Verb-preposition constructions in Hong Kong English: A cognitive semantic accountn

Abstract

Studies on prepositions in Hong Kong English have focused on syntactic issues, most notably on the constituent structures of different prepositions with five transitive verbs (i.e., enter into, discuss about, return back, stress on and list out). As a result, they have neglected the role of meaning in the choice of prepositions that are associated with these verbs. This paper attempts to provide a convincing semantic explanation of the phenomenon from the theoretical framework of Cognitive Grammar. I will argue that the cooccurrence of particular prepositions with these verbs in Hong Kong English is not completely arbitrary, but is in fact semantically motivated to a considerable degree. All corpus uses of these structures evoke some kind of conceptual overlap between the lexical verb and the preposition. More specifically, a certain facet of the verb's conceptual content corresponds in some evident way to an active zone of the associated preposition. The conclusion considers the implications of a highly schematic constructional schema instantiated by these five verbpreposition constructions as a unit entrenched by nonnative speakers.