Chapter 4. A constructional corpus-based approach to ‘weak’ verbs in French
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Dominique Willems
Abstract
‘Weak’ verbs, also known as ‘parenthetical’, ‘evidential’ or ‘epistemic’ verbs, have interested linguists and philosophers for many years. In recent analyses they are treated mainly from a pragmatic point of view, and, through a process of advanced grammaticalization, they are often grouped together with adverbs. But fine-grained linguistic analyses are still lacking. In this contribution, we present the main results of a usage-based syntactic, semantic and pragmatic analysis of the three most frequent ‘weak’ verbs used in the first person singular in modern French: je crois (‘I believe’), je pense (‘I think’), and je trouve (‘I find’). We argue that those verbs do not undergo a change of category but simply remain verbs and that they can be fruitfully described in a constructional framework. These ‘weak’ verbs, particularly frequent in spoken discourse, occur in a cluster of three related structures, revealing the same semantic meaning of ‘mitigation’. Other verbs can enter one of those syntactic patterns, but only the ‘weak’ verbs can partake in all three of them. Each of the three verbs also enters other constructions, with different meanings.
Abstract
‘Weak’ verbs, also known as ‘parenthetical’, ‘evidential’ or ‘epistemic’ verbs, have interested linguists and philosophers for many years. In recent analyses they are treated mainly from a pragmatic point of view, and, through a process of advanced grammaticalization, they are often grouped together with adverbs. But fine-grained linguistic analyses are still lacking. In this contribution, we present the main results of a usage-based syntactic, semantic and pragmatic analysis of the three most frequent ‘weak’ verbs used in the first person singular in modern French: je crois (‘I believe’), je pense (‘I think’), and je trouve (‘I find’). We argue that those verbs do not undergo a change of category but simply remain verbs and that they can be fruitfully described in a constructional framework. These ‘weak’ verbs, particularly frequent in spoken discourse, occur in a cluster of three related structures, revealing the same semantic meaning of ‘mitigation’. Other verbs can enter one of those syntactic patterns, but only the ‘weak’ verbs can partake in all three of them. Each of the three verbs also enters other constructions, with different meanings.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Chapter 1. Applying constructional concepts to Romance languages 1
- Chapter 2. The role of constructional meanings in novel verb-noun compounds in Spanish 37
- Chapter 3. From lexicalization to constructional generalizations 79
- Chapter 4. A constructional corpus-based approach to ‘weak’ verbs in French 113
- Chapter 5. The Narrative Infinitive Construction in French and Latin 139
- Chapter 6. Bringing together fragments and constructions 181
- Chapter 7. A Romance perspective on gapping constructions 227
- Chapter 8. Variable type framing in Spanish constructions of directed motion 269
- Author index 305
- Construction index 309
- Language index 311
- Subject index 313
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Chapter 1. Applying constructional concepts to Romance languages 1
- Chapter 2. The role of constructional meanings in novel verb-noun compounds in Spanish 37
- Chapter 3. From lexicalization to constructional generalizations 79
- Chapter 4. A constructional corpus-based approach to ‘weak’ verbs in French 113
- Chapter 5. The Narrative Infinitive Construction in French and Latin 139
- Chapter 6. Bringing together fragments and constructions 181
- Chapter 7. A Romance perspective on gapping constructions 227
- Chapter 8. Variable type framing in Spanish constructions of directed motion 269
- Author index 305
- Construction index 309
- Language index 311
- Subject index 313
