In the English Secondary Predicate Construction (SPC), a predicative relation between a noun phrase (NP) and a “secondary predicate” (XP) is established by a main verb (He findsVerb herNP attractiveXP). While the syntactic nature of this construction has received ample attention from a synchronic perspective, this study aims to shed light on the diachronic developments of the SPC. First, using data from the York-Toronto-Helsinki Corpus of Old English Prose (YCOE) and the Penn corpora, a classification is proposed of the verbs occurring in the SPC. Based on this semantic classification, the development of the SPC is then traced from Old English to Late Modern English in terms of frequency and productivity. It is argued that, while the various classes of SPC-taking verbs often show opposite developments, these lower-level incongruities are resolved at a higher schematic level, as the SPC as a whole underwent a process of internalization. These findings underscore the importance of lower-level developments in the diachronic behavior of schematic constructions and consequently contribute to the literature on constructional change.

中文翻译：

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结构的增减：零次谓词结构简史

在英语二级谓词结构（SPC）中，名词短语（NP）和“二级谓词”（XP）之间的谓语关系是由一个主要动词（He findsVerb herNPtractiveXP）建立的。虽然这种结构的句法性质从共时的角度受到了充分的关注，但本研究旨在阐明 SPC 的历时发展。首先，使用来自约克-多伦多-赫尔辛基古英语散文语料库 (YCOE) 和宾夕法尼亚语料库的数据，对 SPC 中出现的动词提出了分类。在这种语义分类的基础上，SPC从频率和生产力方面的发展可以追溯到古英语到晚期现代英语。有人认为，虽然各种类别的 SPC 动词经常表现出相反的发展，这些较低层次的不协调在较高的示意图层次上得到解决，因为 SPC 作为一个整体经历了一个内化的过程。这些发现强调了图式结构历时行为的低层次发展的重要性，因此有助于有关结构变化的文献。