Exploring attachment patterns between multi-word verbs and argument structure constructions

Abstract

The present paper reports the results of two corpus studies of multi-word verbs in the context of Cognitive Construction Grammar. The main claim of the constructionist approach adopted in this paper is that the meaning of specific multi-word verbs (MWVs), that is, combinations of a verb proper and a particle (spatial adverb, preposition, or both), overlaps the meaning of the argument structure construction in which it appears, thereby facilitating the positing of motivated categories. This theoretical claim is supported by the results of a two-staged corpus study. The first part of the study uses the affordances of the online interface of the 520-million-word Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). The results show that the identified MWVs in the corpus are skewed toward motional usages in spoken registers. The list of frequent MWVs provides the data for the second study. In this case, the results confirm the hypothesis that MWVs overlap specific argument structure constructions following distinct attachment patterns. This finding also suggests that argument structure constructions are high-order constructions that interface thought and language at a deep cognitive level.