A synchronic and diachronic study of middle constructions

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K13477
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: Meijo University (2018-2019); Fujita Health University (2017)
• Principal Investigator: Kume Yusuke 名城大学, 法学部, 准教授 (40645173)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 中間構文 / 能格構文 / 叙述構造

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It is suggested that peculiar properties of middle constructions in Present-day English, i.e. predicative meaning of the subject, implication of implicit agent and obligatory co-occurrence of a modal auxiliary, a negative element or a manner adverb denoting difficulty come from structural changes of ergative constructions, i.e. the introduction of a predicative functional category R and the demotion of arbitrary PRO. More precisely, as a result of the introduction of R, an event denoted by vP is described by an adjective denoting difficulty or null adjective of possiblity, and the arbitrary PRO is adjoined to vP because of the increase of agent orientation of adverbs in the construction.

Free Research Field

英語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

中間構文は多くの先行研究により様々な分析がなされ、その特異性について説明されてきたが、いまだに十分説得力のある結論に至っていない。本研究では現代英語だけでなく、古英語、中英語、近代英語において中間構文とその関連構文を通時的に観察・分析することによって、これまでの共時的な分析にはない新しい視点から中間構文の特異性を統語・意味の両面で理論的かつ実証的にとらえることができた。