Intend returning: um estudo diacrônico de complementos indefinidos na língua inglesa, baseado em dados de Corpora

Abstract

Starting from the chaos of contemporary synchronic data, I sought patterns in usage of indefinite verbal complements in the form of gerunds and infinitives. The methodology employed a personalized database built from relevant corpora. Analysis utilized Cognitive Grammar with Usage-based Models of Language. Extensive study of the literature on the question led to the conviction that existing analyses of synchronic contemporary data could receive substantial illumination from diachronic corpus data only recently made available in the form of electronic databases and search engines utilizing twenty-first century technology.Consequently, research was extended to historical uses of these verbal complements, resulting in the discovery of complex and interacting changes in English syntax. Growth of the gerund complement in both token and construction types was verified as a change in progress. Thetwo factors identified as having the greatest explanatory power over the current system of verbal complements are respectively historical and contemporary, specifically certain verbs later entry into English and current frequency rates of use. I introduce a mechanism of language change to explain the two factors according to the hypothesis that the first factor is partially responsible for the second. Taken together, the factors and the mechanism form the most significant contribution offered by this original research: a historical explanation of the processes resulting in current differences between the two forms, both in meaning and syntactic distribution.