| Phrasal verbs have long been regarded as one of the most typical characteristics of English. They usually present relatively idiomatic meaning and idiosyncratic syntactic behavior which have endowed them with great research value and turned them into a great challenge for learners of English. To date, various studies have been carried out to research phrasal verbs from different perspectives, but few of them fully explain the diachronic development of phrasal verbs from the perspective of Construction Grammar.This thesis aims to fill previous research gaps and investigate the diachronic development of English phrasal verbs from the perspective of Construction Grammar. In the study, individual phrasal verbs are defined as specific constructions organized in a hierarchical network with their corresponding general verb-particle construction. In this sense,to investigate the diachronic development of phrasal verbs is to investigate the developing process of the verb-particle construction. To be specific, the study mainly focuses on four questions:(1) What are the features of verb-particle construction in Present-day English?(2)What is the origin of verb-particle construction?(3) What changes happened to the original verb-particle construction?(4) How can the diachronic development of verb-particle construction be described?The significance of present study lies in two aspects: practically, it clarifies the nature of phrasal verbs as constructions and explains the developing route of them in a more reasonable way; theoretically, it proves the advantage of constructional approach and enhances the understanding of Construction Grammar.In the research process, qualitative approach is employed as the major research method.Linguistic data and statistics gathered from Collins Cobuild Phrasal Verbs Dictionary and previous studies of phrasal verbs are analyzed from the perspective of Construction Grammar.Major findings of this study are illustrated as follows:Firstly, the features of verb-particle construction in Present-day English can be described from six aspects: phonologically, the stress of the construction falls on the particle;morphologically, the construction can take part in word formation process, and not only verbs but also nouns and adjectives can enter the [verb] position; syntactically, the constructionpresents both word and phrasal structural status, the particle occurs either before or after the object noun phrase, and particle position is mainly influenced by the nature of the direct object; semantically, the prototypical meaning of the construction is the change of location meaning, and the change of state meaning is metaphorically extended from it; pragmatically,the construction is mainly used in conversation and fiction, rarely used in academic prose;finally, phonological and syntactic features of the construction are subject to the influence of discourse context.Secondly, the origin of verb-particle construction is Old English SCV construction which is also composed of a verb and a particle. Like verb-particle construction, Old English SCV construction also places its phonological stress on the particle, presents phrasal status,and denotes a change of location meaning.Thirdly, compared with its status in Present-day English, many changes have happened to the original verb-particle construction. Morphologically, its range of collocation has been expanded from verbs to nouns and adjectives. Syntactically, it has witnessed an increase in word status. Semantically, it is more often used to express a change of state meaning, and the meaning of nearly all particles are metaphorically extended or idiomized.Lastly, the historical development of verb-particle construction can be described as a process in which the constructional changes of SVC construction make itself constructionalize into the original verb-particle construction which in turn develops into the verb-particle construction in Present-day English via further constructional changes. |
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