Accounting for Causal Constructions within the Framework of the Lexical Constructional Model

Abstract

This article sets out to examine causal constructions by focusing on a particular verbal class, namely, entity-specific change-of-state verbs. The most important step consisted in finding a theoretical framework capable of accounting for the intricate syntactic behavior of these verbs and of giving equal importance to the contribution of both lower-level and high-level configurations. The present study also shows that the external constraints formulated by the Lexical Constructional Model constitute useful analytical tools for the integration of this verbal class into the intransitive causal construction. The external constraints involve cognitive mechanisms such as high-level metaphor and metonymy, which produce a change in perspective of a lexical predicate and allow it to be easily subsumed into a given construction.