| This research explores the English ditransitive clause within the paradigm of the cognitive study of language. It gives adequate consideration to the operational plausibility of the linguistic system. The syntactic structure of the ditransitive clause is thus defined as NP1-VP-NP2-NP3, with a wider coverage than the traditionally defined ditransitive construction. The meaning of the clause is viewed in terms of the conceptual structure activated in comprehension and production, and is formally represented as a multidimensional network within the framework of conceptual frame.The research is characterized by its focus on the conceptual discrepancies of the clause resulting from variations of Object. It is argued that the ditransitive clause has five major variants, identified with a transferred object of various kinds-Thing, Identity, Information, Action or Event. English ditransitive clauses share a causation structure involving Possessive Goal; the causation structure has similar syntactic realizations. However, the conceptual discrepancies of the transferred object result in major variations of the clause in terms of their conceptual frame, in particular the different conceptual conflations. These variations are spelt out in a fine-grained analysis. The findings of an investigation into 197 ditransitive verbs support the positing of the five variants.In addition, the research re-categorizes ditransitive verbs in terms of their relation to the five major variants. This is a departure from previous categorizations based on verbs' syntactic behavior or simply verbs' lexical semantics. It indicates that the syntactic realization of the ditransitive clause results from an interaction between verbs' lexical frame and the conceptual frame of major variants.Finally, the research shows that most of the cases previously recognized as exceptions are related to the basic meaning of ditransitive clauses. They all evoke a causation structure involving Possessive Goal. |
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