A DISTINCTIVE COLLEXEME ANALYSIS OF BE OBLIGED TO V AND BE REQUIRED TO V IN BRITISH ENGLISH

Abstract

This paper investigates two roughly synonymous constructions, be obliged to V and be required to V, in British English in terms of which infinitival complements are attracted to the respective constructions. Taking the viewpoint of Construction Grammar, that constructions are form-meaning pairings of varying degrees of complexity and schematicity, this paper aims to explore the verb complements preferred by the two examined constructions. Based on the results, the paper also proves that these two constructions, even though nearly synonymous and used in the formal context, still exhibit slight differences. The research was conducted on the online British National Corpus applying one of the quantitative methods within collostructional analysis, the distinctive collexeme analysis, developed by Gries and Stefanowitsch in 2003. Qualitatively examined results revealed that verbs that can fill the open slot in both constructions have some common features, such as dynamic aspect and high transitivity, but also certain peculiarities. Be obliged to shows a tendency to co-occur with communication verbs and to encode verbal or interpersonal actions, whereas be required to predominantly attracts formally marked verbs associated with institutionalized and result-oriented activities, particularly in legal, administrative, and medical contexts.