A Multi-Dimensional Study Of English V-Prt Constructions

Adopting the combination of descriptive and explanatory methods, this thesis studies the categorial and semantic features of particles in Englishâ…¤-Prt constructions, the origin ofâ…¤-Prt constructions in Old English and their continual development in Middle English, and the syntactic structure and word order choices of Modern English transitiveâ…¤-Prt constructions.The syntactic distribution of the non-verbal elements in transitiveâ…¤-Prt constructions is different from those of adverbs and prepositions, thus it is necessary to establish a new word class for these non-verbal elements, namely the particle. The non-verbal elements of transitive and intransitiveâ…¤-Prt constructions are closely related in terms of syntax and semantics, so we can also treat the non-verbal elements of the latter as particles. In this way, both kinds ofâ…¤-Prt constructions can be viewed as a fixed combination of verb plus particle. English multi-word verbs includeâ…¤-Prt constructions, prepositional verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs. It is difficult for learners of English to distinguish between transitiveâ…¤-Prt constructions and intransitive prepositional verbs. The main differences between them are in stress, word order and possibilities of adverb insertion. Multi-word verbs are a continuum in terms of semantics. Free combinations and fixed combinations are located at the two extremes along the continuum.The verbs inâ…¤-Prt constructions are primarily activity verbs, which express durative situations. Particles serve to add a goal or endpoint to these durative situations and express telicity. Apart from activity verbs, particles may also occur with accomplishment verbs and certain state and achievement verbs. The particles on and along can express durative or iterative meaning inâ…¤-Prt constructions. In some cases, away can also express durative or iterative meaning when used with intransitive verbs; the object is marked by the preposition at whenâ…¤-Prt constructions containing away express transitive meanings.In the transition from Old English to Middle English, particles gradually take over the functions of verbal prefixes. Particles and verbal prefixes behave differently in certain particular constructions in Old English, thus we can sometimes rely on these constructions in order to distinguish particles from verbal prefixes. The interaction between the semantic weakening and grammaticalization of prefixes and the stronger expressive power ofâ…¤-Prt constructions result in the shift from prefixes to particles. Originally, prefixes and particles were used with verbs of motion or physical action and occur in contexts where spatial meanings dominate. In these contexts, the spatial meaning and the telic meaning often co-exist, thus the spatial meaning can naturally shift to the telic meaning. This kind of semantic change is motivated by the iconic relationship between the physical movement and situational "movement". In Old English, the prefixes a-, be-, for-, for(?)-, ful-, ge-, of-, ofer-, to-, (?)urh-, ymb- can express the telic meaning, whereas on- and in- can express the inceptive meaning. In the shift from prefixes to particles, a-, be-, for-, ge-, and to- gradually disappeared, and only the adverbial counterparts of ford-, of-, ofer-, and (?)urh- continue to occur as common particles in Old English and Middle English. There are some newly invented particles in Old English, such as adune/ofdune (down), aweg/onweg (away), up (up) and ut (out). These new particles have clear locative meanings, thus they can also naturally express the telic meaning on the basis of the iconic principle. In Old English, the frequency of the four kinds of word order ofâ…¤-Prt constructions is related to the type of the clause in whichâ…¤-Prt constructions occur.Some Old English verbal prefixes (e.g. a-, ge-, ful-) gradually disappeared in Middle English. Other prefixes (e.g. bi-, for-, forth-, of-, on-, out(e)-, over-, to-, thurh-) still had some productivity, but their use of frequency decreased steadily, until they lost their productivity completely in Early Modern English. During the Middle English period, with the decrease of the productivity of the verbal prefix system, the particle system gradually takes over the functions of the prefix system. Though particles still primarily express the directional meaning in Middle English, cases where the directional meaning and the telic meaning co-exist steadily increase. Particles begin to occur with more and more verbs, and the telic meaning becomes one of the primary meanings of particles. There is a rapid increase of the number of â…¤-Prt constructions in Middle English, andâ…¤-Prt constructions begin to be used to express idiomatic meanings. Some particles which are commonly used to express the telic meaning in Old English continue to be used in Middle English, such as (a)doun (down), awey (away), forth (forth), of (off), out(e) (out) and up (up). Particles along, forth and on can express the durative meaning in Middle English, and on can also express the inceptive meaning. With regard to the word order ofâ…¤-Prt constructions, the V(X)Prt has become the most common word order in both prose texts and poetic texts in Middle English.The underlying syntactic structure of Modern English transitiveâ…¤-Prt constructions is X-V1-NP-Prt. If the object is a pronoun, it cannot move to the right of the particles; if the object is not a pronoun, it can move to the right of the particles. We can use the underlying structure ofâ…¤-Prt constructions to explain linguistic data involving adverb insertion, the omission of verbs and the fronting of prepositions. The word order of most transitiveâ…¤-Prt constructions is determined by the nature of direct objects. Sometimes particles can also influence the word order of transitiveâ…¤-Prt constructions. In English, apart from the right movement of objects inâ…¤-Prt constructions, there are also some cases involving the right movement of prepositions in intransitive prepositional verbs. We can distinguish these two kinds of movement in terms of the underlying structures of transitiveâ…¤-Prt constructions and intransitive prepositional verbs.