Category Change from a Constructional Perspective

Category Change from a Constructional Perspective PDF

Author: Kristel Van Goethem

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2018-03-15

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 902726435X

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Category change, broadly defined as the shift from one word class to another, is often studied as part of other changes, such as grammaticalization or lexicalization, but not in its own right. This volume offers a survey of different types of category change and their properties, e.g. abrupt versus gradual changes, morphological versus syntactic changes, or context-independent versus context-sensitive changes. The purpose of this collection of papers is to explore the concepts of linguistic category and category change from the perspective of Construction Grammar. Using data from a variety of languages, the authors address a number of themes that are central to current theorizing about category change, such as the question of whether or not categories should be considered discrete entities, how new categories arise, or whether category change can be considered as the emergence of a new construction, i.e. a new form-meaning pairing. The novel approach advanced in this volume will be of interest to historical linguists as well as to general linguists working on the nature of linguistic categories.

Grammaticalization meets Construction Grammar

Grammaticalization meets Construction Grammar PDF

Author: Evie Coussé

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2018-05-23

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 9027264163

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Grammaticalization research has increasingly highlighted the notion of constructions in the last decade. In the wake of this heightened interest, efforts have been made in grammaticalization research to more precisely articulate the largely pretheoretical notion of construction in the theoretical framework of construction grammar. As such, grammaticalization research increasingly interacts and converges with the emerging field of diachronic construction grammar. This volume brings together articles that are situated at the intersection of grammaticalization research and diachronic construction grammar. All articles share an interest in integrating insights from grammaticalization research and construction grammar in order to advance our understanding of empirical cases of grammaticalization. Constructions at various levels of abstractness are investigated, both in well-documented languages, such as Ancient Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, Norwegian and English, and in less-described languages, such as Manchu and Mongolian.

Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar

Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar PDF

Author: Lotte Sommerer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2020-05-15

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 9027261296

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This volume brings together ten contributions by leading experts who present their current usage-based research in Diachronic Construction Grammar. All papers contribute to the discussion of how to conceptualize constructional networks best and how to model changes in the constructicon, as for example node creation or loss, node-external reconfiguration of the network or in/decrease in productivity and schematicity. The authors discuss the theoretical status of allostructions, homostructions, constructional families and constructional paradigms. The terminological distinction between constructionalization and constructional change is revisited. It is shown how constructional competition but also general cognitive abilities like analogical thinking and schematization relate to the structure and reorganization of the constructional network. Most contributions focus on the nature of vertical and horizontal links. Finally, contributions to the volume also discuss how existing network models should be enriched or reconceptualized in order to integrate theoretical, psychological and neurological aspects missing so far.

English Noun Phrases from a Functional-Cognitive Perspective

English Noun Phrases from a Functional-Cognitive Perspective PDF

Author: Lotte Sommerer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2022-01-15

Total Pages: 443

ISBN-13: 9027258252

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Despite a significant increase in interest over the last two decades in the English Noun Phrase, there are still many open questions and unexplored issues. The papers collected in this volume contribute to this ongoing research by addressing a range of topics concerning the internal structure, use and development of English Noun Phrases. The eleven chapters represent three main themes: 1. Determination, modification and complementation; 2. Shell nouns and the X-is construction; 3. Binominal constructions. These topics are approached in different ways: some chapters are synchronic in nature, others diachronic; and while most subscribe to functional-cognitive modelling, some take a more formal approach. In addition, different methodologies are employed, varying from qualitative and quantitative corpus analyses to experimental methods. As a result, the contributions to this volume represent both the main topics currently discussed in research on the English Noun Phrase, and the diversity in the way these topics are investigated.

The Oxford Handbook of Morphological Theory

The Oxford Handbook of Morphological Theory PDF

Author: Jenny Audring

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 751

ISBN-13: 0199668981

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Morphology, the science of words, is a complex theoretical landscape, where a multitude of frameworks, each with their own tenets and formalism, compete for the explanation of linguistic facts. The Oxford Handbook of Morphological Theory is a comprehensive guide through this jungle of morphological theories. It provides a rich and up-to-date overview of theoretical frameworks, from Structuralism to Optimality Theory and from Minimalism to Construction Morphology...

The Construction of Words

The Construction of Words PDF

Author: Geert Booij

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-04-13

Total Pages: 622

ISBN-13: 3319743945

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This volume focuses on detailed studies of various aspects of Construction Morphology, and combines theoretical analysis and descriptive detail. It deals with data from several domains of linguistics and contributes to an integration of findings from various subdisciplines of linguistics into a common model of the architecture of language. It presents applications and extensions of the model of Construction Morphology to a wide range of languages. Construction Morphology is one of the theoretical paradigms in present-day morphology. It makes use of concepts of Construction Grammar for the analysis of word formation and inflection. Complex words are seen as constructions, that is, pairs of form and meaning. Morphological patterns are accounted for by construction schemas. These are the recipes for coining new words and word forms, and they motivate the properties of existing complex words. Both schemas and individual words are stored, and hence there is no strict separation of lexicon and grammar. In addition to abstract schemas there are subschemas for subclasses of complex words with specific properties. This architecture of the grammar is in harmony with findings from other empirical domains of linguistics such as language acquisition, word processing, and language change.

The Morphology of Dutch

The Morphology of Dutch PDF

Author: Geert Booij

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-04-17

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0192575554

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This volume provides a detailed and comprehensive description of the morphological system of Dutch. Following an introduction to the basic assumptions of morphological theory, separate chapters are devoted to the inflectional system, derivation, and compounding, the interface between morphology and phonology, the interaction between morphology and syntax, and, new to this edition, a more detailed study of the features of separable complex verbs. Geert Booij demonstrates in this book that the morphology of Dutch poses multiple interesting descriptive and theoretical challenges. The volume also contributes to ongoing discussions on the nature and representation of morphological processes, the role of paradigmatic relations between words - and between words and phrases - and the interaction between morphology, phonology, and syntax. This second, fully revised edition has been updated throughout with expanded coverage of Dutch morphological phenomena and results from new research. Alongside a brand new chapter on separable complex verbs, it also includes a more sophisticated analysis of the relation between morphology and syntax, and an introduction to the basic tenets of Construction Morphology.

Changes in Meaning and Function

Changes in Meaning and Function PDF

Author: Jorge Fernández Jaén

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2020-04-15

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9027261385

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Diachronic linguistics has been experiencing a strong revival during the last few decades, since an increasing number of researchers have assumed that evolutionary and historical factors must be considered to properly understand how natural languages work. This book offers new data and insights on some of the research lines which are currently being developed within the framework of diachronic language research. The papers brought together in this volume are characterized both by their originality and by their methodological diversity; the reader will thus find herein theoretical as well as empirical works, undertaken from various perspectives of analysis (diachronic cognitive semantics, grammaticalization theory, discursive traditions, historical phraseology, etc.). The final outcome is an eclectic volume which offers valuable information for every reader, regardless of whether they are experienced linguists or junior researchers willing to know the latest epistemological advances in this discipline.

Measurements of Grammaticalization

Measurements of Grammaticalization PDF

Author: David Correia Saavedra

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-10-25

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 3110753073

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Grammaticalization has often been described as a gradual phenomenon. While many studies have discussed the quantitative aspects of grammaticalization, there has been little to no work that has tried to propose a way of measuring degrees of grammaticalization. This book addresses this gap by proposing a corpus-based approach to the measurement of grammaticalization, using binary logistic regression modelling. Such an approach has theoretical benefits as it can provide empirical evidence for the gradience and gradualness of grammaticalization. It can help substantiate observations that have been done on the basis of case studies so far, such as the hypothesized unidirectionality of grammaticalization. In addition, as the methods proposed in this book rely on corpus-based data only, it offers a way of comparing grammaticalization across multiple languages, which is currently a challenging endeavour. What this book hopes to achieve is to start a discussion on the measurement of grammaticalization. To draw a parallel, the field of morphological productivity has greatly benefited from the discussions (and disputes) regarding how its object of study should be measured, and I believe that so will the field of grammaticalization.