The conventionalisation of contextual effects in middle structures

Authors

  • Casilda Garcia de la Maza University of the Basque Country
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2013/1/127081
Keywords: middle construction, restrictions, gradient acceptability, contextual factors, acceptability ratings

Abstract

The presence of adverbial modification, affectedness, or the aspectual characteristics of the verb phrase have usually been invoked as principles governing the possibility for a verb to appear in the middle mode, as defended by Roberts (1987), Fagan (1992), Doron and Rappaport-Hovav (1991) and Levin (1993), inter al. This paper presents the results of a data collection project aimed at unravelling the issue of the conditions on middle formation. The data show how existing accounts are deficient in a number of ways and leave a wide range of data unaccounted for. Instead, the data reveal that pragmatic relevance has a major role to play in the matter and provide empirical support to defend the essentially “pragmatic value” (Green 2004) of the construction. Some of the formal properties of middles which had been formerly put down to syntactic constraints are then reanalysed in the light of this characterisation, including the apparent requirement for adverbial modification, which can now be approached from a fresh perspective.

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Author Biography

Casilda Garcia de la Maza, University of the Basque Country

Casilda García de la Maza is a Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country. She holds a BA in English Philology from the University of Deusto and an MPhil and PhD in Linguistics form the University of Cambridge. She has mainly carried out research in the area of English syntax, more precisely, on issues of argument structure, verb valency and the syntax-semantics-pragmatics interface. Her current research interests include ongoing change and variation in English, language use and degrees of acceptability, as well as, more recently, ESP and language teaching.
Published
18-04-2013
How to Cite
Garcia de la Maza, C. (2013). The conventionalisation of contextual effects in middle structures. International Journal of English Studies, 13(1), 111–131. https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2013/1/127081
Issue
Vol. 13 No. 1 (2013): Open Issue
Section
Articles

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