動詞の意味だけでは説明できない英語の結果構文

Abstract

This paper discusses the so-called ‘fake/derived resultative construction’ in English, which is of great interest to linguists for the following reasons: (a) the meaning of the verb and of the underlined resultative phrase are independent of each other; (b) the postverbal NP behaves syntactically like a direct object, although it is not licensed by the verb; and (c) the construction functions as a strategy by which, for almost any activity, a corresponding accomplishment can be formed (Jackendoff's ‘aspectual coercion’). Number of investigations have been made based on these properties. Several problems with the projectionist approach on a basis of the fundamental assumption that the lexical entry of a verb determines the morphosyntactic expression or projection of its arguments will be pointed out. Rather, I will propose that the meaning of resultative constructions can be derived from the meaning of the construction itself, and that the ‘Direct Object Restriction’ should be described not in the syntactic structure but the conceptual/semantic structure. I will propose a revised version of the ‘Direct Object Restriction’ as a semantic restriction, and with this, attempt to explain all examples which the projectionists have failed to explain. This restriction can also be applied to the ‘true resultative construction’.