English Resultative Constructions: Phonological Accentual Percolation Approach

Abstract

In the literature of linguistics, it has been assumed that there are structural constraints on the way accents signal the focus constituents of sentences (Gussenhoven, 1983, 2000; Jacobs, 1991; Krifka, 1997; Winkler, 1997). The general assumption is that a resultative predicate is lexically related with a main verb. However, this paper examines the state of a resultative predicate in terms of focus structure. Specifically, this paper investigates how argument structure influences accentual focus structure by looking at English resultative construction. To pursue this purpose, an experiment was performed. In broad focus, twenty subjects were asked to utter given sentences in the context monologues including resultative constructions. The experimental results revealed that in English resultative constructions, secondary subject NPs (direct object NPs) were accented, while their resultative predicates were deaccented. Based on the results, a resultative predicate is analyzed to be part of a main verb, thus being deaccented. Thus, this paper provides empirical evidence to support the generalization that English resultative predicates form complex predicates with main predicates. The experimental results are analyzed and discussed based on the so-called Phonological Accentual Percolation Approach.