A Construction Grammar Approach To The Polysemy Of The English Ditransitive Construction

As a very common phenomenon in language, the English ditransitive construction has drawn the concern of many linguists. Goldberg (2003) proposes that the English ditransitive construction is a three-place argument pattern with a verb followed by two noun phrases. And its syntactic property is NP V NP1 NP2, which is related to two kinds of constructions: SVO1O2 and SVOC. This thesis just discusses the SVO1O2 pattern, which typically implies that the agent successfully causes the transfer of the patient to the recipient. Besides this successful transfer, there are other transfers embodied in the English ditransitive construction, which constitutes the polysemy of the English ditransitive construction. Therefore, this thesis attempts to analyze the formation process of the polysemy of the English ditransitive construction.Through a detailed analysis, this thesis has made the following findings:First, on the basis of the study of the relationship between the construction meaning and verb meaning of the English ditransitive construction, this thesis concludes that constructionmeaning could coerce verb meaning in the English ditransitive construction, and verb meaning also can coerce construction meaning. Therefore, we should value both of them when considering the polysemy of the English ditransitive construction.Second, on the basis of Goldberg's construction grammar, this thesis shows that when verb meaning and construction meaning of the ditransitive construction are incompatible, the two meanings will coerce each other. And when verb meaning successfully coerces construction meaning, the construction meaning will be changed, and then the polysemy of the ditransitive construction occurs. That is, the ditransitive construction involves a family of related meanings, in which there are six different but related meanings (SENSE 1-6). SENSE 1 (the actual successful transfer) is the central meaning, and SENSE 2-6 (obligation of transfer, negation of transfer, future transfer, intention of transfer and enablement of transfer) are the extended meanings. Thus, the ditransitive construction is viewed as a prototype category.