The development of the conditional caso construction in Spanish
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Anton Granvik
Abstract
This paper analyzes the development of the abstract noun caso ‘case’ into a conditional marker in Spanish, as in (en) (el) caso (de) que llueva, no saldremos ‘(in) (the) case (of) that it rains, we’ll stay in.’ Building on diachronic corpus data I show that although the development of the conditional sense of caso in what I call the conditional caso construction can, in principle, be considered a textbook example of grammaticalization, in order to account for the formal variation which characterizes the construction as a whole, a construction grammar account might be preferable. Following Traugott & Trousdale (2013) I suggest that the development of the conditional caso construction can be seen as a case of constructionalization and subsequent constructional changes. From the perspective of Spanish caso the two approaches can be seen as complementary, rather than incommensurate, since they both highlight important aspects of the development of a new grammatical construction.
Abstract
This paper analyzes the development of the abstract noun caso ‘case’ into a conditional marker in Spanish, as in (en) (el) caso (de) que llueva, no saldremos ‘(in) (the) case (of) that it rains, we’ll stay in.’ Building on diachronic corpus data I show that although the development of the conditional sense of caso in what I call the conditional caso construction can, in principle, be considered a textbook example of grammaticalization, in order to account for the formal variation which characterizes the construction as a whole, a construction grammar account might be preferable. Following Traugott & Trousdale (2013) I suggest that the development of the conditional caso construction can be seen as a case of constructionalization and subsequent constructional changes. From the perspective of Spanish caso the two approaches can be seen as complementary, rather than incommensurate, since they both highlight important aspects of the development of a new grammatical construction.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Theoretical issues
- Grammaticalization meets Construction Grammar 3
- Three open questions in Diachronic Construction Grammar 21
-
Verb constructions
- Grammaticalisation cut short 43
- Pseudocoordination in Norwegian 75
- Evaluating grammaticalization and constructional accounts 107
-
Noun constructions
- Reduction or expansion? A bit of both 137
- Type frequency, productivity and schematicity in the evolution of the Latin secundum NP construction 169
-
Constructions at sentence level
- The development of the conditional caso construction in Spanish 205
- Constructionalization areas 241
- A Radical Construction Grammar approach to construction split in the diachrony of the spatial particles of Ancient Greek 277
- Construction index 312
- Index 313
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Theoretical issues
- Grammaticalization meets Construction Grammar 3
- Three open questions in Diachronic Construction Grammar 21
-
Verb constructions
- Grammaticalisation cut short 43
- Pseudocoordination in Norwegian 75
- Evaluating grammaticalization and constructional accounts 107
-
Noun constructions
- Reduction or expansion? A bit of both 137
- Type frequency, productivity and schematicity in the evolution of the Latin secundum NP construction 169
-
Constructions at sentence level
- The development of the conditional caso construction in Spanish 205
- Constructionalization areas 241
- A Radical Construction Grammar approach to construction split in the diachrony of the spatial particles of Ancient Greek 277
- Construction index 312
- Index 313
