The Distribution and Function of Virtual Reflexive Constructions in English

Abstract

This paper sheds new light on the distributional and functional properties of virtual reflexive constructions (VRCs) in English (e.g., This problem solves ITSELF). VRCs describe the level of ease involved in performing the action denoted by the verb. They typically involve metaphorical interpretations, are compatible with adverbs such as virtually, and obtain a primary stress on the reflexive pronoun object. Two claims are presented in this paper: first, the subject of VRCs can be regarded as a crucial contributing factor (i.e., an essential factor in a causal relation). This analysis explains the metaphorical interpretations of VRCs, their compatibility with adverbs such as virtually, and the primary emphasis placed on the reflexive pronoun object. Second, VRCs typically act as anticausativizing causative verbs with no anticausative alternants via metaphor. Namely, VRCs express metaphorical anticausative situations. Causative verbs that can alternate with intransitive anticausative verbs (e.g., break, open, melt) tend to prefer the intransitive anticausative usage when describing anticausative situations (e.g., the vase broke) because intransitive anticausatives are simpler in form and less marked than VRCs. On the other hand, causative verbs with no anticausative alternant (e.g., write, sell) are more likely to occur in VRCs when describing anticausative situations. In other words, VRCs enable these causative verbs to express metaphorical anticausative situations. This analysis is supported by a corpus-based investigation.