The constructional motivation of indefinite generics in Modern Greek

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-55
Author(s):  
Sophia Marmaridou
Keyword(s):  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Proper Noun ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Generic Construction ◽  
The Cross

This paper argues for the discoursal motivation of constructions and the constructional motivation of a Modern Greek indefinite article, by focusing on generics and some other nominal constructions in Modern Greek containing the indefinite determiner enas/mia/ena (“a/an”, masc./fem./ neut. respectively). Moreover, it illustrates the cross-linguistic relevance of Construction Grammar. A family of indefinite nominal constructions is identified, including the Indefinite Generic Construction, the Indefinite Proper Noun Construction, the Indefinite Predicate Nominal Construction, and the Proverbial Indefinite Construction, which is further shown to be primed by specific pragmatic and discoursal features. On the basis of the proposed analysis, and consistently with established views on semantic change (Traugott 1989), I suggest that the expressivity and the discoursal characterization associated with this family of indefinite constructions in Modern Greek motivate the partial de-semanticization of the indefinite determiner, its synchronic variability (after Hoffmann & Trousdale 2011) and, ultimately, its function as an article in the language.

scholarly journals ‘A relieved Obama’ won’t last long

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 75-87
Author(s):  
Helen de Hoop ◽  
Erica Kemperman
Keyword(s):  
Type Theory ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
The State ◽  
Proper Noun ◽  
Semantic Type ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Semantic Composition ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Production Experiment

Indefinite articles are generally used to introduce new or unfamiliar entities to the discourse. However, in noun phrases such as een opgeluchte Obama ‘a relieved Obama’, the proper noun denotes a familiar individual who does not even have to be new in the discourse. Yet, an indefinite article is used in this construction. We have conducted a corpus study in written Dutch and a production experiment in order to find out the characteristics of this construction as well as its definite counterpart. We will show that the denotation of the adjective plays a crucial role in the semantic composition of the construction, and that preferences for either a definite or an indefinite article correlate with differences in the duration of the state denoted by the adjective. We will use semantic type-theory to account for these findings.

scholarly journals From twig-skinny to Kate Moss skinny: expressing degree with common and proper nouns

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 901-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
TURO VARTIAINEN
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
American English ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Proper Noun ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Functional Flexibility ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
English Usage ◽  
Degree Modifiers ◽  
New Evidence

This article provides a constructional (CxG) analysis of N-ADJ compounds in which the noun receives a degree reading (e.g. bullet-straight, Kennedy-handsome). A semantic analysis based on similes and scale matching is provided, and the recent history and increased productivity of the construction are examined in light of data from both the Corpus of Historical American English and a range of present-day corpora. The article introduces new evidence of the increased functional flexibility of both common and proper nouns in English and discusses the ongoing conventionalisation of proper noun degree modifiers in both American English and other varieties of English. The results of the study suggest that the recent introduction of proper noun degree modifiers has been supported by both constructional (semantic) change and macro-trends that have affected English usage more generally.

scholarly journals On Proper Names in German: An Analysis from the Cognitive Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (28) ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
Magdalena Zofia Majcher
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
German Language ◽  
Proper Noun ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Demonstrative Pronoun ◽  
Grammar Analysis

The aim of this paper is a cognitive grammar analysis of noun phrases in German which contain a proper noun. It is common for proper nouns in German, like first names, surnames, the names of cities and countries, to occur without an article. They can, however, also occur with the definite article, the demonstrative pronoun or with the indefinite article. There are also proper nouns in German, such as the names of rivers, mountain ranges, and some countries, which—according to many grammars—obligatorily occur with the definite article. However, it may happen that even those occur without an article. Whether there is an article before a proper noun or not is regarded as a grammatical phenomenon, without acknowledging its semantic aspects. The latter are only considered in a very few cases. A cognitive grammar analysis makes it possible to look at the abovementioned phenomena from the semanticconceptual perspective, thus ensuring wider opportunities to explain and describe them. According to cognitive grammar, every use of any element should have a semantic-conceptual motivation. The cognitive grammar analysis of German noun phrases containing a proper noun carried out in this article allows us to conclude that the use of articles in the German language is in most cases determined by the speaker’s intention. The analysis in this paper includes a description of noun phrases containing proper nouns selected from the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Identity and semantic change

2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Terkourafi
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Form Function

The quantitative and qualitative analysis of spontaneous conversational data reveals that T/V usage in Cypriot Greek (CG) is realised sometimes as a code-switch into Standard Modern Greek (SMG), and sometimes as an integral part of the Cypriot code. Moreover, a consideration of the interactional motivations underlying particular types of exchanges supports an analysis in terms of form-function reanalysis, in which the ongoing grammaticalisation of V forms is realised as the subjectification of their semantics. This analysis has important theoretical implications for the distinction between standardisation and conventionalisation, and for the question of the gradualness of semantic change.

Cognitive, cultural, and constructional motivations of polysemy and semantic change

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Marmaridou
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
The Self ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Cultural Model ◽  
Cultural Narrative

Within the framework of cognitive linguistics and construction grammar (as in Lakoff 1987; Langacker 2000; Goldberg 1995; and Fried and Östman 2004), it is claimed in this paper that the semantics of psuche (psyche) is motivated by cognitive, cultural, and constructional parameters of meaning. More specifically, it is argued that psyche, as the immaterial nature of a human being, and the seat of emotions and feelings in particular, is understood in terms of image-based metaphors, a cultural model of the self, and a cultural narrative of existence. It is also argued that the frequent occurrence of psyche in a number of collocations and idioms motivates and constrains constructional meaning. At the same time, constructions motivate extended senses of this word, thereby contributing to its polysemy and ultimately to semantic change. The evidence presented within this framework argues against a fixed borderline between lexical and constructional meaning. This view, long and tacitly adopted in lexicographic practice by necessity, is gaining further support within current research in the framework of lexicography (Fillmore 2008; Hanks 2008), corpus linguistics (Fellbaum 2007), lexical semantics (Taylor et al. 2003), language change (Bybee 2006a), and construction grammar (Boas 2008).

Non-quantifying líγo constructions in Modern Greek

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costas Canakis
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Change ◽  
Modern Greek

In this paper I focus on MGr lίγo ‘(a) little’ in non-quantifying constructions codifying affect and argue that it has grammaticalized from a quantifier to an (inter)subjective metalinguistic hedging device: i.e., a positive politeness marker in the hedged directive construction and a marker of attitude to one’s own utterance in the hedged statement construction. Motivation for this development is provided by MGr interactional ethos and the importance attached to the friendly, informal “politeness of involvement”, a factor discussed in the context of universal tendencies in the semantics of diminutives and affective language. I argue that non-quantifying lίγo is a case of semantic change motivated by sociopragmatic considerations which are anchored to specific constructions.

scholarly journals Object Omission in Contact: Object Clitics and Definite Articles in the West Thracian Greek (Evros) Dialect

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Lavidas ◽  
Ianthi Maria Tsimpli
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
The West ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Local Dialect

We examine spontaneous production data from the dialect of Modern West Thracian Greek (mwtg) (the local dialect of Evros) with regard to a hypothesis of syntactic borrowing of verbal transitivity. We argue that mwtg allows omission of the direct object with specific reference, in contrast to Standard Modern Greek (smg) and other Modern Greek (mg) dialects (spoken in Greece), but similar to Turkish. Object omission in mwtg is possible only in contexts where smg and other mg dialects show obligatory use of the 3rd-person clitic. We argue that syntactic borrowing in the case of language contact follows the transfer with second language learners: the relevant elements that host uninterpretable features are used optionally. Moreover, the definite article, in contrast to the indefinite article, is also affected by language contact. The 3rd-person clitic and the definite article are affected by contact as uninterpretable clusters of features. We claim that interpretability plays a significant role in transitivity in cases of language contact.

Pleonastic complex words as functional amalgams

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Koutsoukos ◽  
Laura A. Michaelis
Keyword(s):  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Derivational Morphemes ◽  
Complex Words

Abstract Syntactic amalgams are innovative phrasal constructions that combine otherwise incompatible subparts of other constructions (Lambrecht 1988; Brenier and Michaelis 2005). We describe pleonastic formations like flavorize in English and ψηλαφ-ίζ(ω) [psilafízo] ‘palpate’ in Modern Greek as functional amalgams at the word level. We examine these formations through the lens of (function-oriented) Sign-Based Construction Grammar (Sag 2012), arguing that once we see derivational morphemes as signs, and sign combination as construction-driven rather than head-driven, we can describe such words as coercive combinations that serve a variety of semiotic functions.

Modality and grammaticalization in Japanese

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heiko Narrog
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Language ◽  
Specific Marker ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Language History ◽  
European Languages ◽  
The Cross

Grammaticalization of modal markers has long been thought of in terms of change from deontic to epistemic meaning. This change, then, is typically thought of as a mapping between conceptual domains. Contrary to this perception, I argue in this paper that (1) change from deontic to epistemic (that is, the acquisition of epistemic meaning by deontic markers), although salient in many European languages, is cross-linguistically a marginal tendency, (2), the cross-linguistically most salient tendency in the development of modal markers is towards greater speaker-orientation, and (3), this change can best be explained by primarily referring to pragmatic processes, rather than conceptual processes. I substantiate my claims by analyzing the cross-linguistic modality data in Bybee et al. (1994), by providing a catalogue of etymologies of Modern Japanese modal markers, and by analyzing the polysemy and semantic change of one specific marker in Japanese language history (-be-si) in detail.

scholarly journals Prospects and problems of prototype theory

Diacronia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Geeraerts
Keyword(s):  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Prototype Theory ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Related Notion ◽  
Cross Classification ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Many

Parallel to the research that I did on the application of prototype theory to questions of semantic change (which eventually resulted in my Diachronic Prototype Semantics monograph of 1997), I paid attention on a number of occasions to the theoretical clarification of the notion of prototypicality as such (and of the related notion of polysemy: see the second section of this collection). In the paper reprinted here, I try to bring some systematicity into the many uses of the concept ‘prototypicality’ by distinguishing between two cross-classifying dimensions. First, I make a distinction between two crucial structural phenomena underlying prototypicality effects: flexibility (i.e. the absence of clear boundaries and demarcations) and salience (i.e. differences of structural weight). Second, I suggest that both prototypicality phenomena may be found on an intensional level (the level of definitions) and on an extensional level (the level of referents). The cross-classification of the two dimensions defines four basic types of prototypicality effects.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document