Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Éva Kovács: Identification of phrasal verbs in the literature

that membership is a predictable, all-or-nothing affair. Membership is commonly a matter of degree, resistant to strict delimination".Thus, we cannot draw a borderline between prepositions and adverbial particles in a prepositional and phrasal verb, respectively. Cognitive grammarians do not even use the terms 'phrasal verb' or 'prepositional verb', but they analyse how the categories (e.g.: prepositions and particles) are structured, i.e. how the different senses are related to one another. Radden (1991:57) also notes that as far as the structure of linguistic categories is concerned, cognitive grammar seems to show a "strong preference for structuring dissimilar members of a natural category in terms of priviliged prototypical members and less representative peripheral members. The linguistic categories which most conspicuously display prototypical structure are polysemous lexical items the various senses of which are radially linked to a central, or prototypical sense. Studies of prepositions and their bewildering multitude of senses have provided particularly revealing insights into the nature of radial structures." Brugman's (1981), Taylor's (1989), Lakoffs (1987), Radden's (1991) analysis of OVER as a preposition, particle, adverb and prefix and Lindner's (1981) analysis of the particles UP and OUT(1981) and Johnson's (1987) analysis of OUT are the most important studies to investigate the intricate semantic network of such highly polysemous words and show the principles upon which these networks of senses are based. As Radden (1991:57) points out, such networks consist of chains of senses which are linked in a natural and motivated fashion by minimal changes in their schematic configuration. In their analysis of OVER, Brugman (1981), Taylor (1987), Lakoff (1987) and Radden (1991) have shown that OVER has a network of radially structured spatial senses, which also serves as the source domain for metaphorical extensions. Susan Lindner (1981 :xii) investigates the particles OUT and UP, and she also observes that these particles have a range of both concrete and abstract meanings, which are related so that OUT and UP comprise unified concepts. Analysing the meanings of OUT and UP, Lindner (1981:49) states that VPCs (Verb-particle constructions), while often considered unanalysable and idiomatic, are in fact componential and their meanings are interrelated. They have a central, prototypical meaning, which are the concrete, literal meanings and the most fully analysable; whereas other meanings i.e the nonliteral, figurative meanings depart from the prototypical in various ways and to various degrees, typically via metaphorical extension. 124