Metaphoric motivation in grammatical structure

This chapter is concerned with the use of non-motion verbs in the caused-motion construction. Their literal or figurative motional interpretation is claimed to be motivated by high-level conceptual metaphors. Typically, these non-motion verbs are lexically intransitive and coerced into transitive verbs in the caused-motion construction. The goal of the paper to identify the constructional meanings of these verbs resulting from processes of metaphorization. These meaning constructions are analyzed within the theoretical frameworks of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the Lexical-Constructional Model.

• Affiliations: 1: University of Pavia