On discourse frequency, grammar, and grammaticalization

2005 ◽  
pp. 143-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Pustet
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Frequency

The history of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Neels
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Representation ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Time Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Aspect Marker ◽  
Feeding Process ◽  
Discourse Frequency ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

This article is a corpus-based study on the grammaticalization of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to. It describes and seeks to explain the historical process whereby use(d) to, starting from the Middle English source construction use ‘be in the habit of’ + to + verb, grammaticalized into a habitual aspect marker with idiosyncratic morphosyntactic properties. A detailed corpus study is presented, based on four historical English corpora, which together cover a time period from 1410 to 2009. The results of the corpus analysis are interpreted within the theoretical framework of usage-based grammar, with the aim of uncovering the mechanisms that propelled the gradual grammaticalization of use(d) to on the semantic, morphological, syntactic and phonological dimensions. Among the underlying mechanisms and processes identified are semantic generalization via host-class expansion and habituation, pragmatic enrichment, analogy, chunking, loss of analyzability and internal structure, as well as phonological reduction through neuromotor automation. Supported by the quantitative empirical evidence from the corpus analysis and drawing on findings from usage-based research on language change, the present study depicts the grammaticalization of use(d) to as a self-feeding process driven by frequency effects, i.e. by the effects that the increasingly high discourse frequency of the use(d) to construction had on its cognitive representation.

French adverbial cleft sentences

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 86-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Maria De Cesare
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
The Status ◽  
Functional Point ◽  
Discourse Frequency ◽  
General Semantic ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Special Category

Abstract The goal of this contribution is to deepen our knowledge of French cleft sentences through the study of a special category of clefts called adverbial clefts. The issues that we will address concern their form, discourse frequency and boundaries with resembling structures. In order to shed light on these issues, we start by defining the concept of adverbial from a morphosyntactic and functional point of view. We then present a corpus-based description of the categories of adverbials that can be cleaved. Finally, we propose a general semantic principle capable of describing and explaining, in a coherent and unitary way, both the data obtained in our empirical study and found in the form of constructed examples in the existing literature. In addition to explaining why certain adverbials can be cleaved while others cannot, this principle also allows for a distinction to be made between two syntactic realizations of the structure ‘c’est Adv que p’, as well as for a solution to the controversial issue of the status of domain adverbials.

Discourse patterns in the development of discourse markers in English

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana M. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Clausal Structure ◽  
Discourse Patterns ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Discourse Frequency

The role of discourse frequency in the development of two English connectives is explored, in the context of recent work emphasizing the role of syntagmatic relations in language change and suggesting that it is constructions, rather than lexical items, which grammaticalize. The development of sub-constructions with in fact and at least are traced in a quantitative study based on corpora of formal and informal historical English. Each case involves an adverbial undergoing functional split as the clausal structure in which it is used becomes aligned with different discourse (sub-)constructions. In fact becomes both contrastive and elaborative; at least becomes evaluative and reformulative. It is shown how the adverbial expression in each case becomes compressed and more abstract, so that its informational weight is reduced, and how the English principle of end focus pushes it increasingly towards clause-initial position, resulting in alignment with the connective construction.

scholarly journals Speaking of shape: The effects of language-specific encoding on semantic representations

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Perniss ◽  
David Vinson ◽  
Frank Seifart ◽  
Gabriella Vigliocco
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Classification System ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Shape Features ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Classifier System ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Central Interest ◽  
Nominal Classification ◽  
Discourse Frequency

AbstractThe question of whether different linguistic patterns differentially influence semantic and conceptual representations is of central interest in cognitive science. In this paper, we investigate whether the regular encoding of shape within a nominal classification system leads to an increased salience of shape in speakers' semantic representations by comparing English, (Amazonian) Spanish, and Bora, a shape-based classifier language spoken in the Amazonian regions of Columbia and Peru. Crucially, in displaying obligatory use, pervasiveness in grammar, high discourse frequency, and phonological variability of forms corresponding to particular shape features, the Bora classifier system differs in important ways from those in previous studies investigating effects of nominal classification, thereby allowing better control of factors that may have influenced previous findings. In addition, the inclusion of Spanish monolinguals living in the Bora village allowed control for the possibility that differences found between English and Bora speakers may be attributed to their very different living environments. We found that shape is more salient in the semantic representation of objects for speakers of Bora, which systematically encodes shape, than for speakers of English and Spanish, which do not. Our results are consistent with assumptions that semantic representations are shaped and modulated by our specific linguistic experiences.

Structural, Functional, and Processing Perspectives on Linguistic Island Effects

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingtong Liu ◽  
Elodie Winckel ◽  
Anne Abeillé ◽  
Barbara Hemforth ◽  
Edward Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Online Publication ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Island Structure ◽  
Semantic Constraint ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Discourse Frequency

Ross (1967) observed that “island” structures like “Who do you think [NP the gift from __] prompted the rumor?” or “Who did you hear [NP the statement [S that the CEO promoted __]]?” are not acceptable, despite having what seem to be plausible meanings in some contexts. Ross (1967) and Chomsky (1973) hypothesized that the source of the unacceptability is in the syntax. Here, we summarize how theories of discourse, frequency, and memory from the literature might account for such effects. We suggest that there is only one island structure—a class of coordination islands—that is best explained by a syntactic/semantic constraint. We speculate that all other island structures are likely to be explained in terms of discourse, frequency, and memory. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 8 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Alignment shift as functional markedness reversal

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-341
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Janic ◽  
Charlotte Hemmings
Keyword(s):  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Parallel Shift ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Discourse Frequency ◽  
Voice Systems

Abstract In this paper, we propose treating alignment shift as a process of functional markedness reversal in the domain of semantically transitive constructions. We illustrate how this approach allows us to capture similarities between the alignment shifts in Eskimo-Aleut and Western Austronesian languages, despite morphosyntactic differences in their voice systems. Using three diagnostics of functional markedness (semantic transitivity, topic continuity of P, and discourse frequency), we compare antipassive and ergative constructions in Eskimo-Aleut varieties and actor voice (av) and undergoer voice (uv) constructions in Western Austronesian varieties. We argue that ergative alignment is equivalent to a functionally unmarked P-prominent construction (e.g., ergative, uv), whilst accusative alignment is equivalent to a functionally unmarked A-prominent construction (e.g., antipassive, av). On this basis, we claim that both language groups are undergoing a parallel shift from ergative to accusative, since A-prominent constructions are functionally marked in more conservative varieties, but lose their functionally marked character and begin to function as unmarked transitive constructions in more innovative varieties.

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