RT Journal Article
T1 A construction of independent means: the history of the Way construction revisited
A1 Fanego Lema, Teresa
K1 Way construction
K1 Intransitive Motion construction
K1 Networks
K1 Force dynamics
K1 British and American English
AB The emergence and development of the Way construction was famously examined byIsrael (1996) in a study which traced the modern form of the construction to threesenses or subschemas, namely manner of motion (He stumbled his way to the frontdoor), means of motion (He dug his way out of the prison) and incidental activity (Hewhistled his way out of the room). The present article moves beyond the late MiddleEnglish period – the starting point of Israel’s research – and looks at the precursorsof the Way construction since Old English times, as well as its interaction with theIntransitive Motion construction (IMC) (He walked into the room). By approaching thedata in terms of Goldberg’s typology (1997) of verb-construction relationships, which isfiner-grained than Israel’s tripartite division, the analysis identifies the areas of conceptualand constructional overlap that have existed between the Way construction and the IMCin the course of history, and shows that the Way construction has gradually specialisedin the expression of those relations which could not be readily coded in the IMC, suchas means of motion and incidental activity. The study thus seeks to contribute to a betterunderstanding of how the constructicon, the repertory of constructions making up thegrammar of a language, may change over time.
PB Cambridge University Press
SN 1360-6743
YR 2019
FD 2019
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21045
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21045
LA eng
NO FANEGO, T. (2019). A construction of independent means: The history of the Way construction revisited. English Language and Linguistics, 23(3), 671-699. doi:10.1017/S1360674318000059
NO For generous financial support I am grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness(grant FFI2017-86884-P) and the Regional Government of Galicia (grants ED431B 2017/12 and ED431D2017/09)
DS Minerva
RD 25 abr 2026