Speech verbs, figuration and the English Caused-Motion construction in American English

Abstract This study extends the analysis of the English Caused-Motion construction by examining figuration, which has traditionally been overlooked in favor of spatial translational motion. Building on Peña Cervel (2011) and Ruiz de Mendoza and Pérez (2011) , we analyze into / out of speech directionals in the Corpus of Historical American English (1820–2019). Despite their low frequency, the 29 verb types and 49 level-specific constructions found show relative stability across the period. The study points to the role of verb-schema extension ( Diessel, 2019 ) in the group’s diachronic evolution. More importantly, it demonstrates that a considerable number of units exhibit varying degrees of mediating cognitive decision, which leads us to suggest that Goldberg’s constraint should be partially or fully disabled in the figurative domain.