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Test Cover Image of: Grammar – Discourse – Context

Grammar – Discourse – Context

Grammar and Usage in Language Variation and Change

Series: Diskursmuster - Discourse Patterns, 23
Edited by: Kristin Bech and Ruth Möhlig-Falke
Publisher:
De Gruyter
 | 
Year:
2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110682564
This collected volume brings together a wide array of international linguists working on diachronic language change with a specific focus on the history of English, who work within usage-based frameworks and investigate processes of grammatical change in context. Although usage-based linguistics emphasizes the centrality of the discourse context for language usage and cognition, this insight has not been fully integrated into the investigation of processes of grammatical variation and change. The structuralist heritage as well as corpus linguistic methodologies have favoured de-contextualized analytical perspectives on contemporary and historical language data and on the mechanisms and processes guiding grammatical variation and change. From a range of different perspectives, the contributions to this volume take up the challenge of contextualization in the investigation of grammatical variation and change in different stages of English language history and discuss central theoretical notions such as gradable grammaticality, motivation in hypervariation, and hypercharacterization. The book will be relevant to students and linguists working in the field of diachronic and variational linguistics and English language history.

Author Information

Kristin Bech, University of Oslo, Norway; Ruth Möhlig-Falke, Heidelberg University, Germany.

Subjects

  • Frontmatter

    Page Range:
    I–IV
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  • Contents

    Page Range:
    V–VI
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  • List of tables and figures

    Page Range:
    VII–VIII
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  • Contextualizing Old English noun phrases

    Kristin Bech
    Page Range:
    15–48

    Abstract

    This three-part study considers adjectival modification in Old English noun phrases from a micro-level perspective. In the first part, I outline and discuss Fischer’s (2000, 2001, 2006, 2012) and Haumann’s (2003, 2010) academic exchange on the topic. Fischer’s proposal is that there is a relation between adjective position on the one hand, and definiteness, declension and linear iconicity on the other, while Haumann proposes that pre- or postnominal position follows from interpretive contrasts, such as attribution vs. predication, individual-level vs. stage-level reading, given vs. new information, and restrictive vs. non-restrictive modification. In the second part, I carry out a close reading of noun phrases taken from two Old English texts, Cura Pastoralis and the West-Saxon Gospels, focusing on constructions with conjoined adjectival modification. I show that neither Fischer’s nor Haumann’s generalizations can account for the distribution. Finally, in the third part of the study, I turn to noun phrases containing prenominal or postnominal adjectival present participles in Cura Pastoralis. Here the focus is on the intertextual relation between the original Latin text and the translation into Old English, which sheds light on noun phrase structure.

  • Syntax, text type, genre and authorial voice in Old English: A data-driven approach

    Bettelou Los and Thijs Lubbers
    Page Range:
    49–92

    Abstract

    In the course of the 1990s, the Old English part of the Helsinki Corpus was extended and enriched with morphological and syntactic tagging as the result of a number of research projects, before the publication in 2003 of the final version (as Taylor et al. 2003). The nature and the size of extant Old English texts is such that Old English texts can be compared by genre or register (homily versus narrative, metrical versus non-metrical prose, translated versus non-translated prose) and in some cases by author (Wulfstan versus Alfric). The question posed here is to what extent such quantitative data can inform our qualitative understanding of the language of these texts, and how properties of the grammar in combination with text-type characteristics either constrain or give shape to forms of stylistic variation. The present paper takes advantage particularly of morphological tags to attempt a data-driven, quantitative stylometric approach which includes n-grams on the basis of such tags, as well as visualizations in the form of correspondence analyses. The biggest challenge is how to move beyond the “Fish fork” - to avoid the circular bootstrapping of looking for features that we already know are significant - and to find hitherto unnoticed features that set texts apart, but that are also meaningful in that they increase our understanding of the interaction between the range of options offered by the syntax and the stylistic choices found in individual texts.

  • The intensifier system of the Ormulum and the interplay of micro-level and macro-level contexts in linguistic change

    Belén Méndez-Naya
    Page Range:
    93–124

    Abstract

    This study offers an analysis of the intensifier system of the Middle English Ormulum, and explores the role both micro-level (i.e. linguistic) and macrolevel contexts (here language contact) play in its configuration and development. At the micro-level it is argued that the emergence of degree meanings is triggered by the reinterpretation of adverbs in specific linguistic contexts. At the macrolevel, norsification is shown to be an important feature of Orm’s intensifier system, both as regards the inventory of intensifiers itself, with the inclusion of some Norse-derived items, and as regards the frequency and distribution of particular intensifiers, since some native forms appear to be bolstered by their Scandinavian cognates.

  • Constructional change across the lifespan: The nominative and infinitive in early modern writers

    Lynn Anthonissen
    Page Range:
    125–156

    Abstract

    This paper presents one of the first attempts at exploring whether constructional change of syntactic constructions is possible within the adult lifespan of individual speakers. It does so by zooming in on diachronic changes in passives of the type He is said to be a thief, a construction known as the nominative and infinitive (NCI). Two main usage types are discerned: the evidential NCI (He is said to be a sinner) and the modalized NCI (He may be said to be a sinner). Exploring the writings of four early modern authors, the study demonstrates that the proportions of these usage types shift during the lifetimes of all investigated authors, with informants showing linear trends that persist into old age. The general increase in evidential uses is argued to reflect the construction’s growing emancipation from the passive construction and its increasing specialization into a reportative evidential marker.

  • Contextualizing dual-form adverbs in the Old Bailey Corpus: An assessment of semantic, pragmatic, and sociolinguistic factors

    Ruth Möhlig-Falke
    Page Range:
    157–190

    Abstract

    This article is concerned with the so-called dual-form adverbs of English, which are a group of adverbs that may occur both with and without the adverbial suffix -ly in similar syntactic environments. Based on data taken from the Old Bailey Corpus 2.0 for the period between c. 1730-1910, this study explores the impact of micro- and macro-context on variable adverb marking with the aim of identifying factors that explain why these adverbs have resisted the general trend towards -LY-marking for so long, with some of them still appearing with variable adverb marking up to today. The main reasons for this variability are identified to be the semantic-pragmatic orientation of individual adverbs to different entities in the clause, the general fuzziness of the category boundary between adjective and adverb, and the adverbs’ highly context-sensitive interpretation. Sociolinguistic aspects, mentioned as possible additional factors in the literature on variable adverb marking, are identified as only secondarily responsible.

  • Bridging contexts in the reanalysis of naturally as a sentence adverb: A corpus study

    Dagmar Haumann and Kristin Killie
    Page Range:
    191–220

    Abstract

    This paper argues that the delimitation of bridging contexts (Heine 2002) for the reanalysis of narrow-scope naturally as a sentence adverb feeds on the interplay of a number of syntactic factors. The overarching factor is the presence of a full left periphery as instantiated in matrix clauses and certain types of subordinate clauses, notably those that have independent illocutionary force (Haegeman 2002, 2012). The relative scope of naturally vis-à-vis other sentence elements, such as sentential negation or other adverbs, is an additional structural determinant for the bridging contexts for naturally. In addition to syntactic factors, the reanalysis of naturally is subject to lexical, pragmatic and contextual constraints.

  • From parataxis to amalgamation: The emergence of the sentence-final is all construction in the history of American English

    Reijirou Shibasaki
    Page Range:
    221–248

    Abstract

    This study explores the emergence of the sentence-final is all construction in American English. The construction stems from an amalgamation of sequenced sentences (or clauses), i.e. SENTENCE/CLAUSE + (and/but) that is all, giving rise to a type of anacoluthon, i.e. CLAUSE is all. Results of the survey tell us that the sentence- final is all construction begins life in the early twentieth century and demonstrates an upward trend towards the present. Theoretically, the specifiable linear sequence of sentences or clauses in particular pragmatic conditions, i.e. co-text (Halliday 2004), provides partial evidence for a cline of clause integration in grammaticalization: parataxis > hypotaxis > subordination (Hopper and Traugott 2003). This newly-born construction originating in American English is introduced to other varieties of English in the same way as some other innovations, such as be like and the bottom line is (that), have already been used worldwide.

  • The role of context in the entrenchment of new grammatical markers in World Englishes

    Elena Seoane
    Page Range:
    249–276

    Abstract

    This study explores the role of context in the alleged entrenchment of the adverbs yet, just and (n)ever, among other adverbial elements, as markers of the perfect in World Englishes (Miller 2000; Brown and Miller 2017), from the perspective of Usage Based Theory (Bybee 2006, 2013) and taking data from seven components of the International Corpus of English (ICE, Greenbaum 1996). The probabilistic analysis of the results show that all the micro-level contextual factors analyzed (verbal form, verb type and polarity) determine variation and change in this domain of grammar, in combination with two of the three macrolevel contextual features analyzed, namely type of perfect meaning and register (see Seoane 2017). Mode, however, turns out not to be a valid predictor in the entrenchment of adverbials, which questions previous work using differences between speech and writing as a proxy for ongoing change in ICE. The results of this contextualized approach to grammatical change leads me to advocate for usagebased, onomasiological and statistically-modelled approaches to grammatical variation, in which register variability must necessarily be taken into consideration (Biber and Gray 2016), independent of mode.

  • Paradigms, host classes, and ancillariness: A comparison of three approaches to grammatical status

    Martin Konvička
    Page Range:
    277–304

    Abstract

    In this article, I assess three distinct functionalist approaches to grammatical status and discuss their commonalities as well as their differences. Fundamental to all analyzed proposals is the strict distinction between the expression and content side of the linguistic sign and the view that the functional properties of linguistic elements are primary in defining grammar. Some models work with deictic properties unique to grammatical elements, whereas others focus on the discursive behaviour of grams. The one point of convergence between these diverging proposals is, as I will argue, their reliance on the obligatoriness of grammatical structures. Furthermore, I compare how the individual models deal with the concept of gradable grammaticality and on what grounds, if at all, they discern different degrees of grammaticality.

  • The motivated unmotivated: Variation, function and context

    Hendrik De Smet
    Page Range:
    305–332

    Abstract

    Variation occurs when a language has two or more ways of achieving the same communicative goal. Cases of variation have been approached in very different ways by two different groups of linguists. Variationists assume that variation is natural and common. On this view, change is due to naturally occurring variation interacting with language-external forces. Functionalists assume that variation is anomalous. On this view, change may reflect a language-internal drive to eradicate variation. In this paper, it is argued that these conflicting views can be reconciled by considering how variation functions in the broader context of the grammar. Drawing on a case study into the prepositional complements following emotion adjectives, it is proposed that variation (as Variationists maintain) is natural and that languages have no intrinsic tendency to reduce variability. Nevertheless, the synchronic availability and historical development of specific variants is (as Functionalists maintain) also internally motivated, typically by analogical relations.

  • Grammar in context: On the role of hypercharacterization in language variation and change

    María José López-Couso
    Page Range:
    333–364

    Abstract

    Hypercharacterization (Lehmann 2005) or accretion (Kuteva 2008) is a widely attested cross-linguistic phenomenon which involves the accumulation of apparently “redundant” linguistic material in the marking of one category within the same structure. In this study I examine a number of cases of structural hypercharacterization in the history of English, focusing on the domain of syntax and paying attention to the motivations and functions of hypercharacterized forms and constructions. The selected case studies include the development of “strengthened” adverbial subordinators (e.g. for because, like as if), the occurrence of resumptive pronouns in subject extraction contexts, and the use of socalled “double-locative overlap constructions” and their relevance for the grammaticalization of existential there. These three examples show that hypercharacterization is interesting not only in and of itself, but also because of its great significance for language variation and language change.

  • List of contributors

    Page Range:
    365–366

  • Index

    Page Range:
    367–376
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Language:
English
Format:
23.0 x 15.5 cm
Pages Roman:
VIII
Pages Arabic:
375
Illustrations BW:
16
Illustrations Color:
4
Tables BW:
34
Publisher:
De Gruyter
Year:
2019
Keywords:
Grammaticalization; micro-context; macro-context; grammar and discourse
Audience: Scholars (linguistics, English studies, historical and diachronic linguistics, corpus, usage-based and cognitive linguistics)

Formats

Hardcover
ISBN:
978-3-11-068249-6
Published:
20 Dec 2019
PDF
ISBN:
978-3-11-068256-4
Published:
20 Dec 2019
EPUB
ISBN:
978-3-11-068266-3
Published:
20 Dec 2019

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