On English Causative Constructions and “Projection”

The paper, based on the related research on English causative constructions and on the theory of “projection” in Systemic Functional Linguistics, carries out a discussion on “Agent-centered” causative constructions and “projection”. The analysis shows that while causative constructions, with the “please” type affective verb, the “guarantee” type causative relational process verb, or the “please” type cognitive verb as Process, can take an embedded fact or a hypotactic projected idea as one constituent of the construction, they are distinguished from the hypotactic locution projection, though the borderline between them is somewhat blurring. The analysis is believed to facilitate a better understanding of the expression of the causative meaning in English.