Constructional change at the interface of cognition, culture, and language use
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Stefan Hartmann
Abstract
On the basis of an extensive corpus analysis, this paper investigates how cognitive, cultural, and language-internal factors conspire in the diachronic development of German nominalization patterns. Focusing on nominalization with the suffix -ung, the present study demonstrates that this word-formation pattern is subject to an increasing array of word-formation constraints. This is due to (a) shifts in the availability and prototypicality of reading variants evoked by the word-formation pattern, (b) the increasing productivity of competing word-formation patterns, and (c) sociocultural factors such as the emergence of language purism, which promoted the replacement of ung-derivatives with other word-formation products. The results of the corpus analysis lend support to a usage-based and radically constructionist view of morphology and morphological change.
Abstract
On the basis of an extensive corpus analysis, this paper investigates how cognitive, cultural, and language-internal factors conspire in the diachronic development of German nominalization patterns. Focusing on nominalization with the suffix -ung, the present study demonstrates that this word-formation pattern is subject to an increasing array of word-formation constraints. This is due to (a) shifts in the availability and prototypicality of reading variants evoked by the word-formation pattern, (b) the increasing productivity of competing word-formation patterns, and (c) sociocultural factors such as the emergence of language purism, which promoted the replacement of ung-derivatives with other word-formation products. The results of the corpus analysis lend support to a usage-based and radically constructionist view of morphology and morphological change.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Phonology
- A Phonological motivation behind the diatonic stress shift in Modern English 3
- Vowel reduction in verbs in King Alfred’s Pastoral Care 19
- The development of early Middle English ō 41
- The diachronic development of stød and tonal accent in North Germanic 53
- The evolution of the (alveolo)palatal lateral consonant in Spanish and Portuguese 69
-
Diachronic typology
- Evaluating prehistoric and early historic linguistic contacts 89
- Patterns in the diffusion of nomenclature systems 109
-
Morphology
- Morphological evidence for the paradigmatic status of infinitives in French and Occitan 135
- Constructional change at the interface of cognition, culture, and language use 155
-
Morphosyntax
- Stages in deflexion and the Norwegian dative 179
- Differential Object Marking in Old Japanese 195
- The grammaticalization of progressive constructions with a focus on the English progressive 213
- Hate and anger, love and desire 233
- The argument indexing of early Austronesian verbs 257
- The syntax of mood constructions in Old Japanese 281
- Medieval Sardinian 303
- Index 325
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Phonology
- A Phonological motivation behind the diatonic stress shift in Modern English 3
- Vowel reduction in verbs in King Alfred’s Pastoral Care 19
- The development of early Middle English ō 41
- The diachronic development of stød and tonal accent in North Germanic 53
- The evolution of the (alveolo)palatal lateral consonant in Spanish and Portuguese 69
-
Diachronic typology
- Evaluating prehistoric and early historic linguistic contacts 89
- Patterns in the diffusion of nomenclature systems 109
-
Morphology
- Morphological evidence for the paradigmatic status of infinitives in French and Occitan 135
- Constructional change at the interface of cognition, culture, and language use 155
-
Morphosyntax
- Stages in deflexion and the Norwegian dative 179
- Differential Object Marking in Old Japanese 195
- The grammaticalization of progressive constructions with a focus on the English progressive 213
- Hate and anger, love and desire 233
- The argument indexing of early Austronesian verbs 257
- The syntax of mood constructions in Old Japanese 281
- Medieval Sardinian 303
- Index 325
