Three-Participant Constructions in English

Three-Participant Constructions in English Synopsis

This study aims to give a systematic and comprehensive description of the constructions involved in three important types of alternation: the locative alternation, which is by far the most researched of the three, the image impression alternation and the material/product alternation. The author looks at the constructions as part of alternation, but also looks beyond the alternations, and analyzes and describes the constructions in their own right. They are analyzed as three-participant constructions with relational complements, construing causation of the three main subtypes of relations, namely intensive, circumstantial and possessive relations. Particular attention is paid to the concept of holicity, to the status of the prepositional phrase, and to collocational properties, which play a key role in the decision as to which alternate should be regarded as the unmarked one within its construction paradigm. The approach taken is inspired by systemic functional grammar and can broadly be characterized as cognitive-functional.