How the entrenchment-and-conventionalization model might enrich diachronic construction grammar

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Jörg Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Formal Semantic ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour ◽  
Underlying Processes

Abstract Explanations of language change in terms of Diachronic Construction Grammar generalize over gradual adaptations of the linguistic behaviour of individual speakers and communities. Presenting a diachronic case study of the pattern (the) (Adj) thing (clauserel) is (is) (that), I argue that the time course of formal, semantic and pragmatic changes, of changes in frequency and of changes regarding dispersion over speakers and choices of lexical items offer a glimpse of the gradual individual and communal adaptations underlying processes such as constructionalization and constructional change. I interpret data extracted from various corpora from the perspectives of Diachronic Construction Grammar and the Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization Model (Schmid 2020) and discuss how the latter perspective might enrich the former.

Construction Grammar as Cognitive Structuralism: the interaction of constructional networks and processing in the diachronic evolution of English comparative correlatives

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
THOMAS HOFFMANN
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Secondary Role ◽  
The Family ◽  
Type Frequency ◽  
Processing Effects ◽  
Constructionist Approach ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Correspondence Hypothesis

Following the Uniformitarian Principle, the Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis (PGCH; Hawkins 2004) predicts a directionality in language change: if the same content can be expressed by two competing structures and one of these is easier to process (see Hawkins 1999, 2004), then the simpler structure will be preferred in performance. Consequently, it will be used more often with a greater range of different lexical items, which increases its type frequency and ultimately leads to it being more cognitively entrenched than its alternative (see Hawkins 2004: 6). As an analysis of the diachronic evolution of the family of English comparative correlative constructions (the more iconiccause–before–effectC1C2 constructionthe more you eat, the fatter you getvs the less iconiceffect–before–causeC2C1 constructionyou get the fatter, the more you eat) shows, however, the PGCH only played a secondary role in the genesis of this set of constructions. In this article, I will present a usage-based constructionist approach that allows researchers to reinterpret the classical Structuralist notion of gaps in the system as gaps in the mental constructional network. This type of Cognitive Structuralist analysis accounts for the presence of the less iconic C2C1 structure (and the absence of the more iconic C1C2 structure) in OE, the genesis of C1C2 structures at the end of the OE period as well as the processing effects predicted by the PGCH once both the C1C2 and the C2C1 constructions were in competition during the ME period.

ESP corpus design: compilation of the Veterinary Nursing Medical Chart Corpus and the Veterinary Nursing Wordlist

Corpora ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-140
Author(s):  
Yukiko Ohashi ◽  
Noriaki Katagiri ◽  
Katsutoshi Oka ◽  
Michiko Hanada
Keyword(s):  
Word List ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Regular Expressions ◽  
Annotation Scheme ◽  
Corpus Design ◽  
As Species ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Access To Data ◽  
General Service

This paper reports on two research results: ( 1) designing an English for Specific Purposes (esp) corpus architecture complete with annotations structured by regular expressions; and ( 2) a case study to test the design to cater for creating a specific vocabulary list using the compiled corpus. The first half of this study involved designing a precisely structured esp corpus from 190 veterinary medical charts with a hierarchy of the data. The data hierarchy in the corpus consists of document types, outline elements and inline elements, such as species and breed. Perl scripts extracted the data attached to veterinary-specific categories, and the extraction led to creating wordlists. The second part of the research tested the corpus mode, creating a list of commonly observed lexical items in veterinary medicine. The coverage rate of the wordlists by General Service List (gsl) and Academic Word List (awl) was tested, with the result that 66.4 percent of all lexical items appeared in gsl and awl, whereas 33.7 percent appeared in none of those lists. The corpus compilation procedures as well as the annotation scheme introduced in this study enable the compilation of specific corpora with explicit annotations, allowing teachers to have access to data required for creating esp classroom materials.

Scales and Units

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn M. de Luna
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
The North ◽  
First Case ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
River Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
Alternative Approaches

This chapter uses two case studies to explore how historians study language movement and change through comparative historical linguistics. The first case study stands as a short chapter in the larger history of the expansion of Bantu languages across eastern, central, and southern Africa. It focuses on the expansion of proto-Kafue, ca. 950–1250, from a linguistic homeland in the middle Kafue River region to lands beyond the Lukanga swamps to the north and the Zambezi River to the south. This expansion was made possible by a dramatic reconfiguration of ties of kinship. The second case study explores linguistic evidence for ridicule along the Lozi-Botatwe frontier in the mid- to late 19th century. Significantly, the units and scales of language movement and change in precolonial periods rendered visible through comparative historical linguistics bring to our attention alternative approaches to language change and movement in contemporary Africa.

scholarly journals From Co-Actionality to Extended Intersubjectivity: Drawing on Language Change and Ontogenetic Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio TANTUCCI
Keyword(s):  
Applied Research ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
First Language ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Behavioural Profile

Abstract This article combines research results centred on theory of mind (ToM) from cognitive and developmental psychology (Goldman 2006; Apperly 2010; Wilkinson and Ball 2012) with the notion of intersubjectivity in usage-based linguistics (i.a. Verhagen 2005; Nuyts 2012; Traugott 2012). It identifies some of the controversies in the literature from both domains and suggests the desiderata for a hybrid approach to intersubjectivity, which is distinctively designed to tackle applied research in social and cognitive sciences. This model is based on a mismatch between interaction as mere ‘co-action’ vs. interaction as spontaneously communicated awareness of an(other) mind(s). It provides a case study centred on the first language acquisition of pre-nominal usage of this/that and such. From, respectively, a distinctive collexeme (Gries and Stefanowitsch 2004) and behavioural profile analysis (Gries 2010) will emerge that beyond expressions of joint attention, children’s ToM ability progressively underpins ‘ad-hoc’ generalized instantiations based on extended intersubjectivity, viz. the socio-cognitive skill to problematize what a general persona would act, feel, or think in a specific context.

Reduplication Revisited

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriet B. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Treatment Approach ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Monosyllabic Words ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Case Study Data

This case study considers the phonological forms of early lexical items produced by 1 normally developing boy, from 19 to 22 months of age, who began to produce all monosyllabic words as bisyllabic. In order to link this empirical data (the apparent creation of increased complexity) with universal tendencies (motivated by the reduction of complexity), the functions of reduplication were revisited. Phonological processes (i.e., reduplication and final consonant deletion) are viewed as repairs motivated by 2 interacting constraints (i.e., constraints on monosyllabic words and on word-final consonants). These longitudinal case study data provide further evidence for a relationship between final consonant deletion and reduplication. A possible treatment approach for similar patterns demonstrated clinically is recommended.

scholarly journals Inferencing, Reanalysis, and the History of the French est-ce que Question

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Waltereit
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Theoretical Level ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Level

Abstract In this paper, I discuss critically the traditional view of reanalysis, taking into account recent debates about the concept. In particular, I argue that the debate about reanalysis tends to conflate two interpretations of reanalysis: reanalysis as a type of language change among other ones, and reanalysis as the recognition or “ratification” of any kind of change. I offer a possible explanation of that potential confusion. I then illustrate this distinction using the history of the French est-ce que question as a case study. I report original diachronic research on the history of that construction. Further, I discuss implications both at a conceptual-theoretical level and at a practical level for further diachronic research. The paper concludes with a summary and discussion of the findings.

scholarly journals Analysing time course microarray data using Bioconductor: a case study using yeast2 Affymetrix arrays

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin S Gillespie ◽  
Guiyuan Lei ◽  
Richard J Boys ◽  
Amanda Greenall ◽  
Darren J Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Microarray Data ◽  
Time Course

scholarly journals Grammaticalization in Emirati Arabic

Arabica ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 742-760
Author(s):  
Najib Ismail Jarad
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Grammatical Functions

Abstract This paper is concerned with the process of language change whereby lexical items and constructions, in specific contexts, come to serve new grammatical functions. Emirati Arabic provides us with a wide range of grammaticalization phenomena. The aim of this paper is twofold: to shed light on the basic concepts relating to grammaticalization phenomena and to examine the grammaticalization of a number of constructions in Emirati Arabic, investigating their formation and the changes in their functions. The development of these grammatical constructions follows a grammaticalization pathway identified for a wide range of linguistic items cross-linguistically.

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