以語料庫研究英文中的Send

A Corpus-based Study of Send in English

以往有關雙賓動詞的研究大多以與格位移（dative shift）來分析兩種可互換的句型結構以及典型的雙賓動詞give。本研究探討了在不同句型中的send，並且考量了send在雙賓句構中句型交替的限制。本研究以當代英語語料庫（COCA）作為語言分析的樣本，並以句法和語法上的不同分析前270筆資料。儘管send常與雙賓動詞連用，但結果卻顯示有64％的資料無法以與格位移做句型上的互換。其中有28％的資料以省略接收者的方式或以地方狀語（adverbial of place）代替語意角色中的接收者，來將send用於單及物動詞（monotransitive）；其他的句型包含將send用於使役動詞（causative verb）或片語動詞（prepositional verb）。只有剩餘的36％的資料明顯地以雙受詞（double object）或介係詞與格（prepositional dative）出現在「允許語格位移」的雙賓句構中。研究結果顯示了send和所有物的轉移並無很大的關連性，反而傾向於用來表達隱喻的延伸（metaphorical extensions）概念。例如，將地點或狀語以擬人化的方式轉喻（metonym）為接受者的，來擔任接收者的語義角色。除此之外，當主事者（agent）使受事者（patient direct obejct）執行某項動作時，隱喻的目標會藉由動詞send來完成。在一些少數的例子中，send會以不及物動詞（intransitive）的方式用於偽被動語態（passive voice）來表達即將發生的轉移事件。

Previous studies investigating ditransitive verbs normally focused on the alternating pairs of construction in terms of dative shift and the prototypical ditransitive verb give. This study examines send in different syntactic patterns and considers the restrictions on alternation when it was used as “ditransitive.” The Corpus of Contemporary English (COCA) was used as a source to retrieve language data with the first 270 concordance lines being analyzed through different constructions syntactically and semantically. Though send is frequently associated with strong ditransitivity, the results showed that 64% of the tokens were not allowed for a dative shift. Moreover, 28% were used as monotransitive with the recipients being omitted or the adverbial of place fulfilling the semantic role of the recipients. Other patterns included the use of send as a causative verb or a prepositional verb. Only the remaining 36% were used in an explicit ditransitive syntax with either a double object or a prepositional dative construction that are allowed for a dative shift. The result implies that send is not strongly associated with transference of possession. On the other hand, extended meanings tend to be applied to express metaphorical extensions (i.e. change of location or state). For example, locations or adverbials are personified as metonyms for the recipient to carry a semantic role of the affected entities. Additionally, when the agent subject causes the patient direct object to carry out certain actions, a metaphorical goal is accomplished by the action of send. In a few cases, send is used intransitively in the pseudo-passive to express pending transference.