A Conceptual Approach to the -ING Construction: Aspects of Radiality and Subjectification

Abstract: The -ING construction has a number of uses in the English language, and teaching it to speakers of other languages poses some challenges, as learners tend to interpret the construction as a verbal one, in the progressive aspect, which is only one part of the picture. Bearing this in mind, we have developed a corpus-based research into the form-meaning/function pairing (Goldberg, 1995, 2006) of the construction, relying on Construction Grammar (Kay, Fillmore; 1999; Goldberg, 1995, 2006) and Cognitive Grammar (Langacker, 1987, 1990, 1991, 2008), apart from a semantic approach to the -ING construction (Wierzbicka, 1988), essential for describing the -ING construction from a conceptual perspective within the wide-ranging scope of Cognitive Linguistics (Geeraerts, 2006), which also included Prototype Theory (Rosch, 1973) and Radial Categories (Brugman, 1981; Lakoff, 1987). In regard to methodology, we have taken both a quantitative and qualitative approach to data (Cook; Reichardt, 1979; Richardson, 1985; Creswell, 2010) compiled from an English/Spanish parallel corpus of 1199 verbal -ING occurrences. Our main hypothesis is that the -ING construction, in its verbal function, is more central or prototypical (Rosch, 1973; Brugman, 1981; Lakoff, 1987; Langacker, 2008) in respect to its conceptual network and its other functions, namely nominal, adjectival and adverbial. These functions, in turn, exhibit a more peripheral role and are linked to the verbal function through metaphorical extension relationships (Goldberg, 1995, 2006). By performing a corpus-based analysis of the data (Berber-Sardinha, 2002, 2004) we finally argue that there is a radial organisation (Brugman, 1981; Lakoff, 1987) for the -ING construction, which goes from a more concrete level, being this more situated or grounded and thus more objectified (as a “here and now process”), until it gets to a more abstract level, therefore, less situated and more subjectified (taken as a “thing”).

摘要：英语中的-ing构式（-ING construction）具备多种用法，向其他语言使用者讲授该构式存在一定挑战，因为学习者往往仅将其理解为进行体的动词形式，而这仅为该构式用法的一个侧面。鉴于此，本研究依托构式语法（Construction Grammar，Kay, Fillmore; 1999; Goldberg, 1995, 2006）与认知语法（Cognitive Grammar，Langacker, 1987, 1990, 1991, 2008），并结合针对-ing构式的语义研究路径（Wierzbicka, 1988），围绕该构式的形式-意义/功能配对展开基于语料库的研究；而该研究路径对于在认知语言学（Cognitive Linguistics，Geeraerts, 2006）的广阔框架下从概念视角描述-ing构式至关重要，其中还涵盖了原型理论（Prototype Theory，Rosch, 1973）与辐射范畴（Radial Categories，Brugman, 1981; Lakoff, 1987）。
在研究方法层面，本研究采用定量与定性结合的研究范式（Cook; Reichardt, 1979; Richardson, 1985; Creswell, 2010），所用数据源自包含1199个动词-ing用例的英西平行语料库。本研究的核心假设为：当-ing构式发挥动词功能时，相较于其名词性、形容词性与副词性功能，在概念网络中处于更核心或更具原型性的位置（Rosch, 1973; Brugman, 1981; Lakoff, 1987; Langacker, 2008）；其余三类功能则处于更外围的位置，并通过隐喻延伸关系与动词功能相联系（Goldberg, 1995, 2006）。
通过对数据开展基于语料库的分析（Berber-Sardinha, 2002, 2004），本研究最终论证：-ing构式存在辐射式组织架构（Brugman, 1981; Lakoff, 1987），其一端为更具体的层面——该层面更具情境性或具身性，因而更具客观化特征（可理解为“此时此地的过程”），另一端则指向更抽象的层面，此时情境性减弱且更具主观化特征（可理解为“事物”）。