LOOK up about
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Dawn Nordquist
Abstract
This chapter investigates the emergence of a new English phrasal-prepositional verb, look up about, which is found predominantly in online discourse and is largely synonymous with “to google”. It is argued that the verb emerged as the result of a reanalysis of a source syntagm that eroded an internal constituency boundary and resulted in a new lexical item. In order to understand how reanalysis took place in the lexicalization of look up about, usage-based processes such as chunking and holistic and heuristic-based processing are examined, and Bybee’s (2002) Linear Fusion Hypothesis is also invoked to explain how this multi-word expression has entered the lexicon of many users.
Abstract
This chapter investigates the emergence of a new English phrasal-prepositional verb, look up about, which is found predominantly in online discourse and is largely synonymous with “to google”. It is argued that the verb emerged as the result of a reanalysis of a source syntagm that eroded an internal constituency boundary and resulted in a new lexical item. In order to understand how reanalysis took place in the lexicalization of look up about, usage-based processes such as chunking and holistic and heuristic-based processing are examined, and Bybee’s (2002) Linear Fusion Hypothesis is also invoked to explain how this multi-word expression has entered the lexicon of many users.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- The authors’ reflections on Joan ix
- Introduction xv
- Features of some ergative languages that impact on acquisition 1
- Constructional pressures on ‘sit’ in Modern Greek 17
- know and understand in ASL 59
- Traces of demonstrative grammaticalization in Spanish variable subject expression 89
- The company that word-boundary sounds keep 107
- Cumulative exposure to phonetic reducing environments marks the lexicon 127
- A usage-based account for the historical reflexes of ain’t in AAE 155
- Gradient conventionalization of the Spanish expression of ‘becoming’ quedar(se) + ADJ in seven centuries 175
- The evidence add ups 199
- LOOK up about 225
- About the authors 247
- Index 249
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- The authors’ reflections on Joan ix
- Introduction xv
- Features of some ergative languages that impact on acquisition 1
- Constructional pressures on ‘sit’ in Modern Greek 17
- know and understand in ASL 59
- Traces of demonstrative grammaticalization in Spanish variable subject expression 89
- The company that word-boundary sounds keep 107
- Cumulative exposure to phonetic reducing environments marks the lexicon 127
- A usage-based account for the historical reflexes of ain’t in AAE 155
- Gradient conventionalization of the Spanish expression of ‘becoming’ quedar(se) + ADJ in seven centuries 175
- The evidence add ups 199
- LOOK up about 225
- About the authors 247
- Index 249
