The historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English
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Noriko Matsumoto
Abstract
This paper explores the historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English, relying upon two corpora. The go-adjective sequence has two groups, the change-of-state and the state groups. The change-of-state group is divided into two types. The first type expresses an involuntary change of state. With respect to its historical development, there is a possibility that the adjectives will be replaced by new forms in the future. The second type expresses a voluntary change of state. It is possible to pinpoint incipient development. Similarly, the state group is further divided into two types. The first type expresses a state only. The second type not only expresses a state, but also signals the modal notion of counter-normativity. This second type is currently undergoing a change. This paper demonstrates a corpus-based approach as a means of identifying characteristics underlying the go-adjective sequence, which might otherwise remain unexplained.
Abstract
This paper explores the historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English, relying upon two corpora. The go-adjective sequence has two groups, the change-of-state and the state groups. The change-of-state group is divided into two types. The first type expresses an involuntary change of state. With respect to its historical development, there is a possibility that the adjectives will be replaced by new forms in the future. The second type expresses a voluntary change of state. It is possible to pinpoint incipient development. Similarly, the state group is further divided into two types. The first type expresses a state only. The second type not only expresses a state, but also signals the modal notion of counter-normativity. This second type is currently undergoing a change. This paper demonstrates a corpus-based approach as a means of identifying characteristics underlying the go-adjective sequence, which might otherwise remain unexplained.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgements vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Grammaticalization
- The role of historical research in building a model of Sign Language typology, variation, and change 15
- On the origin of Niger-Congo nominal classification 43
- A closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals 67
- Subjectivity encoding in Taiwanese Southern Min 83
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Part II. Problems in historical comparison and reconstruction
- Emergence of the tone system in the Sanjiazi dialect of Manchu 101
- Searching for undetected genetic links between the languages of South America 115
- Reconstructing the category of “associated motion” in Tacanan languages (Amazonian Bolivia and Peru) 129
- The mirage of apparent morphological correspondence 153
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Part III. Historical development of morphosyntactic features
- Analogy as a source of suppletion 175
- The rise and demise of possessive classifiers in Austronesian 199
- Immediate-future readings of universal quantifier constructions 227
- The historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English 243
- Recycling “junk” 267
- Sapirian ‘drift’ towards analyticity and long-term morphosyntactic change in Ancient Egyptian 289
- Language index 329
- Index of terms 333
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgements vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Grammaticalization
- The role of historical research in building a model of Sign Language typology, variation, and change 15
- On the origin of Niger-Congo nominal classification 43
- A closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals 67
- Subjectivity encoding in Taiwanese Southern Min 83
-
Part II. Problems in historical comparison and reconstruction
- Emergence of the tone system in the Sanjiazi dialect of Manchu 101
- Searching for undetected genetic links between the languages of South America 115
- Reconstructing the category of “associated motion” in Tacanan languages (Amazonian Bolivia and Peru) 129
- The mirage of apparent morphological correspondence 153
-
Part III. Historical development of morphosyntactic features
- Analogy as a source of suppletion 175
- The rise and demise of possessive classifiers in Austronesian 199
- Immediate-future readings of universal quantifier constructions 227
- The historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English 243
- Recycling “junk” 267
- Sapirian ‘drift’ towards analyticity and long-term morphosyntactic change in Ancient Egyptian 289
- Language index 329
- Index of terms 333
