Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs
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Kristin Killie
Abstract
The paper claims that the process of deriving -ly adverbs from present participles has become increasingly productive over the last 500 years. It is argued that many ‘-ingly adverbs’ are extravagant, in the sense of Haspelmath (1999). This claim is supported by the fact that such adverbs are very common in prose fiction, which is a genre that admits of extravagant language. It is hypothesised that the category of -ingly adverbs has evolved around a few frequent types but that extravagant -ingly uses have caused the category to expand by pushing at the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. The change is explained within an exemplar-based model of morphological change and against the backdrop of ‘adverbialisation’.
Abstract
The paper claims that the process of deriving -ly adverbs from present participles has become increasingly productive over the last 500 years. It is argued that many ‘-ingly adverbs’ are extravagant, in the sense of Haspelmath (1999). This claim is supported by the fact that such adverbs are very common in prose fiction, which is a genre that admits of extravagant language. It is hypothesised that the category of -ingly adverbs has evolved around a few frequent types but that extravagant -ingly uses have caused the category to expand by pushing at the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. The change is explained within an exemplar-based model of morphological change and against the backdrop of ‘adverbialisation’.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Extravagance in morphology 1
- What’s extravagant about be-sandal-ed feet ? 19
- Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs 51
- Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers 73
- The extravagant dutch suffix -ke and its meandering through the interfaces 101
- Linguistic extravagance in compounds and idioms – an analysis of morphological marking 131
- Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities 155
- do not repeat 181
- They’re proing it up hardcore 207
- Wild words 233
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Extravagance in morphology 1
- What’s extravagant about be-sandal-ed feet ? 19
- Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs 51
- Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers 73
- The extravagant dutch suffix -ke and its meandering through the interfaces 101
- Linguistic extravagance in compounds and idioms – an analysis of morphological marking 131
- Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities 155
- do not repeat 181
- They’re proing it up hardcore 207
- Wild words 233
- Index 255
