Edited by Mark Kaunisto, Mikko Höglund and Paul Rickman
[Studies in Language Companion Series 195] 2018
► pp. 55–68
Goldberg (2014) proposes one polysemous argument structure construction (ASC) for cases as varied as nibble/rely/bet on something. Inspired by ASCs needed for a semantically similar domain in German, my analysis suggests that a more adequate solution can be reached with three constructions that are semantically further apart than the two sub-senses of Goldberg’s Rely On construction. The solution makes use of Israel’s (1996) empirical findings regarding the historical development of the English way ASC to model the development and interrelationships of the required constructions. Overall, the chapter advocates the advantages of a contrastive approach and the use of diachronic studies to inform synchronic Construction Grammar analyses of specific domains.