Grammatical interference
-
Hendrik De Smet
Abstract
Two instances of grammaticalization are examined that illustrate the gradual character of change and the categorial ambivalence of grammaticalizing items. The first change is the development of the subject marker for in the English for...to-infinitive, whose expansion into new grammatical environments is shown to be steered by the historically related but syntactically distinct preposition for. The second change is the semantic and collocational development of the phrasal verb particles out and forth, which are argued to have influenced each other’s trajectory of change. Both case studies show how grammaticalization processes can be guided by connections between grammaticalizing elements and other elements in the grammar. It is proposed that such connections form the substance of gradience and can be successfully described and explained in a constructionist and connectionist model of language. This interpretation of gradience in turn can shed light on some of the sub-processes (persistence, decategorialization, paradigmaticization) and motivations of grammaticalization.
Abstract
Two instances of grammaticalization are examined that illustrate the gradual character of change and the categorial ambivalence of grammaticalizing items. The first change is the development of the subject marker for in the English for...to-infinitive, whose expansion into new grammatical environments is shown to be steered by the historically related but syntactically distinct preposition for. The second change is the semantic and collocational development of the phrasal verb particles out and forth, which are argued to have influenced each other’s trajectory of change. Both case studies show how grammaticalization processes can be guided by connections between grammaticalizing elements and other elements in the grammar. It is proposed that such connections form the substance of gradience and can be successfully described and explained in a constructionist and connectionist model of language. This interpretation of gradience in turn can shed light on some of the sub-processes (persistence, decategorialization, paradigmaticization) and motivations of grammaticalization.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface 1
- Gradience, gradualness and grammaticalization 19
- Grammaticalization, the clausal hierarchy and semantic bleaching 45
- Grammatical interference 75
- Category change in English with and without structural change 105
- Features in reanalysis and grammaticalization 129
- How synchronic gradience makes sense in the light of language change (and vice versa) 149
- What can synchronic gradience tell us about reanalysis? 181
- A paradigmatic approach to language and language change 203
- Grammaticalization and the it-cleft construction 221
- Grammaticalization in Chinese 245
- Grammaticalization and models of language 279
- Language index 301
- Subject index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface 1
- Gradience, gradualness and grammaticalization 19
- Grammaticalization, the clausal hierarchy and semantic bleaching 45
- Grammatical interference 75
- Category change in English with and without structural change 105
- Features in reanalysis and grammaticalization 129
- How synchronic gradience makes sense in the light of language change (and vice versa) 149
- What can synchronic gradience tell us about reanalysis? 181
- A paradigmatic approach to language and language change 203
- Grammaticalization and the it-cleft construction 221
- Grammaticalization in Chinese 245
- Grammaticalization and models of language 279
- Language index 301
- Subject index 303
