On the formation and argument realization of the resultative construction in the Cognitive Grammar framework
Dong Chengr · 2014
As an independent structure, the resultative construction expresses both the transfer of energy from the agent to the theme and the latter's change of state effected by this energy transfer. The construction is either agent-oriented or theme-oriented in light of the encoding strategies involved. The agent-oriented resultative construction profiles the implied theme and result of unergative verbs and the implied result of transitive verbs at a detailed level, and thus accommodates both verb types. The theme-oriented resultative construction profiles the implied result of unaccusative verbs, and thereby renders its arguments saturated. The reason why verbs in the resultative construction accept extra arguments is that these verbs proper possess the implied arguments needed.