A USAGE-BASED, CONSTRUCTIONIST ACCOUNT OF THE KENA-GIVE CONSTRUCTION

Abstract

This paper concerns the Kena-give construction in SgE, exemplified in sentences such as I kena the door hit. Drawing upon the theoretical insights of Usage-Based Construction Grammar, I attempt to account for its existence by situating it in the constructicon alongside the Kena construction, exemplified in sentences such as I kena hit by the door; and the Give construction, exemplified in sentences such as I give the door hit; in a way that they constitute concrete subconstructions subsumed by a more abstract superconstruction. Applying the methodological framework of Experimental Syntax, I test my hypothesis through an acceptability judgment task designed to (dis)confirm if, firstly, the Kena-give construction is individuated in the constructicon in its own right, and, secondly, if acceptability and hence knowledge of the Kena-give construction presupposes acceptability and hence knowledge of the Kena and Give constructions. The results suggest that the Kena-give and Give constructions are unlikely to exist as constructions qua individuated Form-Function pairings, and that their instantiations are processed via grammatical resources other than the Kena, Give, and Kena-give constructions themselves. While a null result in terms of questions about the content of grammar, it nonetheless sheds light on the nature of grammar – sentences that to the analyst instantiate the Kena-give and Give constructions can be used, processed, and judged without invoking or knowing the very constructions in question, whose existence in the grammar, and whose effects on the grammaticality of language units, remain matters of time and degree.