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When take means require: A study of extraposed and impersonal constructions with take

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2016

Gregory Furmaniak
Gregory Furmaniak*
Affiliation:
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
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Abstract

The aim of this corpus-based study is to offer a syntactic and semantic characterization of sentences whose formal realization can be schematized as it + take + NP + (NP) + to-VP. The examination of the data suggests that this linear structure is shared by two distinct micro-constructions with different semantic properties: a construction with extraposition whose primary meaning is described in terms of consumption and an impersonal micro-construction which is analyzed as an anankastic construction expressing a necessary condition. It is shown that the apparently erratic grammatical behaviour of the string results from the existence in the hierarchical network of constructions of two different micro-constructions with similar formal realizations.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article propose une analyse syntaxique et sémantique des énoncés de la forme it + take + GN + (GN) + to-GV. L'hypothèse défendue, confirmee par 1'observation des données, est que cette réalisation formelle est sous-tendue par deux microconstructions distinctes: une micro-construction avec extraposition dont le sens principal se laisse décrire en termes de consommation métaphorique et une construction impersonnelle analysée comme une structure anankastique qui exprime la notion de condition nécessaire. Nous montrons que le comportement syntaxique apparemment erratique de la forme étudiée s'explique par l'existence, dans le réseau hiérarchique des constructions, de deux micro-constructions différentes rattachées à deux families de constructions distinctes.

Keywords

takeitextrapositionimpersonalanankastictakeitextrapositionimpersonnelanankastique
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , July 2014 , pp. 173 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association. 2015

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