Language: English
Contributors: Cliff Goddard
References: Levin 1993.0; Iwata 2008.0; Herbst et al. 2004.0
Simplex verb
Verb meaning: BURN [burn]
Comment: (i) The verb burn bears a special relationship with the noun fire, which can be regarded as its canonical subject. (ii) I have regarded burn as a basically ambitransitive verb when the subject is fire, (e.g. the fire is burning, the fire burnt my hand), but treated transitive uses with agentive human subjects (e.g. I burnt the paper) as a kind of causative.
Examples: see at the bottom
Schema: 1-nom > V.subj[1]
| # | Microrole | Coding set | Argument type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | burnt thing | NP-nom V.subj | S |
| (5) |
The fire burnt for hours. the the fire fire burnt burnt for for hours hours The fire burnt for hours. |
| (414) |
The fire was burning brightly. the the fire fire was was burning burning brightly brightly The fire was burning brightly. |
| Alternation | Derived coding frame | Alternation class | Occurs | Comment | # Ex. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (7) |
Her house is burning down around her. her her house house is is burning burning down down around around her her Her house is burning down around her. |
| (21) |
The fire burnt over 4000 hectares. the the fire fire burnt burnt over over 4000 4000 hectares hectares The fire burnt over 4000 hectares. Comment: Uses like these, i.e. with a place or a place-extent complement, may deserve to be recognised as a distinct valency frame. |
