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Baklagova Ju.V. [The binary semantics in the causative potential of the verb enable in English] World of Science. Series: Sociology, Philology, Cultural Studies, 2020, Vol. 11, No. 2. Available at: https://sfk-mn.ru/PDF/39FLSK220.pdf (in Russian).

The binary semantics in the causative potential of the verb enable in English

Baklagova Julia Viktorovna
Kuban state university, Krasnodar, Russia
E-mail: liliann@mail.ru
РИНЦ: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=267484

Abstract. The article is devoted to the study of the causative potential of the verb enable in English. Research on causative as a semantic distinctive feature of a verb is important both for the whole semantic system of a language and for the verbal lexis as a microsystem in the particular language, therein lies the relevance of this research. The scientific novelty is as follows: the binary semantics of the causative verb enable in English is investigated for the first time from the perspective of the formal-semantic features of the verb. By the binary semantics is meant the semantic potential of the verb enable which allows to form two types of causative – lexical causative and syntactical causative. The formal-semantic features of the verb in each type of causative are conditioned by the specifics of the predicate-argument structure of the verb and the taxonomic category which are interrelated. The cause-effect relationships are interpreted in the lexical causative and in the syntactical causative differently. In the lexical causative, cause is the verb enable, effect is a one-piece causee. In the syntactical causative, cause is incorporated in the verb enable as well, but effect is implemented in the two-piece structure – the first piece is a causee, the second piece is an effected predicate (the Infinitive of the non-causative verb). There are some differences in the predicate-argument structure of the verb enable in two types of causatives. The semantic roles of a causer are an agent, an intermediary agent or a force in both types of causatives. The semantic role of a causee in the lexical causative is always a patient, whereas the semantic role of a causee in the syntactical causative construction is a patient or an agent (if the causee is animate). For defining the possible taxonomic categories, the most crucial are the parameters of the main arguments, most notably the parameters of a causer. Regardless on the type of causative, the possible taxonomic categories of the verb enable are “action with the focus on the result”, “causative incident” and “causative incident with the background causer”.

Keywords: cause-effect relationships; causative verb; lexical causative; syntactical causative; predicate-argument structure; taxonomic category; semantic role

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