Semantic parameters of the labile use of the verb freeze in English

Abstract

The article is devoted to studying the semantic parameters of the labile use of the verb freeze in English. The verb freeze is characterized by transitive and intransitive use. There is only one causative meaning among the transitive meanings — «store (something) at a very low temperature in order to preserve it». The only one decausative meaning is «(of food) be able to be preserved at a very low temperature». The correlation of these meanings can be classified as decausative type of lability because a causee acts as the direct object of transitive causative meaning and as the subject of intransitive decausative use of the verb at the same time. Two meanings of the verb can be considered as the labile use if one verb — causative — means the influence on the object which causes the changes of this object, and another verb — decausative — is an absolute semantic derivative of the initial causative verb and denotes the conditionally non-agential situation. The distinctive attribute of the communicative situation which identifies the potential of the labile use of the verb is an agential property. All intransitive verbs are therefore analysed in respect of non-agential use. The author divides non-agential use of the verb into two situational types — «conditional non-agential property» and «absolute non-agential property». The main parameters of the potential labile use of the verb freeze are determined by the fact that two verbs have the common causative source, and that the agential situation morphs into the non-agential one. In the pair of labile meanings of the verb, the variability of argument structure results in the alteration of the taxonomic category.