Type noun uses in the English NP

Davidse, Kristin; Brems, Lieselotte; Smedt, Liesbeth De

doi:10.1075/ijcl.13.2.02dav

Cited by 24 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…More generally, such an enriched model is capable of accounting for more types of structures than traditional models can (e.g. type noun expressions such as two kinds of women, a sort of supergroupie; see Denison 2002, Brems 2007and Davidse, Brems & De Smedt 2008. I want to argue that the attested collocational constraints function as very significant semantico-syntactic markers of synchronic variation and as markers of the diachronic shift from head to modifier.…”

Section: Towards Valuing (Quantifier) Uses Of Bunch and Load Ofmentioning

confidence: 97%

Size noun constructions as collocationally constrained constructions: lexical and grammaticalized uses

Brems¹

2010

English Language and Linguistics

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Basing myself on synchronic and diachronic data analysis, I argue in this article that size nouns (SNs) such as bunch/load(s)/heap(s) of within binominal NPs display synchronic variation which can be hypothesized to be the result of grammaticalization processes. Synchronically, I propose that SNs have two major non-head uses, a quantifier use, e.g. a bunch of people walked in, and a valuing(-quantifying) use, in which the referent is evaluated rather than quantified. The latter is restricted mainly to bunch/load of, e.g. What a bunch of gobbledygook. The semantic and syntactic reanalysis of SNs as quantifiers has recently been acknowledged (e.g. Traugott forthcoming), but the valuing use of SNs remains largely unrecognized (see Brems 2007). On a theoretical level, it will be argued that head, quantifier and valuing(-quantifier) SN-uses synchronically have to be studied as COLLOCATIONALLY CONSTRAINED CONSTRUCTIONS in that the semantico-syntactic parsing of each SN-use links up with specific collocational patterns (Sinclair 1991). Head uses are restricted to sets of (un)count concrete nouns, whereas quantifier uses team up with all sorts of (un)count concrete as well as abstract nouns. Valuing uses show restrictions to concrete animate and abstract nouns, which they typically evaluate negatively, and have negative semantic prosody patterns, in which the SNs themselves come to predict negative collocates (see Louw 1993;Stubbs 1995;Bublitz 1996). The grammaticalization of SNs will be hypothesized to involve not only processes of semantic generalization and collocational extension, but also collocational reclusterings characterized by particular semantic prosody constraints. The latter are not traditionally associated with processes of grammaticalization and hence offer new insights into the semantic changes that may accompany grammaticalization.

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Section: Towards Valuing (Quantifier) Uses Of Bunch and Load Ofmentioning

confidence: 97%

Size noun constructions as collocationally constrained constructions: lexical and grammaticalized uses

Brems¹

2010

English Language and Linguistics

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“…By investigating this claim, I am contributing to the line of research which has been developed in recent years on grammaticalisation in the English NP (e.g. Adamson 2000; Paradis 2000; Breban & Davidse 2003; Brems 2003; Denison 2002; 2006; Traugott 2006; 2008a; Davidse, Breban & Van linden 2008; Davidse, Brems & De Smedt 2008). The proposed research adds to the existing discussions as, to my knowledge, no previous studies have dealt with cases of secondary grammaticalisation in the NP.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing paths of secondary grammaticalisation ofsamefrom emphasising to phoricity and single-referent-marking postdeterminer uses¹

Breban

2010

Transactions of the Philological Society

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This paper is concerned with the English adjective same. As noted in the OED (s.v. same, a.), this adjective almost exclusively occurs as part of the determiner units the + same and demonstrative + same, which function as one word. In previous studies, I have argued that same performs the role of postdeterminer supplementing the identifiability of the noun phrase referent, which is expressed by the or the demonstrative, in three different ways: by confirming it more strongly (emphasising postdeterminer use), by setting up an identifying link between the referent and another discourse referent (phoricity‐marking postdeterminer use), or by conveying that the referent is associated with different situations present in the discourse (single‐referent‐marking postdeterminer use). The claim I will develop here is that the phoricity and single‐referent‐marking postdeterminer uses are the result of two distinct processes of secondary grammaticalisation from the earlier emphasising postdeterminer use starting in the Middle English period. On the basis of the analysis of historical data from the LEON corpus (1251–1500), I will confirm and elaborate this claim, paying particular attention to the semantic and syntactic features of the (surrounding) context and the extra‐textual motivations triggering the grammaticalisation processes.

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“…For more information on the topic, see Me´ndez-Naya (2008);Vandewinkel & Davidse (2008);Davidse, Brems & De Smedt (2008).…”

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Little old problems: adjectives and subjectivity in the English NP

González-Díaz

2009

Trans of the Philol Soc

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This paper concentrates on the concomitances between semantics and syntax in the NP modifier slot. Through a corpus-based study of the behaviour of old in two-adjective premodifying strings (e.g. good old man, old dark coat), the paper provides empirical support to Matthews' claims regarding the complexity of the NP internal syntax, and points to the need for a careful exploration of how processes of subjectivisation map onto the diachrony of complex NPs in English. (94) a. Then there is an old curious seat of the Marquis of Northampton (1838 […]) b. down some old mysterious stone steps (1841 […]) […]

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Type noun uses in the English NP

Cited by 24 publications

References 14 publications

Size noun constructions as collocationally constrained constructions: lexical and grammaticalized uses

Size noun constructions as collocationally constrained constructions: lexical and grammaticalized uses

Reconstructing paths of secondary grammaticalisation ofsamefrom emphasising to phoricity and single-referent-marking postdeterminer uses¹

Little old problems: adjectives and subjectivity in the English NP

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Type noun uses in the English NP

Cited by 24 publications

References 14 publications

Size noun constructions as collocationally constrained constructions: lexical and grammaticalized uses

Size noun constructions as collocationally constrained constructions: lexical and grammaticalized uses

Reconstructing paths of secondary grammaticalisation ofsamefrom emphasising to phoricity and single-referent-marking postdeterminer uses1

Little old problems: adjectives and subjectivity in the English NP

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Reconstructing paths of secondary grammaticalisation ofsamefrom emphasising to phoricity and single-referent-marking postdeterminer uses¹