1887
The Structure of the English NP
  • ISSN 0929-998X
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9765
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

In this paper we report on a historical corpus study of English , an adjective which underwent a process of grammaticalization starting from lexical uses with the meaning ‘composite’, e.g. multiple , to grammaticalized uses as individualizer, paraphrasable as ‘different’, e.g. multiple , and as quantifier ‘several’, e.g. multiple . is just one of several adjectives going down this path of grammaticalization. However, as we show in this paper, the trajectory of each adjective includes different micro-processes of change. New diachronic case studies on the grammaticalization of individual items thus remain crucial to further advancing our understanding of the potential environments and changes underlying grammaticalization processes. The case of shows that, firstly, not only attributes, but also classifiers can serve as input for grammaticalization, and that, secondly, grammaticalization and lexicalization processes can have non-adjacent functions in the noun phrase as their input and output.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/fol.23.1.03bre
2016-06-09
2025-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. COCA : Davies, Mark
    2008The corpus of contemporary American English: 450 million words, 1990–present. corpus.byu.edu/coca/ (last accessed12-10-2015)
    [Google Scholar]
  2. COHA : Davies, Mark
    2010- Corpus of historical American English: 400 million words, 1810–2009. corpus.byu.edu/coca/ (last accessed26-09-2015)
    [Google Scholar]
  3. COW: Collins Wordbanks [Google Scholar]
  4. EEBO
    : Early English Books Online. eebo.chadwyck.com/home (last accessed22-10-2014)
    [Google Scholar]
  5. PPCMBE : Kroch, Anthony , Beatrice Santorini & Ariel Diertani
    2010Penn parsed corpus of modern British English (PPCMBE). www.ling.upenn.edu/hist-corpora/PPCMBE-RELEASE-1/index.html
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Adamson, Sylvia
    2000A lovely little example: Word order options and category shift in the premodifying string. In Olga Fischer , Anette Rosenbach & Dieter Stein (eds.), Pathways of change: Grammaticalization in English, 39–66. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/slcs.53.04ada
    https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.53.04ada [Google Scholar]
  7. Bache, Carl
    2000Essentials of mastering English: A concise grammar. Berlin: Mouton. doi: 10.1515/9783110825985
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110825985 [Google Scholar]
  8. Breban, Tine
    2008 The grammaticalization and subjectification of English adjectives expressing difference into plurality/distributivity markers and quantifiers. Folia Linguistica42(2). 259–306. doi: 10.1515/FLIN.2008.259
    https://doi.org/10.1515/FLIN.2008.259 [Google Scholar]
  9. 2010English adjectives of comparison: Lexical and grammaticalized uses. Berlin: Mouton. doi: 10.1515/9783110216011
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110216011 [Google Scholar]
  10. 2014 Beyond mere syntactic change: Exploring micro-processes of change. In Marianne Hundt (ed.), Late Modern English in context, 113–132. Cambridge: CUP.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Brems, Lieselotte
    2011Layering of size and type noun constructions in English. Berlin: Mouton. doi: 10.1515/9783110252927
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110252927 [Google Scholar]
  12. Davidse, Kristin , Tine Breban & An Van linden
    2008a The development of secondary deictic meanings by adjectives in the English NP. English Language and Linguistics12(3). 475–503. doi: 10.1017/S1360674308002724
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674308002724 [Google Scholar]
  13. Davidse, Kristin , Lieselotte Brems & Liesbeth Desmedt
    2008b Type noun uses in the English NP: A case of right to left layering. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics13(2). 139–168. doi: 10.1075/ijcl.13.2.02dav
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.13.2.02dav [Google Scholar]
  14. Denison, David
    2002 History of the sort of construction family. Paper presented at ICCG2 (Second International Conference on Construction Grammar), Helsinki, 7 September 2002. Available online at www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/llc/files/david-denison/Helsinki_ICCG2.pdf (accessed24–11–2014).
    [Google Scholar]
  15. 2006 Category change and gradience in the determiner system. In Ans van Kemenade & Bettelou Los (eds.), The handbook of the history of English, 279–304. Oxford: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9780470757048.ch12
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470757048.ch12 [Google Scholar]
  16. 2010 Category change in English with and without structural change. In Graeme Trousdale & Elizabeth Closs Traugott (eds.), Gradualness, gradience, and grammaticalization, 105–128. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/tsl.90.07den
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.90.07den [Google Scholar]
  17. Diewald, Gabriele
    2002 A model for relevant types of contexts in grammaticalization. In Ilse Wischer & Gabriele Diewald (eds.), New reflections on grammaticalization,103–120. doi: 10.1075/tsl.49.09die
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.49.09die
  18. Gentens, Caroline
    2012Multiple shifts: Left- and rightward movement in the English noun phrase. Leuven: University of Leuven term paper.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Ghesquière, Lobke
    2009 From determining to emphasizing meanings: The adjectives of specificity. Folia Linguistica43(2). 311–343. doi: 10.1515/FLIN.2009.009
    https://doi.org/10.1515/FLIN.2009.009 [Google Scholar]
  20. 2014The directionality of (inter)subjectification in the English noun phrase: Pathways of change. Berlin: Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Halliday, M.A.K
    1994 [1985]An introduction to functional grammar, 2nd edn. [1st edn.]. London: Arnold.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Heine, Bernd
    2002 On the role of context in grammaticalization. In Ilse Wischer & Gabriele Diewald (eds.), New reflections on grammaticalization,83–101. doi: 10.1075/tsl.49.08hei
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.49.08hei
  23. Himmelmann, Nikolaus P
    2004 Lexicalization and grammaticization: Opposite or orthogonal?In Walter Bisang , Nikolaus P. Himmelmann & Björn Wiemer (eds.), What makes grammaticalization? A look from its fringes and its components, 21–42. Berlin: Mouton. doi: 10.1515/9783110197440
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197440 [Google Scholar]
  24. Keizer, Evelien
    2007The English noun phrase: The nature of linguistic categorization. Cambridge: CUP. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511627699
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511627699 [Google Scholar]
  25. Margerie, Hélène
    2010 On the rise of (inter)subjective meaning in the grammaticalization of kind of/kinda . In Kristin Davidse , Lieven Vandelanotte & Hubert Cuyckens (eds.), Subjectification, intersubjectification and grammaticalization, 315–346. Berlin: Mouton. doi: 10.1515/9783110226102.3.315
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110226102.3.315 [Google Scholar]
  26. Paradis, Carita
    2000 Reinforcing adjectives: A cognitive semantic perspective on grammaticalisation. In Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero , David Denison , Richard M. Hogg & Christopher McCully (eds.), Generative theory and corpus studies: A dialogue from 10 ICEHL, 233–258. Berlin: Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Quirk, Randolph , Sidney Greenbaum , Geoffrey Leech & Jan Svartvik
    1985A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Traugott, Elizabeth Closs
    2008 The grammaticalization of NP of NP patterns. In Alexander Bergs & Gabriele Diewald (eds.), Constructions and language change, 23–45. Berlin: Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Traugott, Elizabeth Closs & Ekkehard König
    1991 The semantics-pragmatics of grammaticalization revisited. In Elizabeth Closs Traugott & Bernd Heine (eds.), Approaches to grammaticalization: Vol. I, 189–218. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/tsl.19.1.10clo
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.19.1.10clo [Google Scholar]
  30. Vandewinkel, Sigi & Kristin Davidse
    2008 The interlocking paths of development towards emphasizer adjective pure . Journal of Historical Pragmatics9(2). 255–287. doi: 10.1075/jhp.9.2.05van
    https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.9.2.05van [Google Scholar]
  31. Wischer, Ilse & Gabriele Diewald
    (eds.) 2002New reflections on grammaticalization. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/tsl.49
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.49 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/fol.23.1.03bre
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error