From engl-isc to whatever-ish: a corpus-based investigation of -ish derivation in the history of English

Eitelmann, Matthias; Haugland, Kari E.; Haumann, Dagmar

doi:10.1017/s1360674319000340

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The history of (-)ish from Old English to Present-day English shows that (-)ish has extended its uses over time from its original usage as a derivational suffix forming an adjective from a noun denoting a nation as in English (see Eitelmann et al, 2020 for an overview of the diachronic developments of (-)ish). Another established type of the derivational suffix (-)ish is in combination with nouns (childish, boyish) with the associative sense 'of or belonging to a person or thing, of the nature or character of '(OED 6.3).…”

Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A contrastive analysis of (-)ish in English and Swedish blogs

Aijmer

2024

LiC

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The aim is to investigate whether (-)ish is employed in the same structures and functions in English and Swedish blog data and to describe the adaptations and changes resulting from borrowing. (-)ish is exceptional because it looks like a suffix but can be taken out of its original context with adjectives and nouns and used as a clitic or an independent word. Based on samples from the two languages it is shown that there are quantitative differences with respect to the uses of (-)ish with different base forms and as a freestanding sentence-final item in the two data sets. The qualitative findings reveal that (-)ish has been borrowed in Swedish as a suffix, a clitic, as a qualifier with hedging function and as a sentence-final pragmatic marker. The change in the position of (-)ish is influenced by the existence of a domestic variant typ (‘sort of’, ‘kind of’) which can be placed more freely in the sentence than the English (-)ish.

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Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A contrastive analysis of (-)ish in English and Swedish blogs

Aijmer

2024

LiC

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“…Before that pivotal moment, -ish had been a derivational affix exclusively conveying an associative sense that it shares with all sister languages, a meaning that is most prominently represented in derivatives denoting nationality/ethnicity and origin, such as Old English englisc 'English', denisc 'Danish' or grecisc 'Greek'. As the diachronic study conducted in Eitelmann, Haugland and Haumann (2020) shows, these ethnonymic expressions constitute the lion's share in terms of both types and tokens in the earliest period.…”

Section: Previously On (Approximative) -Ishmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting close-ish: A corpus-based exploration of -ish as a marker of approximation and vagueness

Eitelmann¹,

Haumann

2023

ZWJW

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This paper investigates the approximative nature of -ish, which takes its origin in de-adjectival adjectives in Middle English and from there spreads to -ish-derivatives from a wide array of bases, in terms of both categoriality and complexity. Drawing on data from the TV corpus, the paper charts the inventory of ‑ish-derivatives expressing approximative senses and zooms in on de-adjectival derivatives (largish, small-er-ish), de-numeral derivatives (fourth-ish, 2.8-ish), as well as on non-category changing -ish-formations (a few weeks-ish, nothingish). Building on both the diachronic trajectory of approximative ‑ish as of Middle English and the inventory of -ish-formations in the TV corpus, the paper proposes an approximation cline ranging from the earliest relational/associative senses of the suffix via similitudinal and genuinely approximative senses to incipient privative senses, (almost) all of which are attested in the data investigated.

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“…Meeting the prerequisites for the process of ‘debonding’ such as resemanticization, phonological strengthening, or flexibilization eases the way for the development of free Ish (Norde, 2009, p. 224, 2012). For more details on the historical development of bound - ish, see, for instance, Eitelmann et al (2020) or Harris (2020, 2021).…”

Section: Ishmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal-ish: prosodic and kinesic aspects of bounded and free uses of ish

Lehmann

Pentrel

2023

Lang. cogn.

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The article explores the prosodic and kinesic aspects of three different ish constructions using corpus data from the multimodal NewsScape Library of International Television News. The results reveal that bound -ish with ‘approximate’ meaning is longer in duration, higher in pitch, and shows more pitch variability than bound -ish with ‘properties’ meaning. Free Ish is also longer in duration and shows more pitch variability but is also prosodically set apart from its linguistic environment. Furthermore, the different ish constructions prove to be associated with different sets of kinesic features, although none of these reaches a significant level in the statistical model. It will be argued that the prosodic aspects mirror the constructional status of ish, whereas the kinesic aspects may be used to support their different functions.

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From engl-isc to whatever-ish: a corpus-based investigation of -ish derivation in the history of English

Cited by 18 publications

References 22 publications

A contrastive analysis of (-)ish in English and Swedish blogs

A contrastive analysis of (-)ish in English and Swedish blogs

Getting close-ish: A corpus-based exploration of -ish as a marker of approximation and vagueness

Multimodal-ish: prosodic and kinesic aspects of bounded and free uses of ish

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