Ditransitive Construction In English: A Cognitive Approach

Ditransitive construction, as a very common phenomenon in languages, is a major concern that has drawn intellectual pursuit from different schools of linguists. It is a three-place argument pattern with a verb (or a phrasal verb) followed by two noun phrases, which can be symbolized as (S)+V+NP1+NP2. Many issues of ditransitive construction have been more or less studied or touched upon, but little systematic attempt has been made to approach the issues of ditransitive construction in line with cognitive principles. Based primarily on the data provided by Hunston and Francis (2000) and Sinclair et al (1995; 1996) in a corpus-driven approach, the present study seeks to arrive at a better understanding of ditransitive construction by investigating its main issues at the semantic-syntactic interface from a cognitive perspective.The present study begins with a brief introduction of the three structures in ditransitive construction. It then explores ditransitive construction at the semantic level by investigating its classifications with reference to verb classes and semantic roles of its NPs, and by elucidating the interplay between verb classes and the semantic roles of the NPs at the semantic-syntactic interface. Discussions of some of the main issues like dative alternation, extraction, possession and passivization of ditransitive construction are mainly confined to the syntactic level. Cognitive explanations are provided for some of the asymmetrical phenomena in the syntactic configuration of the two NPs in ditransitive construction, in order to justify a cognitive approach to ditransitive construction in English.After that, efforts are made to bring out three mechanisms, namely, theprototypical mechanism, the generative mechanism, and the grammaticalization mechanism, as an integrated analytical framework for understanding English ditransitive construction within a cognitive paradigm. In addition, implications for Chinese linguistics and ELT in China are addressed and some problems with the present study and further research areas are pointed out.