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Semantic roles as a factor affecting complement choice: a case study with data from COHA

  • Juhani Rudanko
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Subordination in English
This chapter is in the book Subordination in English

Abstract

This article examines to infinitive and to -ing complements of the adjective unaccustomed using the entire COHA corpus. A first objective is to obtain information on the incidence of the two types of complements in recent English, and on whether there has been a change in their distribution over the last two centuries. A related question is whether any detectable change has been in accordance with the Great Complement Shift. The main focus of the study is then on whether semantic roles are a factor impacting the selection of the two types of complement. The hypothesis involves what in very recent work has been termed the Choice Principle, focusing on this principle in the case of the adjective unaccustomed, a matrix predicate that has not previously been considered from this perspective.

Abstract

This article examines to infinitive and to -ing complements of the adjective unaccustomed using the entire COHA corpus. A first objective is to obtain information on the incidence of the two types of complements in recent English, and on whether there has been a change in their distribution over the last two centuries. A related question is whether any detectable change has been in accordance with the Great Complement Shift. The main focus of the study is then on whether semantic roles are a factor impacting the selection of the two types of complement. The hypothesis involves what in very recent work has been termed the Choice Principle, focusing on this principle in the case of the adjective unaccustomed, a matrix predicate that has not previously been considered from this perspective.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Subordination, or the permanent allure of the “adjacent possible” 1
  5. Part I: Diachronic perspectives on subordination
  6. From flying Sancho to swooning Altisidora: The changing use of premodifying present participles in three English translations of Cervantes’ Don Quijote 25
  7. Because science! Notes on a variable conjunction 43
  8. That-clauses as complements of verbs or nouns 61
  9. Semantic roles as a factor affecting complement choice: a case study with data from COHA 85
  10. Expanding the type you can’t help laughing 103
  11. -Ing clauses in spoken English: structure, usage and recent change 129
  12. Resourceful ways of recruiting members: The origin and development of Mental zero-Secondary Predicate Constructions 155
  13. The rise of long catenative constructions in Modern English: new sub-schemas and new stylistic options 185
  14. Part II: Subordination in Present-day Englishes
  15. Catenative get in World Englishes 211
  16. Adverbial subordination across variety types: A synchronic analysis of the syntax and semantics of since- and while-clauses in ENL, ESL, and EFL 235
  17. Whatever the specific circumstances, …: A Construction Grammar perspective of wh-ever clauses in English 263
  18. A sociolinguistic study of relativizers in spoken Philippines English 285
  19. Subject index 309
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110583571-005

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Subordination, or the permanent allure of the “adjacent possible” 1
  5. Part I: Diachronic perspectives on subordination
  6. From flying Sancho to swooning Altisidora: The changing use of premodifying present participles in three English translations of Cervantes’ Don Quijote 25
  7. Because science! Notes on a variable conjunction 43
  8. That-clauses as complements of verbs or nouns 61
  9. Semantic roles as a factor affecting complement choice: a case study with data from COHA 85
  10. Expanding the type you can’t help laughing 103
  11. -Ing clauses in spoken English: structure, usage and recent change 129
  12. Resourceful ways of recruiting members: The origin and development of Mental zero-Secondary Predicate Constructions 155
  13. The rise of long catenative constructions in Modern English: new sub-schemas and new stylistic options 185
  14. Part II: Subordination in Present-day Englishes
  15. Catenative get in World Englishes 211
  16. Adverbial subordination across variety types: A synchronic analysis of the syntax and semantics of since- and while-clauses in ENL, ESL, and EFL 235
  17. Whatever the specific circumstances, …: A Construction Grammar perspective of wh-ever clauses in English 263
  18. A sociolinguistic study of relativizers in spoken Philippines English 285
  19. Subject index 309
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