Islands of (im)productivity in corpus data and acceptability judgments
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Ad Backus
Abstract
Dutch has a number of constructions for expressing that a particular event is likely or possible. Two of these, one using a derivational morpheme and the other a copula construction, are investigated to see whether they are both productive and to what degree their meanings overlap. Their distribution in a corpus showed some similarities and differences. In a follow-up magnitude estimation experiment, results showed that the judgments by native speakers of Dutch reflected these same similarities and differences. The consistent distinction in acceptability indicates that the corpus findings correspond to mental representations. We interpret this as converging evidence for the productivity and psychological reality of the constructions, and argue that corpus and experimental methods are complementary tools.
Abstract
Dutch has a number of constructions for expressing that a particular event is likely or possible. Two of these, one using a derivational morpheme and the other a copula construction, are investigated to see whether they are both productive and to what degree their meanings overlap. Their distribution in a corpus showed some similarities and differences. In a follow-up magnitude estimation experiment, results showed that the judgments by native speakers of Dutch reflected these same similarities and differences. The consistent distinction in acceptability indicates that the corpus findings correspond to mental representations. We interpret this as converging evidence for the productivity and psychological reality of the constructions, and argue that corpus and experimental methods are complementary tools.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction 1
- Issues in collecting converging evidence 33
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Part 1. Multi-methodological approaches to constructional and idiomatic meaning
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1.1. Cognition verb constructions
- Perception and conception 57
- Explaining diverging evidence 81
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1.2. Constructional alternatives
- I am about to die vs. I am going to die 115
- Studying syntactic priming in corpora 143
- Islands of (im)productivity in corpus data and acceptability judgments 165
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1.3. Idioms and creative language use
- Compositional and embodied meanings of somatisms 195
- Word-formation patterns in a cross-linguistic perspective 221
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Part 2. Multi-methodological approaches to language acquisition
- The interaction of function and input frequency in L1-acquisition 249
- Relative clause acquisition and representation 273
- Converging evidence in the typology of motion events 293
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Part 3. Multi-methodological approaches to the study of discourse
- Differences in the use of emotion metaphors in expert-lay communication 319
- Index 349
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction 1
- Issues in collecting converging evidence 33
-
Part 1. Multi-methodological approaches to constructional and idiomatic meaning
-
1.1. Cognition verb constructions
- Perception and conception 57
- Explaining diverging evidence 81
-
1.2. Constructional alternatives
- I am about to die vs. I am going to die 115
- Studying syntactic priming in corpora 143
- Islands of (im)productivity in corpus data and acceptability judgments 165
-
1.3. Idioms and creative language use
- Compositional and embodied meanings of somatisms 195
- Word-formation patterns in a cross-linguistic perspective 221
-
Part 2. Multi-methodological approaches to language acquisition
- The interaction of function and input frequency in L1-acquisition 249
- Relative clause acquisition and representation 273
- Converging evidence in the typology of motion events 293
-
Part 3. Multi-methodological approaches to the study of discourse
- Differences in the use of emotion metaphors in expert-lay communication 319
- Index 349
