Lexical information and beyond: Meaning coercion and constructional inference of the Mandarin verb GAN

Abstract

This paper argues for the inclusion of constructional inferences in semantic representation of verbs. By examining the transitive pattern of the Mandarin verb GAN (sic) 'rush', it is found that verbal semantics can only be adequately represented if constructionally coerced information is taken into consideration. The construction [GAN + NP] renders specific interpretations that cannot be directly derived from the lexical meaning of either the verb or the object NP. The construction itself carries salient information for the appropriate interpretation. The 'ellipsed' eventive information is analyzed from the perspective of Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995). Moreover, a compositional framework based on Qualia Structure (Pustejovsky 1995) is utilized to resolve the potential ambiguity arising from the construction-triggered meaning. By combining the two complementary approaches, this paper attempts to account for and represent contextualized information as well as varied meaning facets associated with a partially-filled construction.