Exploring relative degrees of auxiliarization empirically in German modal constructions with wissen and verstehen
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Volodymyr Dekalo
Abstract
The present paper investigates which sort of information – item- or feature-based – is more sufficient to quantify relative degrees of auxiliarization. To understand this issue, the study utilizes two German near-synonymous semi-schematic modal constructions with wissen and verstehen. Sketching the notion of host class expansion, the paper shows that the evidence of host class expansion by gauging type frequency of co-occurring elements is often used to demonstrate the increasing grammaticalization of a construction within usage-based construction grammar. Applying a mixed-effects binary logistic regression, the study ascertains a difference in the relative degree of grammaticalization between the wissen- and verstehen-construction by means of such usage features as (a) the position of verbal complements, (b) the grammatical form of modal auxiliaries, and (c) the animacy of subject referents. Comparing these results with the counts of the co-occurring element types of each modal construction, the analysis reveals that they contradict each other. As a result, the usage feature-based behavior is considered to be more important for deciding the relative degree of grammaticalization of semi-schematic constructions than host class expansion.
Abstract
The present paper investigates which sort of information – item- or feature-based – is more sufficient to quantify relative degrees of auxiliarization. To understand this issue, the study utilizes two German near-synonymous semi-schematic modal constructions with wissen and verstehen. Sketching the notion of host class expansion, the paper shows that the evidence of host class expansion by gauging type frequency of co-occurring elements is often used to demonstrate the increasing grammaticalization of a construction within usage-based construction grammar. Applying a mixed-effects binary logistic regression, the study ascertains a difference in the relative degree of grammaticalization between the wissen- and verstehen-construction by means of such usage features as (a) the position of verbal complements, (b) the grammatical form of modal auxiliaries, and (c) the animacy of subject referents. Comparing these results with the counts of the co-occurring element types of each modal construction, the analysis reveals that they contradict each other. As a result, the usage feature-based behavior is considered to be more important for deciding the relative degree of grammaticalization of semi-schematic constructions than host class expansion.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Modality in Diachronic Construction Grammar 1
- Contractions, constructions and constructional change 13
- Exploring relative degrees of auxiliarization empirically in German modal constructions with wissen and verstehen 53
- Grammaticalization of verdienen into an auxiliary marker of deontic modality 81
- The diachrony of Galician certamente and seguramente 123
- Unfolding constructions 149
- Horizontal links within and between paradigms 185
- Constructionalization of Japanese koto imperatives 219
- Index 247
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Modality in Diachronic Construction Grammar 1
- Contractions, constructions and constructional change 13
- Exploring relative degrees of auxiliarization empirically in German modal constructions with wissen and verstehen 53
- Grammaticalization of verdienen into an auxiliary marker of deontic modality 81
- The diachrony of Galician certamente and seguramente 123
- Unfolding constructions 149
- Horizontal links within and between paradigms 185
- Constructionalization of Japanese koto imperatives 219
- Index 247
