Pragmatic and Cognitive Constraints on Lexical-Constructional

Abstract

This article explores the constraints that underlie the functioning of motion verbs expressing movement in a particular way (e.g. skulk, scamper). Our study has been carried out in accordance with the postulates of the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM), as put forward by Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal (2006). The LCM accounts for the relationship between lexical and syntactic meaning by merging into one unified approach relevant theoretical and methodological assumptions from both functional projectionist theories such as Role and Reference Grammar, on the one hand, and constructional models of linguistic description, on the other. Such a combined framework allows us to offer a comprehensive characterization of the verbs under scrutiny, including (1) syntactically relevant information (logical structure), (2) semantic content (lexical template) and (3) those cognitive and pragmatic constraints which may license, restrict or block the fusion of lexical templates into higher-level constructional patterns.