Volume 26, Issue 1

Drawing on Cognitive Construction Grammar (CCxG), I present an analysis of the pluralization of haber in Dominican Spanish (e.g. Habían fiestas ‘There were parties’) as an ongoing language change from below during which the singular argument-structure construction (< AdvP haber Obj >) is being replaced by a pluralized schema (< AdvP haber Subj >). Using a mixed-effects regression analysis, in which the individual speakers and the NPs' head nouns were included as random intercepts, I show that speakers pluralize presentational haber in 47% of the cases and that the variation is conditioned by three general cognitive constraints (markedness of coding, structural priming, and statistical pre-emption). Using a conditional inference tree, I show that the former two cognitive constraints work in tandem to promote the pluralized construction for the encoding of conceptualizations that statistical preemption tends to reserve to the singular construction. The results also unveil that the variation is associated with social class membership. These data confirm the main hypothesis, while at the same time corroborating and strengthening the conclusions of an earlier investigation of haber pluralization in Puerto Rican Spanish.

To what extent does perceptual language reflect universals of experience and cognition, and to what extent is it shaped by particular cultural preoccupations? This paper investigates the universality~relativity of perceptual language by examining the use of basic perception terms in spontaneous conversation across 13 diverse languages and cultures. We analyze the frequency of perception words to test two universalist hypotheses: that sight is always a dominant sense, and that the relative ranking of the senses will be the same across different cultures. We find that references to sight outstrip references to the other senses, suggesting a pan-human preoccupation with visual phenomena. However, the relative frequency of the other senses was found to vary cross-linguistically. Cultural relativity was conspicuous as exemplified by the high ranking of smell in Semai, an Aslian language. Together these results suggest a place for both universal constraints and cultural shaping of the language of perception.

The present study offers an analysis of two directive constructions in Polish: the V 2 sg.imp.imperf  +  mi dat ‘me’ construction and the ( Proszę ‘I request’) + V inf construction. The two constructions are problematic for speech act theory in that they may be used in a range of different contexts, where they convey different illocutionary forces and produce different interpersonal effects. Hence, it remains unclear how, or indeed whether at all, the illocutionary force and the interpersonal effects of utterances employing the two constructions may be tied to their respective grammatical make-ups. This, in turn, raises two related questions: (i) what motivates the use of each construction in specific contexts? and (ii) how can hearers interpret the construction's specific import in specific interactive circumstances? The claim made in this study is that each construction imposes a particular schematic construal upon the conceived scene, including also ground elements, such as the speaker, the hearer, and their interactive circumstances. The conventional schematic meaning of each construction is motivated by the meanings of its components. Being schematic, the construal conventionally associated with each construction is compatible with a whole range of specific actual interactive circumstances. However, in each specific usage event the intended specific import of the construction may easily be interpreted, given the interactive and interpersonal information saliently present in the context.

This study addresses conceptual blending theory, as originated by Fauconnier and Turner, focusing on their view of the development of double-scope blending as the cause for the origin of language and forms of culture. The author raises certain criticisms of the theory's underpinnings and methodology. In particular, he points to a lack of cultural-historical analysis and a gap between some of the predictions of conceptual blending theory and the data of real-time experiments. It is shown that a view of blending as an important tool to adapt knowledge to the experience of people is more correct than its interpretation as a basic instrument for the creation of new knowledge.

This paper addresses the recent history of noun-participle compounding in English. This word formation process is illustrated by forms such as hand-carved or computer-based . Data from the COHA shows that over the last two-hundred years, such forms have undergone a substantial increase in type and token frequency. These quantitative changes motivate an exploration of the qualitative changes that have accompanied them. A diachronic analysis of the noun and participle types that are recruited into noun-participle compounds reveals that the word formation process has changed substantially with regard to its component parts. While the observable changes in noun-participle compounding match several defining criteria of grammaticalization, it is argued here that these developments are more usefully seen as a process of constructional change. To distinguish between those two, this paper develops an idea that is called the upward strengthening hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, grammaticalization happens when the activation of a node in a constructional network strengthens not only that node itself, but also a node that is situated at a higher, more abstract level of that network.