Dynamic and static patterns in language: instrumental verbs unfolded

Abstract

Our mental capacity to construe a perceived situation in different ways and the distinct modes of construal become evident when comparing various linguistic structures possible for verbalizing one and the same event. These structures can be distinguished according to a range of different features - among them quantities known from physics: state and dynamics. To demonstrate the gradual difference between static and dynamic concepts discernable in language this paper focuses on distinct presentations of a complex form of causatives - namely instrumentals. After some introductory comments in section one, section two will display the conceptual differences between plain causative constructions and instrumental construals. The third section analyzes different instrumental patterns with regard to the static-dynamic distinction and the conceptual import of these structures. Some concluding words will close the article.