Lexical classes and constructions: an analysis of the constructional realization of entity-specific change-of-state English verbs

Abstract

This study analyzes a so far neglected part of the constructional behavior of Levin’s (1993) entity-specific change-of-state verbs. More specifically, we discuss the integration of verbs from this lexical class into the intransitive-resultative construction. We base our analysis on the Lexical Constructional Model or LCM (Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal 2008, 2011; Mairal and Ruiz de Mendoza 2009; Ruiz de Mendoza 2013). It will be shown that the internal and external constraints postulated by the LCM constitute useful explanatory and analytical tools for the fusion processes between these verbs and the intransitive-resultative construction. We also propose a classification of these verbs on the basis of their conceptual similarity and change schemas they encode.