7.2. Advantages of the Constructional Approach

ISSN: 1139-8736
Depósito Legal: B-48039-2000

According to Goldberg (1995: 9-21), the constructional approach is to be preferred for the following reasons:

7.2.1. Implausible Verb Senses Are Avoided

Its main advantage is that the problem of having to multiply the number of verb senses is avoided. Thus, implausible verb senses like the ones present in the following sentences do not have to be stipulated:

(7.2) He sneezed the napkin off the table.

(7.3) She baked him a cake.
(7.4) I saw her into the room.
(7.5) I started out of the room.

Sneeze appears here with a direct object when it is usually an intransitive verb. Under the constructional approach the infrequent arguments and meanings are contributed by the particular construction associated with that meaning without having to postulate a new lexical entry for each of the configurations in which a particular verb can enter.

Anterior I Siguiente I Índice capítulo 7 I Índice General

ISSN: 1139-8736
Depósito Legal: B-48039-2000