkedtothemeaningdifferencebetweenthevariants5.Almostanylatestanalysesadoptauniformapproachtothedativealternation.Foralldativeverbs,thevariantsareassociatedwitheitheronemeaningortwo,dependingonthegeneralapproach.AnexceptionistheanalysisfromJackendoff’s（1990:

197f.）,whoofferstheillustrationforthealternationwithverbslikegiveandsell,whosemeaningbasicallyinvolvesthechangeofpossession（give-typedativeverbs）,andadifferentanalysisforthealternationwithverbslikethrowandkick（throw-typeverbs）–acategorydescribedas‘verbsofinstantaneousimpartingofforceinsomemannercausingballisticmotion’（Pinker1989:

110）.Researchersindicatesthatwithgive-typeverbs,thetwovariantshavestructuresthataresimilarinthe‘thematic’connection,differingonlyinthe‘action’connectionTheactionconnectiondescribestheagent–patientrelationsinanevent,whilethethematicconnectionrepresentstheeventintermsofathemeanditslocationorpath（Anderson1971,Jackendoff1983）.Jackendoffsuggeststhat“give-typewordsincludethreearguments,andthematicallyitinvolvesathememovingalongapossessionalpathfromasourceagenttoatarget–therecipient”.

Thetwoapproachesvariesaswhatleadstothedativealternation.IntheviewofBaker’sconcerningthesinglemeaningapproach,thevariantsarerelatedderivationally,andindeedthematicparaphrases—presupposingananswertothesinglemeaningapproach—theymusthavesameunderlyingsyntacticstructure.Instantiationofthisapproachtendtotakethe“trigger”forthedativealternationtobecase-related,involvingtheincorporationofaprepositionwhosecomplementisthegoal（Baker1988;Larson1988）.However,thisapproachdoesnotanswerwhythoserelatedverbsshouldbeassociatedwithprepositionincorporationandwhysometimesavariantissuitableandsometimesarenot.

Andnowadays,almostalargeportionofanalysisofdativealternationisbasedonasingleapproach.Variantsofalldativeverbs,areassociatedwithoneormoremeanings.

CommonRestrictioninDativeAlternation

（1）RestrictionstotheIndirectWords

Inthedoubleobjectconstruction,theindirectobjectisusuallyrelatedtoanimacy.

a.LilysentBeijingabox

b.LillysentBillabox

Sentencef“LillysentaboxtoBeijing”isgenerallyregardedasagrammaticallyright,howevernotacceptabledescription,fortheindirectobjectisanameofplacewithnoanimatefeature.Allwordsthedativealternationinvolvesanalternaterealizationofrecipients,andtherecipientsaregenerallyananimateentitycapableofpossession.6However,inthedativealternation,theobjectshowingtherecipientcouldbebothanimateandinanimate.Suchas:

c.LilysentaboxtoBeijing

d.LilysentaboxtoBill.

（2）MovementRestrictions

InthedativeconstructionNP3mustexperiencemovement:

a.ThehorrormoviegaveBethcreeps.

b.ThehorrormoviegavecreepstoBeth.

c.HisstimulationgaveBethanidea.

d.HisstimulationgaveanideatoBeth.

（3）RestrictionsofPossession

Thisrestrictionisalittlebitsimilarwithindirectwordsrestriction.

ThedoubleobjectconstructioninvolvesapropositionofNP2possessingNP3aftertheverbevent.NP1（thepossessor）mustsatisfytheselectionalrestrictionsforpossession:

a.LilysentapackagetoBeijng.

b.LilysentBeijingapackage.（Beijingdoesnothavethepackage）

Therelevantnotionofpossessionincludespossessionofinformation:

a.LilyshowedthecardtoBeth.

b.LilyshowedBeththecard（otherwordssuchasread,tell,quote）

Therelevantnotionofpossessionalsoincludesfuturepossession:

a.LilyforwardedthebooktoBeth.

b.LilyforwardedBeththebook.（offer,promise）

（4）RestrictionsontheEnd-WeightPrinciple.

Theend-weightandend-focusprinciplearetwoguidingrulestothearrangementofsentenceorder,inwhichtheimportanceofendofsentenceisemphasized.Oftenthesamelongconstructionsareplacedattheendofthesentences,suchastheplacementofthepostponedmodifierofadjectivesornounphrasesattheendofthesentence.Theprinciplerestrictsthatthelongestandmostcomplicatedcomponentintheinformationstructureneedtobeputattheendofthesentence.Forthedirectobjectlonerthantheindirectobject,thedoubleobjectisbetter.

a.Lilygavebooktothosewhodidnotcometothemathematicalclassanddidnotwritedownanynotes.

b.Lilygavethosepersonsbookswhichcoversphonetics,phonology,semantics,andpragmatics.

（5）RestrictionsontheMeaningandVerbCategory.

Usually,certainimplicationcouldbeexpressedintwowaysorsentenceforms,butthetwosentenceformsmaynotgivetheexactlysamemeaning.

a.Thedoctorgavelilyabeautifulandsmoothskin

b.ThedoctorgaveabeautifulandsmoothskintoLily

c.LilytaughtBethEnglish

d.LilytaughtEnglishtoBeth

Insentencesa,therearetwoquitedifferentunderstandings:

thedoctorgaveLilyaleather-likethingorthedoctorhelpLilytoregainbeautywithcertainskincareorplasticsurgery,whileinsentenceb,onlythefirstexplanationisacceptable.

sentencecnotonlyimplicatestheactionofLilytoteachBethEnglish,butalsoBeth’sskillfulgraspofEnglish.Sothemeaningthatwewanttoexpresscansometimesrestrictstheuseofdativealternation.

（6）Otherrestrictions

Inthesituationsmentionedbelow,thedativealternationshouldnotbeused

1）WhentheSubjectoftheSentenceisnotthePossessoroftheDirectObjectBeforetheA