Academic literature on the topic 'Un-participle construction'

AbstractThe present paper reports on an investigation into an English un-participle pattern that is called unpassive, or is described as an adjectival passive. The main characteristic of the pattern is an (adjectival) past participle prefixed by un-, which is used as a predicative complement to a verb. Besides the different terms used for the pattern, there is also some indeterminacy with respect to its particular form. All of the descriptions focus on the verb be, but mention is also made of go and remain. That is, the specifications of the pattern’s formal side differ to some extent. To provide information on this issue and to get hold of potential (verb-related) differences in the pattern’s function, we conducted an empirical analysis from a usage-based construction grammar perspective. Our focus is on the form-function interplay of the pattern in order to gain information about its constructional status and its exact formal and semantic make-up. The database selected for this study is the BNC, from which all occurrences of ‘verb plus un-participle’ were extracted. The data were submitted to collexeme and covarying collexeme analyses to identify the spectrum of meanings/functions associated with these forms, and distinctive collexeme analyses were carried out to see whether the un-participles found pattern differently with the individual verbs. The results indicate that, on closer examination, the un-participle construction does not represent a homogeneous category, but must be seen as a schematic template of related, though different, usage events that may have expanded analogously from a prototype construction. On the basis of our analyses and informed by findings from developmental studies, we suggest that the related constructions form a network.

Abstract This essay deals with double perfect constructions in conceptually written contexts. It pursues two goals. First, the spreading mechanisms of double perfect constructions are to be investigated. Analogy to adjective participle forms is one mechanism of several, which can be responsible for the occurrence in double perfect constructions. I will show that the frequency of occurrence as adjectival participle correlates with the occurrence of the same participle in a double perfect construction. A corpus analysis was performed for this purpose. If a participle frequently occurs as an adjective, it partially loses its verbal properties and approaches an adjective status. This can promote the addition of ‘gewesen’/‘gehabt’ to indicate a past tense implication. The proximity of these participles to the adjectival status is also shown by their occurrence in adjectival configurations (e. g. inflected, affixation with ‘un-‘). In addition, the question is examined whether the double perfect is a new tense. I would like to illustrate that the double perfect forms with ‘gewesen’ are mostly to be interpreted adjectivally and are not a new tense. The double forms with ‘gehabt’ can theoretically be true double perfect constructions, but depending on the context they can also be analyzed adjectivally.

AbstractThe fact that posture verbs tend to grammaticalize into aspectual markers of progressivity in a wide-range of (un)related languages makes them particularly interesting objects of study. The present paper aims to contribute to our understanding of how the active posture participle “yālis” (sitting) plus imperfective verb have come to express the progressive aspect in Emirati Arabic. The proposed answer to this puzzling question involves the claim that, crosslinguistically, progressive constructions are known to originate from locative constructions in which the agent is described as in the midst of an activity. The function of “yālis” (sitting) as an auxiliary verb - like appears to be the result of a grammaticalization process, as certain principles of grammaticalization such as desemanticization, extension, and decategorialization were found to apply to it. Data from Emirati Arabic variety suggest that the construction has undergone semantic and morphosyntatctic changes but retained its phonetic content. As part of the new construction, the active participle “yālis” (sitting) has also changed its argument structure.

SUMMARY The paper presents the results of a quantitative study of the evolution of the passive construction in English. Some of the syntactic environments studied (e.g., the presence of modifiers before the participle, passivization of indirect or prepositional objects, the passive of 'accusative object' verbs or of verbs with predicative complements) have been used as tests for the syntactic category of the passive participle (Wasow 1977). The relative frequency of these environments (and others, such as coordination) in a selection of texts from different periods provide evidence that the change in the grammar of English cannot be described as the introduction of a new rule forming verbal passives instead of adjectival passives (Lightfoot 1979), but is best explained by a change in the structural description of the passive rule, due to a reformulation of the rule in terms of the notion of internal argument (Williams 1981), instead of the notion of direct, or accusative, object of the active verb. RÉSUMÉ L'article présente ici les resultats d'une étude quantitative de l'évolution de la construction passive en anglais. Certains des environnements syntaxiques considérés (par exemple la présence de modificateurs du participe passé, la passivisation d'objets indirects ou prépositionnels, le passif du sujet de complément infinitifs ou de compléments prédicatifs) ont servis de tests pour la catégorie syntaxique du participe passé passif (Wasow 1977). La fréquence relative de ces environnements (ainsi que d'autres, tels que la coordination) dans une sélection de textes de différentes périodes prouve que le changement syntaxique survenue dans la grammaire de l'anglais ne peut être décrit comme l'introduction d'une nouvelle règle qui formerait des passifs verbaux par l'opposition à des passifs adjectivaux (Lightfoot 1979), mais doit s'expliquer par un changement de la description structurelle de la règle du passif, dû à une réformulation de la règle en termes de la notion d"argument interne' (Williams 1981), plutdht que de la notion d'objet direct, ou accusatif, du verbe actif. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Der Aufsatz stellt das Ergebnis einer quantitativen Studie der historischen Entwicklung der Passivkonstruktion im Englischen dar. Einige der hier unter-suchten syntaktischen Umgebungen (etwa das Vorhandensein von Modifikato-ren vor der Partikel, die Passivisierung indirekter oder pràpositioneller Ob-jekte, das Passiv von 'Akkusativobjekt'-Verben oder von Verben mit prädika-tivem Komplement) sind als Test für die syntaktische Kategorie des Passivpar-tizips verwendet worden (Wasow 1977). Die relative Häufîgkeit dieser Umgebungen (und anderer, z.B. die der Koordination) in einer Textauswahl ver-schiedener Zeitabschnitte liefern den Nachweis, daß die Veränderung in der Grammatik des Englischen nicht als die Einführung einer neuen Regel, die verbale anstelle von adjektivalen Passivkonstruktionen bildet, beschrieben werden kann (Lightfoot 1979), sondern vielmehr als ein Wandel in der strukturellen Beschreibung der Passivregel, und zwar als Folge einer Neuformulierung der Regel nach MaBgabe des Prinzips eines 'internen Arguments' (Williams 1981)ß und nicht des eines direkten (Akkusativ-) Objekts des aktiven Verbs.

The English gerund and its Spanish equivalents show different levels of conceptualization when carrying out a contrastive study. In particular, we will focus on the conceptualization of the Spanish equivalents which correspond to the English construction [physical perception verb + Noun Phrase + -ing form]. There are certain difficulties in relation to our study. Firstly, the traditional characterization of the English gerund, based on tense and aspect criteria, proves to be inadequate to establish its meaning. Secondly, the -ing form with physical perception verbs has been interpreted as a participle. In this paper, we will propose that the -ing form with physical perception verbs can also have a gerundial reading. In addition, we will argue that the cognitive approach provides a valid characterization of the English gerund which constitutes, in turn, the base for the contrastive cognitive study. Regarding the contrastive study, the Spanish equivalents exploit, in general, the eventive reading of the English gerund.El gerundio inglés y sus equivalentes españoles muestran diferentes niveles de conceptualización al llevar a cabo un estudio contrastivo. En particular, nos centramos en la conceptualización de los equivalentes españoles que corresponden a la construcción inglesa [verbos de percepción física + frase nominal+ forma en -ing]. Hay ciertas dificultades relacionadas con nuestro estudio. En primer lugar, la caracterización tradicional del gerundio inglés, basada en criterios temporales y aspectuales, no resulta adecuada para establecer su significado. En segundo lugar, la forma en -ing con verbos de percepción física se ha interpretado como participio. En este artículo, proponemos que la forma en -ing con verbos de percepción física puede tener también una lectura gerundiva. Además, sostenemos que el enfoque cognitivo proporciona una caracterización válida del gerundio inglés que constituye, a su vez, la base para el estudio contrastivo cognitivo. En cuanto al estudio contrastivo, los equivalentes españoles explotan, en general, la lectura eventiva del gerundio inglés.

El objetivo del presente trabajo es profundizar en la historia del funcionamiento de las construcciones castellanas {tener/llevar} + participio, tomando como centro de estudio la lengua de los siglos xvi y xvii y estableciendo ciertas comparaciones, a lo largo del texto, con otras lenguas romances, en especial el asturiano. El punto de partida se encuentra en la idea de que los problemas que crean estas construccionesse deben esencialmente a la doble naturaleza del participio (adjetival y verbal), solo comprensible inserta en un continuum entre el puro adjetivo y el puro verbo. Para ello, comenzaremos estableciendo, en el marco teórico, nuestro concepto de perífrasis verbal de participio y su aplicación a las construcciones que nos ocupan en el español de los Siglos de Oro. En una segunda parte, analizaremos el funcionamiento de dichas estructuras en el español clásico, empleando un corpus formado por tres génerosdiscursivos, escritos entre 1519 y 1656, que componen sendos subapartados (novelas picarescas, epístolas y crónicas de Indias). La principal conclusión es que los géneros discursivos no afectan a las construcciones de participio en la misma medida en que puede afectar a otros fenómenos gramaticales, como los pronombres personales.The aim of this work is to deepen in the history of the Spanish structures{tener/llevar} + participle, taking into account the language of the 16th and 17th centuries and offering certain comparisons with other Romance languages, specially Asturian. The starting point lies in the idea that the problems that create these constructions are essentially due to the dual nature of the participle (between a verb and an adjective), which can be only understood into a continuum, whose ends are the pure adjective and the pure verb. For that, we will start setting our concept of participial periphrases in the theoretical framework, as well as its applicationto the Spanish language spoken in the Golden Age. Then, we analyze how these structures work in that Spanish, using a corpus formed by three discourse genres (picaresque novels, letters and chronicles of the Indies), whose texts were written between 1519 and 1656. Finally, all of which allows to conclude that the discourse genres do not affect the appearance of the constructions of participle in the same extent that it may affect other grammatical phenomena, such as personal pronouns.

The present paper reports on an investigation into an English un-participle pattern that is called unpassive, or is described as an adjectival passive. The main characteristic of the pattern is an (adjectival) past participle prefixed by un-, which is used as a predicative complement to a verb. Besides the different terms used for the pattern, there is also some indeterminacy with respect to its particular form. All of the descriptions focus on the verb BE, but mention is also made of GO and REMAIN. That is, the specifications of the pattern’s formal side differ to some extent. To provide information on this issue and to get hold of potential (verb-related) differences in the pattern’s function, we conducted an empirical analysis from a usage-based construction grammar perspective. Our focus is on the form-function interplay of the pattern in order to gain information about its constructional status and its exact formal and semantic make-up. The database selected for this study is the BNC, from which all occurrences of ‘verb plus un-participle’ were extracted. The data were submitted to collexeme and covarying collexeme analyses to identify the spectrum of meanings/functions associated with these forms, and distinctive collexeme analyses were carried out to see whether the un-participles found pattern differently with the individual verbs. The results indicate that, on closer examination, the un-participle construction does not represent a homogeneous category, but must be seen as a schematic template of related, though different, usage events that may have expanded analogously from a prototype construction. On the basis of our analyses and informed by findings from developmental studies, we suggest that the related constructions form a network.