Sociolingüística comparada y gramática de construcciones

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Claes
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Santo Domingo ◽  
Typical Action ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Verb Tense

In this article, we investigate the pluralization of presentational haber (e.g., Habían fiestas. ‘There were parties.’) in the Spanish of Havana, Santo Domingo, and San Juan. Drawing on Goldberg’s (1995) Cognitive Construction Grammar, we claim that the phenomenon consists in a language change from below: the pluralized variant of the presentational haber construction (<AdvP haber Subject>) is replacing the impersonal variant (<AdvP haber Object>). Using a mixed-effects regression analysis, we show that speakers of the Caribbean dialects pluralize the verb in 41–46% of the cases. The linguistic factors that were investigated in this study (typical action-chain position of the noun’s referent, clause polarity, verb tense, comprehension-to-production priming and production-to-production priming) argue in favor of considering the variation an argument-structure alternation. The comparative sociolinguistic analyses reveal that these factors have the same effects and relative strengths in the three communities. For the three communities, the results for gender and social class support that the phenomenon constitutes an advanced language change from below.

A Cognitive Construction Grammar approach to the pluralization of presentational haber in Puerto Rican Spanish

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Claes
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
Conditioning Factors ◽  
Typical Action ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Verb Tense

AbstractIn this paper, I present an analysis of the pluralization of haber ‘there is/are’ in Puerto Rican Spanish (e.g., habían fiestas ‘there were parties’) as an ongoing language change from below in which the impersonal argument-structure construction (<AdvPhaberObj>) is being replaced by a personal variant (<AdvPhaberSubj>). Speakers pluralize presentational haber in about 41% of the cases, and linguistic conditioning factors are ‘typical action chain-position of the noun's referent,’ polarity of the clause, verb tense, comprehension-to-production priming, and production-to-production priming. I argue that the effect of these independent variables can be traced back to three cognitive factors: the preference for unmarked coding, statistical preemption, and structural priming. Social distributions can also be modeled in constructionist frameworks, with results for social class, formality, and gender advocating in favor of considering this variation as an ongoing change from below, which allows speakers to position themselves in terms of gender and social class.

A Grand Tour of English Grammatical Constructions

English Today ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-63
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Laws
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Grand Tour ◽  
Systematic Fashion ◽  
Information Packaging ◽  
Knowledge Of Language

This introductory text successfully achieves its ambitious goal of demonstrating how the Construction Grammar framework can be applied in a systematic fashion to a range of sub-disciplines within Linguistics. Construction Grammar (CG) is a unified theory of knowledge of language modelled on knowledge of constructions. Each chapter illustrates the application of CG to a different sub-discipline, from those that are more well-established in the literature, such as argument structure and information packaging, to areas that have been addressed in depth more recently from this perspective, such as morphology, language variation and language change.

scholarly journals A reflection on constructionalization and constructional borrowing, inspired by an emerging Dutch replica of the ‘time’-away construction

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 91-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Colleman
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Alternative Scenario ◽  
Recent Innovation ◽  
Theoretical Significance ◽  
Time Away ◽  
Semantic Properties

While recent years have seen an increased interest for the potential effects of language contact on the formal and/or semantic properties of constructions, existing case studies of (potentially) contact-induced change in individual constructions (e.g. Pietsch 2010; Höder 2012, 2014; Van de Velde and Zenner 2010; Colleman and Noël 2014, etc.) have so far made little impact on the booming field of diachronic construction grammar at large, i.e. they have stayed largely under the radar of constructionist theorizing about language change. The present paper reflects on the theoretical significance of a recent innovation in Dutch, viz. the emergence of an argument structure construction that mirrors the form and semantics of the English ‘time’-away construction first described in Jacken-doff (1997). While it is fairly uncontroversial that English influence has something to do with this innovation, it is by no means easy to determine exactly what has happened. Even though an alternative scenario, in which the new Dutch pattern developed out of pre-existing Dutch pattern featuring weg ‘away’, cannot be ruled out, I will argue that one plausible way of accounting for the observed facts is to assume that a ready-made English form-meaning unit was copied into Dutch. On this view, the observed change would count as an instance of instantaneous grammatical constructionalization.

scholarly journals From movement into action to manner of causation: changes in argument mapping in the into-causative

Linguistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-283
Author(s):  
Susanne Flach
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
American English ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Syntactic Form ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
Argument Mapping ◽  
Last 300 Years ◽  
Argument Roles

Abstract Over the last 300 years, the into-causative (he talked his father into giving him money) increased in frequency and lexical diversity. Changes of this kind are often taken as evidence of functional expansion. From a Construction Grammar (CxG) perspective, this paper argues that what appears to be a loss of restrictions on the verbal slot results from changes in argument mapping links. As the construction provides the argument roles by mapping semantics (causer, causee, result) onto syntax (subject, object, oblique), stronger mapping links increasingly facilitated the use of verbs that are semantically and syntactically atypical for the expression of causation. Data from the Corpus of Historical American English confirm three predictions of this hypothesis with respect to shifts in (i) the semantic classes of matrix verbs, (ii) their general argument structure preferences, and (iii) voice-marking. The results provide evidence for a subtle semantic change from movement into action to manner of causation. The increase in frequency and productivity are hence explained as the consequence of the syntactic form becoming a more reliable cue for causative meaning. We discuss implications for models of language change against the background of current issues in Diachronic Construction Grammar (DCxG) pertaining to constructionalization vs. constructional change.

scholarly journals Evaluating working conditions in the informal economy: Evidence from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C Williams ◽  
Ioana Alexandra Horodnic
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
European Working ◽  
European Working Conditions Survey

Although it is widely held that working conditions in the informal economy are worse than in the formal economy, little evidence has been so far provided. The aim of this article is to fill this lacuna by comparing the working conditions of informal employees with formal employees using the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis provides a nuanced and variegated appreciation of which working conditions are worse for informal employees, which are no different, and which are better for informal than formal employees. The article concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications.

The alternative negative constructions in spoken and written Korean: Logistic regression analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-442
Author(s):  
Beom-mo Kang
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Relevant Factor ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Relevant Factors

AbstractAdopting quantitative corpus-based methods, this paper focuses on the alternative negative constructions in Korean, [anV] and [Vanhda]. Logistic regression analyses for a mixed-effects model were carried out on data drawn from the Sejong Korean Corpus. Certain features of the verb or adjective in negative constructions significantly affect the use of the two negative constructions. A relevant factor is register/medium (spoken or written), among other significant interactions of factors. Furthermore, the fact that frequency is consistent with other relevant factors, together with certain diachronic facts of Korean, supports the claim that frequency of use plays an important role in linguistic changes. Another finding is that, notwithstanding noticeable differences between spoken and written language, the factors influencing the use of the two negative constructions in Korean are largely similar in the spoken and written registers.

A construction grammar analysis of the transitivebeperfect in present-day Canadian English

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
YURI YERASTOV
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Fixed Material ◽  
Grammar Analysis ◽  
Generative Approach ◽  
Surface Realization

This article offers a syntactic analysis of the construction [be doneNP], e.g.I am done dinner, I am finished my homework, as found in Canadian English and some US dialects. After situating this construction in the context of a productive transitivebeperfect in Scots/English dialects, [be doneNP] will be distinguished from a set of its conceptual and structural relatives, and ultimately be shown not to be reducible to a surface realization of another underlying structure. From the perspective of syntactic theory, the article problematizes the parsimony of the mainstream generative approach (most recently in MacFadden & Alexiadou 2010) in accounting for the facts of [be doneNP] on strictly compositional grounds, as well as the mainstream view of lexical items as projecting theta grids and subcategorization frames (as e.g. in Grimshaw 1979; Emonds 2000). Following Fillmoreet al.(1988), Goldberg (1995, 2005) and others, what will be suggested instead is a construction grammar approach to [be doneNP], under which a construction holistically licenses its argument structure. Along these lines [be doneNP] will be characterized as an abstract construction with some fixed material.

Argument structure satisfaction via unselected adjuncts

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seiko Fujii ◽  
Russell Lee-Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Semantic Approach ◽  
The Core ◽  
Frame Element

Abstract This paper presents a frame-based constructional approach to argument structure satisfaction via unselected adjuncts, by focusing on one such case in Japanese. It points out an intriguing constructional phenomenon whereby causal adjunct clauses marked with node ‘because’, as used with main-clause predicates that evoke communication frames (such as Telling and Warning), serve to satisfy main-clause argument structure. The node clause precedes the main-clause speech act of telling/warning, and can be interpreted as a speech-act causal (Sweetser 1990). The node clause at the same time conveys the content of informing or warning, i.e., the core Frame Element message, which is absent as a main-clause complement. This analysis of argument structure satisfaction via unselected adjuncts provides evidence for a Frame Semantic approach to argument structure that incorporates Construction Grammar.

Language Change, Variation, and Universals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter W. Culicover
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Plains Cree ◽  
Theoretical Foundations ◽  
Parameter Theory ◽  
Grammatical Functions ◽  
The Way

This volume is about how human languages get to be the way they are, why they are different from one another in some ways and not others, and why they change in the ways that they do. Given that language is a universal creation of the human mind, the puzzle is why there are different languages at all, why we don’t all speak the same language. And while there is considerable variation, there are ways in which grammars show consistent patterns. The solution to these puzzles, the author proposes, is a constructional one. Grammars consist of constructions that carry out the function of expressing universal conceptual structure. While there are in principle many different ways of accomplishing this task, the constructions that languages actually use are under pressure to reduce complexity. The result is that there is constructional change in the direction of less complexity, and grammatical patterns emerge that reflect conceptual universals. The volume consists of three parts. Part I establishes the theoretical foundations: situating universals in conceptual structure, formally defining constructions, and characterizing constructional complexity. Part II explores variation in argument structure, grammatical functions, and A′ constructions, drawing on data from a variety of languages, including English and Plains Cree. Part III looks at constructional change, focusing primarily on English and German. The study ends with some observations and speculations on parameter theory, analogy, the origins of typological patterns, and Greenbergian ‘universals’.

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