Despite recent advances in Construction Pragmatics, a systematic way for delimiting coded pragmatic information has yet to be offered. This squib provides a step in establishing such an account by assessing what kind of pragmatic information speakers generalize from various usage-events. Drawing on findings from Conversation Analysis, I propose a distinction between pragmatic functions as speakers’ actions, and interactional patterns as discourse-information sequences. A synchronic examination of the Hebrew multifunctional discourse marker ′at/a yode′a/′at (′you know.prs.sg.m/f′) demonstrates the consistent use of the construction in an interactional pattern across numerous usage-events. A qualitative diachronic analysis of ′at/a yode′a/′at suggests that speakers may associate forms with interactional patterns rather than with functions. This preliminary evidence provides support for the generalization of interactional patterns.
This paper investigates the constructionalization of the Hebrew desiderative ba le-X Y (‘X feels like Y’; lit. ‘come.prs.m.sg to-X Y’), which exemplifies the less frequent pathway from motion to desire. Drawing on Diachronic Construction Grammar framework, we provide an account that considers both the construction’s ancestor and similar desiderative constructions existing at the time of emergence. Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses, we suggest ba le-X Y evolved via partial realization of a metaphoric construction conceptualizing experiencers as the goals of emotional forces, e.g. desires and urges. We further argue that this deviation in realization was modeled after a semantically similar, superficially resembling, desiderative construction which is more syntactically compacted. The motivation for this analogical interference is explained by the production and comprehension advantages of the resulting target construction. This paper then provides support for analogy-based interference effects in the formation of form-meaning pairings.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.