Cover not available

In:Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar
Edited by Lotte Sommerer and Elena Smirnova
[Constructional Approaches to Language 27] 2020
► pp. 277–315

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Paradigms lost – paradigms regained

Paradigms as hyper-constructions

 | Leibniz Universität Hannover
Published online: 13 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.27.08die
Abstract
Based on Diewald (2009, 2015a, 2017), it is claimed that the notion of paradigm needs to be introduced into constructional accounts, as otherwise the essence of grammaticalization cannot be properly captured in construction grammar. It is suggested to define grammatical paradigms as a new node type, a “hyper-construction”, which represents the categorical, non-gradient specifics of grammatical meaning. This line of argumentation is supported by a discussion of changes in the German and English modality, tense, determiner, and number paradigms. Independent arguments for the psychological reality of paradigms come from the study of implicational relations in inflectional morphology and diachronic phenomena such as layering, suppletion, and paradigm pressure.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Terminological clarifications
    • 2.1Grammaticalization versus grammatical change
    • 2.2Grammaticalization versus constructionalization and constructional change
    • 2.3Paradigmatization as a crucial feature of grammaticalization
  • 3.Gradience and categorical distinctions
  • 4.Paradigms lost: The status of paradigms in constructional models
  • 5.Paradigms regained: Integrating paradigmatic knowledge into the constructicon
    • 5.1Paradigm ≠ paradigmatic relation
    • 5.2The syntagmatic extension of paradigms
    • 5.3The paradigm as a holistic entity / a hyper-construction
  • 6.Observations concerning the existence of paradigms in language
    • 6.1Implicational relations
    • 6.2Layering and suppletion
    • 6.3Paradigm pressure
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (61)
References
Ackerman, F., Blevins, J. P., & Malouf, R. (2009). Parts and wholes: Implicative patterns in inflectional paradigms. In J. P. Blevins, & J. Blevins (Eds.), Analogy in Grammar: Form and Acquisition (pp. 54–82). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bauer, L. (2001). Morphological Productivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blevins, J. P. (2015). Inflectional paradigms. In M. Baerman (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Inflection (pp. 87–111). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bisang, W. (2014). Overt and hidden complexity – two types of complexity and their implications. Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, 50, 127–143. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C. (2014). Zur Architektur einer konstruktionsbasierten Grammatik des Deutschen. In A. Lasch, & A. Ziem (Eds.), Grammatik als Netzwerk von Konstruktionen. Sprachwissen im Fokus der Konstruktionsgrammatik (pp. 37–63). Berlin: de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Booij, G. (2016). Construction Morphology. In A. Hippisley, & G. Stump (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Morphology (pp. 424–448). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, J. (2010). Language, Usage and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, J. L., Perkins, R. D., & Pagliuca, W. (1994). The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cappelle, B. (2006). Particle placement and the case for “allostructions”. Constructions, 1, 1–28.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, W. (2001). Radical Construction Grammar: Syntactic Theory in Typological Per-spective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Radical Construction Grammar. In G. Trousdale, & T. Hoffmann (Eds.), The Handbook of Construction Grammar (pp. 211–232). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diewald, G. (1991). Deixis und Textsorten im Deutschen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999). Die Modalverben im Deutschen: Grammatikalisierung und Polyfunktionalität. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Context types in grammaticalization as constructions. Constructions, Special Volume 1.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Konstruktionen und Paradigmen. ZGL, 37, 445–468.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). On some problem areas in grammaticalization theory. In K. Stathi, E. Gehweiler & E. König (Eds.), Grammaticalization: Current Views and Issues (pp. 17–50). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015a). Review of: E. C. Traugott, & G. Trousdale. (2013). Constructionalization and Constructional Changes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 137, 108–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Auf- und Abbau linguistischer Komplexität Grammatikalisierungsprozessen. In M. Hennig (Ed.), Linguistische Komplexität – ein Phantom? (pp. 223–252). Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diewald, G., Dekalo, V. & Czicza, D. [to appear] Grammaticalization of verdienen into an auxiliary marker of deontic modality: An item-driven usage-based approach. In M. Hilpert & B. Cappelle (Eds.), Modality and Diachronic Construction Grammar. Amsterdam: Benjamins (Constructional Approaches to Language).
Diewald, G., & Habermann, M. (2005). Die Entwicklung von werden & Infinitiv als Futurgrammem: Ein Beispiel für das Zusammenwirken von Grammatikalisierung, Sprachkontakt und soziokulturellen Faktoren. In T. Leuschner, T. Mortelmans, & S. De Groodt (Eds.), Grammatikalisierung im Deutschen (pp. 229–250). Berlin: de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diewald, G., & Smirnova, E. (2010). Evidentiality in German. Linguistic Realization and Regularities in Grammaticalization. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diewald, G., & Wischer, I. (2013). Markers of Futurity in Old High German and Old English: A Comparative Corpus-Based Study. In G. Diewald, L. Kahlas-Tarkka, & I. Wischer (Eds.), Comparative Studies in Early Germanic Languages. With a Focus on Verbal Categories (pp. 195–216). Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fried, M., & Östman, J.-O. (2004). Constructions Grammar. A thumbnail sketch. In M. Fried, & J.-O. Östman (Eds.), Constructions Grammar in a Cross-Language Perspective (pp. 11–86). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Givón, T. (1979). On understanding grammar. New York [etc.]: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1998). The functional approach to grammar. In M. Tomasello (Ed.), The New Psychology of Language: Cognitive and Functional Approaches to Language Structure, Vol. 1 (pp. 41–66). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. E. (1995). Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Constructions at Work. The Nature of Generalization in Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harnisch, R. (2006). Dieser freundlicher Streit mit Rivalem und andern welchen Leuten. Über aktuelle Ungewöhnlichkeiten und latente Möglichkeiten in der Nominalphrase. ZGL, 34, 394–405.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. (2000). Periphrasis. In G. Booij, C. Lehmann, & J. Mugdan (Eds.), Morphology: A Handbook on Inflection and Word Formation, Vol. 1 (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft) (pp. 654–664). Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heine, B. (2003). Grammaticalization. In B. Joseph, & R. Janda (Eds.), The Handbook of Historical Linguistics (pp. 575–601). Oxford: Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hilpert, M. (2013). Corpus-based approaches to constructional change. In T. Hoffmann, & G. Trousdale (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar (pp. 458–475). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hilpert, M. & Mair, C. (2015). Grammatical change. In D. Biber, & R. Reppen (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of English Corpus Linguistics (pp. 180–200). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Himmelmann, N. P. (2004). Lexicalization and grammaticalization: Opposite or orthogonal?. In W. Bisang, N. P. Himmelmann, & B. Wiemer (Eds.), What makes Grammaticalization? A Look from its Fringes and its Components (pp. 21–42). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, P. J. (1991). On some principles of grammaticalization. In E. C. Traugott, & B. Heine (Eds.), Approaches to Grammaticalization, Vol. 1 (pp. 17–35). Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, P. J., & Traugott, E. C. (2003). Grammaticalization. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R., & Audring, J. (2016). Morphological schemas. Theoretical and psycholinguistic issues. The Mental Lexicon, 11, 467–493. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kay, P., & Fillmore, C. J. (1999). Grammatical Constructions and Linguistic Generalizations: the What’s X Doing Y? Construction. Language, 75, 1–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaznelson, S. D. (1974). Sprachtypologie und Sprachdenken. Ins Deutsche übertragen und herausgegeben von H. Zikmund. München: Max Hueber.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lehmann, C. (1985). Grammaticalization: Synchronic Variation and Diachronic Change. Lingua e Stile, 20, 303–318.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Theory and method in grammaticalization. ZGL, 32, 152–187.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Thoughts on Grammaticalization. 3rd ed. Classics in Linguistics 1. Language Science Press [First edition 1982]. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leiss, E. (1992). Die Verbalkategorien des Deutschen: Ein Beitrag zur Theorie der sprachlichen Kategorisierung. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). Artikel und Aspekt. Die grammatischen Muster von Definitheit. Berlin, NY: de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Michaelis, L. A. (2004). Type shifting in construction grammar: An integrated approach to aspectual coercion. Cognitive Linguistics, 15, 1–67. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Michaelis, L., & Lambrecht, K. (1996). Toward a construction-based theory of language function: The case of nominal extraposition. Language, 72, 215–247. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nübling, D. (2000). Prinzipien der Irregularisierung: eine kontrastive Analyse von zehn Verben in zehn germanischen Sprachen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, H. (1920). Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radtke, P. (1998). Die Kategorien des deutschen Verbs. Zur Semantik grammatischer Kategorien. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saussure, F. de. (1983/1916). Cours de linguistique générale. Paris: Payot. [Engl. (1983): Course in General Linguistics. Translated by Roy Harris. Duckworth, London: Open Court, La Salle, III].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seiler, H. (1967). On paradigmatic and syntagmatic similiarity. Lingua, 18, 35–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sommerer, L. (2018). Article Emergence in Old English. A Constructionalist Perspective. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Towards a coherent account of grammatical constructionalization. In J. Barðdal, E. Smirnova, L. Sommerer, & S. Gildea (Eds.), Diachronic Construction Grammar (pp. 51–79). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, E. C., & Trousdale, G. (2013). Constructionalization and Constructional Changes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trousdale, G. (2014). On the relationship between grammaticalization and constructionalization. Folia Linguistica, 48, 557–578. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van de Velde, F. (2014). Degeneracy: The maintenance of constructional networks. In R. Boogaart, T. Colleman, & G. Rutten (Eds.), Extending the Scope of Construction Grammar (pp. 141–180). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wegener, H. (2016). Regeln versus Muster. Der Erwerb flektierter Formen in DaZ: der Plural deutscher Substantive. In A. Bittner, & C. Spieß (Eds.), Formen und Funktionen: Morphosemantik und grammatische Konstruktion (pp. 193–213). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Werner, O. (1994). Auch Paradigmen entstehen und vergehen. In K.-M. Köpcke (Ed.), Funktionale Untersuchungen zur deutschen Nominal- und Verbalmorphologie (pp. 5–28). Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (26)

Cited by 26 other publications

Gabriele, Diewald
2025. 13Femininmovierung und movierte „Neografien“: Überlegungen zu Oppositionstypen und Markiertheitswerten. In Die Movierung, ► pp. 13 ff. DOI logo
Kligge, Hendrik A., Ewa Dąbrowska & Thorsten Piske
2025. Individual differences in the constructicon: German noun phrase agreement. Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association 13:1 ► pp. 37 ff. DOI logo
Lehmann, Claudia
2025. Oh, multimodality where art thou?. Constructions and Frames DOI logo
Patrizzi, Laura
2025. The development of flexibility and abstraction in the acquisition of the German ditransitive construction. Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association 13:1 ► pp. 127 ff. DOI logo
Alba-Salas, Josep
2024. Rising datives: tomar ‘take’ expressions with nouns of ‘emotion’ and constructional network reconfiguration in Spanish. Folia Linguistica 58:s45-s1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Bouso, Tamara, Marianne Hundt & Laetitia Van Driessche
2024. A sisterhood of constructions? A structural priming approach to modelling links in the network of Objoid Constructions. Cognitive Linguistics 35:3 ► pp. 313 ff. DOI logo
Dietrich, Nadine
2024. The seamlessness of grammatical innovation: the case of be going to (revisited). Folia Linguistica 58:s45-s1 ► pp. 149 ff. DOI logo
Hilpert, Martin
2024. The road ahead for Construction Grammar. Constructions and Frames 16:2 ► pp. 255 ff. DOI logo
Politt, Katja
2024. Co(n)texts in Grammatical Paradigms. CogniTextes Volume 25 DOI logo
Setzke, Rafael Soto
2024. Linguistic paradigms as cognitive entities: A domain-general approach. Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association 12:1 ► pp. 73 ff. DOI logo
Ungerer, Tobias
2024. Vertical and horizontal links in constructional networks. Constructions and Frames 16:1 ► pp. 30 ff. DOI logo
Gildea, Spike & Jóhanna Barðdal
2023. From grammaticalization to Diachronic Construction Grammar. Studies in Language 47:4 ► pp. 743 ff. DOI logo
Hagel, Anna
2023. One man’s [ɕœtː] is another man’s [kʰøð̞]. In Constructional Approaches to Nordic Languages [Constructional Approaches to Language, 37], ► pp. 55 ff. DOI logo
Hagel, Anna
2025. Schemas all the way down?. In Constructions in Contact 3 [Constructional Approaches to Language, 40], ► pp. 291 ff. DOI logo
Kinn, Torodd
2023. The development of heterosemous inflection and derivation. Constructions and Frames 15:2 ► pp. 211 ff. DOI logo
Norde, Muriel & Graeme Trousdale
2023. Issues in Diachronic Construction Morphology. Constructions and Frames 15:2 ► pp. 145 ff. DOI logo
Norde, Muriel & Graeme Trousdale
2024. Creativity, paradigms and morphological constructions: evidence from Dutch pseudoparticiples. Linguistics DOI logo
Torres-Martínez, Sergio
2023. The semiotics of motion encoding in Early English: a cognitive semiotic analysis of phrasal verbs in Old and Middle English. Semiotica 2023:251 ► pp. 55 ff. DOI logo
Ungerer, Tobias & Stefan Hartmann
2023. Constructionist Approaches, DOI logo
Zhan, Hongwei, Sihong Huang & Lei Sun
2023. Paradigms as second-order schemas in English noun-participle compounding. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 21:2 ► pp. 542 ff. DOI logo
Audring, Jenny
2022. Advances in Morphological Theory: Construction Morphology and Relational Morphology. Annual Review of Linguistics 8:1 ► pp. 39 ff. DOI logo
Diewald, Gabriele & Dániel Czicza
2022. Variation and Grammaticalization of Verbal Constructions. Constructions and Frames 14:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Gaeta, Livio
2022. Dangerous liaisons. In Paradigms in Word Formation [Studies in Language Companion Series, 225], ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Diewald, Gabriele, Volodymyr Dekalo & Dániel Czicza
2021. Grammaticalization of verdienen into an auxiliary marker of deontic modality. In Modality and Diachronic Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language, 32], ► pp. 81 ff. DOI logo
Hilpert, Martin, Bert Cappelle & Ilse Depraetere
2021. Modality in Diachronic Construction Grammar. In Modality and Diachronic Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language, 32], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Diewald, Gabriele & Katja Politt
2020. Grammatical categories as paradigms in Construction Grammar. Belgian Journal of Linguistics 34 ► pp. 42 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue