Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Construcciones resultativas y gramática universal

2003; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

2254-8769

José Luis Mendívil Giró,

Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

This paper deals with resultative constructions like The gardener watered the tulips flat, which are ungrammatical in Spanish. In order to explain this contrast, the author begins by proposing a theory about the structure of those constructions in English, according to which the main predicate is the resultative adjective/particle. The difference between English and Spanish is due to the fact that English allows the insertion of a manner verb into the causative abstract verb that verbalizes the adjective; while Spanish does not. This contrast is related to two further contrasts between both languages: free N-N compounding and Talmy's typology (verb-framed vs. satellite-framed languages). The author argues that in order to obtain an integrated explanation of these co-relations we need to dispense with the notion of construction (in Goldberg's sense) and look for morphological differences. He proposes that the relevant consequence of such morphological differences is that in Spanish the main verb must express the main predicate in overt syntax, while English can satisfy this (perhaps) universal requirement only in covert syntax, and leave the main predicate stranded as a satellite.