The expression of service provision in American English: A constructionist approach

Autores

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36517/ep15.96316

Palavras-chave:

Construction Grammar, profiling, semantics, American English

Resumo

This article investigates two constructions in American English used to express service provision: the Service Provision Causative Construction (SPCC), as in "I had my nails done," and the Service Provision Transitive Construction (SPTC), as in "I did my nails." To the extent that these constructions seemingly challenge the Principle of Non-Synonymy (Goldberg, 1995), they present an issue for functionalist framework Principle. Through the lens of Usage-Based Construction Grammar (UBCG), this paper argues that while both constructions evoke a service provision event, the SPTC also evokes an additional event and profiles different elements of the scene, suggesting a greater degree of involvement by the subject referent. This difference in profiling and involvement helps explain why speakers might choose one construction over the other, thus providing evidence in favor the Non-Synonymy Principle and contributing to a deeper understanding of the relationship between form and meaning in service provision expressions.

Biografia do Autor

  • Diogo Pinheiro, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

     He holds a PhD in Linguistics and a Master's degree in Portuguese Language from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is a professor at UFRJ, where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in Linguistics. As a researcher, his work focuses on the areas of Construction Grammar and Cognitive Linguistics. From a theoretical point of view, he has two main interests: on the one hand, researching the relevance of a grammar model that is both constructionist and usage-based; on the other, exploring the possibilities of the cognitive semantics framework (construal, conventional imagery, Mental Space Theory, etc.) for understanding the semantic pole of grammatical constructions.

  • Paula Sasse, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)

    Master's degree in linguistics (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)

Referências

DIESSEL, H. Usage-based construction grammar. In: DABROWSKA, E.; DIBJAK, D. (Org.) Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 2015, p. 295-321.

DIESSEL, H. The Constructicon: Taxonomies and Networks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

GILQUIN, G. Causative Get and Have: So Close, So Different. Journal of English Linguistics, v.31, n.2, p.125-148. 2003.

GOLDBERG, A. Constructions: a construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

GOLDBERG, A. Constructions at Work: The Nature of Generalization in Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

HOFFMANN, T. Construction grammar: The structure of English. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

KEMMER, S.; VERHAGEN, A. The grammar of causatives and the conceptual structure of events. Cognitive Linguistics, v. 5, n.2, p. 115-156, 1994.

LANGACKER, R. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar: Theoretical prerequisite. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987.

LANGACKER, R. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar: Descriptive Application. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991.

LECLERCQ, B.; MORIN, C. No equivalence: A new principle of no synonymy. Constructions, [S. l.], v. 15, n. 1, 2023. DOI: 10.24338/cons-535. Disponível em: https://constructions.journals.hhu.de/article/view/535. Acesso em: 15 mai. 2024.

SANTOS, C. Processing of the English causative-have Construction by Monolinguals and Brazilian Portuguese – English bilinguals. Dissertação (Mestrado em Linguística) – Faculdade de Letras, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, p. 78. 2019.

TRAN, Q. H. Analysis of State Changes in English Causative Constructions: Insights from Construction Grammar. International Journal of TESOL & Education, v 4, n 4, p. 35-53. 2024.

VILELA, A. Transferência Linguística e Transferência de Treinamento na Interlíngua do Falante de Português-L1/Inglês-L2. Dissertação (Mestrado em Linguística Aplicada) – Faculdade de Letras, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, p. 288. 2009.

Publicado

20-11-2025

Edição

Seção

Artigos - Vária

Como Citar

The expression of service provision in American English: A constructionist approach. Entrepalavras, [S. l.], v. 15, p. e96316, 2025. DOI: 10.36517/ep15.96316. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufc.br/entrepalavras/article/view/96316. Acesso em: 4 mar. 2026.