In:Imperative-Based Dialogic Constructions and Discourse Units
Vassiliki Geka
[Constructional Approaches to Language 39] 2025
► pp. ix–xii
Published online: 1 April 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.39.toc
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.39.toc
Table of contents
List of figuresXIII
List of tablesXV
List of abbreviationsXXI
Preface and acknowledgementsXXV
Chapter 1.Introduction and scope1
1.1Introduction and motivation1
1.2Aims and objectives3
1.3Scope and research springboard: Imperative and mental state verbs5
1.4A corpus-based approach: Data and methodology10
1.5Overview of the book11
Chapter 2.Theoretical perspectives on foundational concepts13
2.1Introduction13
2.2Mental state verbs as the common lexical point of departure13
The semantic class of mental state verbs13
Evidentiality and epistemicity as further parameters of polysemy17
Mental state verbs in the imperative21
Mental state verbs: An interim summary22
2.3Constructionist approaches to meaning and discourse22
Connecting the constructional dots22
Venturing into discourse-level phenomena27
Synchronic, co-temporal variation, and change29
2.4Dialogicity and perspectivisation in discourse31
Dialogicity and monologicity: From philosophy to linguistics31
The linguistic attestation of dialogicity33
2.5Discourse units: Approaching discourse structure in constructional terms36
Discourse units: Expandability, projectability, action-grounding, and clausal starting points36
Discourse units cast in constructional terms38
Chapter 3.Methodological challenges: Sampling and research design41
3.1Introduction41
3.2Lexicographic insights42
3.3Qualitative framework of analysis45
Corpora: Empirical validation and representativeness in focus45
Data annotation49
3.4Quantitative framework of analysis53
Data collection in phase 3: Non-probability targeted sampling53
Data collection in phase 4: Random sampling and representativeness estimates53
Statistical significance and non-parametric tests55
The internal reliability of the data57
Chapter 4.The believe-family constructions58
4.1The semantics of the verb ‘believe’58
4.2believe me59
‘Believe + me’ in its fully compositional semantics60
believe me with constructional semantics61
4.3believe you me65
4.4believe it or not71
4.5The believe-family, dialogicity, and discourse unit delimitation75
4.6The believe-family: Frequency counts, statistical significance, and reliability statistics78
Frequency counts78
believe me: The statistical significance of the data83
believe you me: The statistical significance of the data84
believe it or not: The statistical significance of the data85
The internal reliability of the data86
4.7Summary and concluding remarks87
Chapter 5.think again89
5.1The semantics of the constituent parts of think again89
The semantics of the verb ‘think’89
The semantics of the adverb ‘again’90
5.2think again92
‘Think + again’ in its fully compositional semantics92
think again: The constructional semantics97
5.3think again: Constructional inheritance and motivation102
5.4think again: Dialogicity and discourse unit delimitation107
5.5think again: Frequency counts, statistical significance, and reliability statistics111
Frequency counts111
The statistical significance of the data115
The internal reliability of the data116
5.6Summary and concluding remarks117
Chapter 6.mind you119
6.1mind you119
The semantics of the verb ‘mind’119
The morphological marking of mind you121
‘Mind you’ in different linguistic accounts122
6.2mind you: The constructional semantics128
6.3mind you: Dialogicity and discourse unit delimitation136
6.4mind you: Frequency counts, statistical significance, and reliability statistics139
Frequency counts139
The statistical significance of the data143
The internal reliability of the data144
6.5Summary and concluding remarks144
Chapter 7.The dialogic perspectivisation network and beyond145
7.1A comprehensive summary of findings and constructional properties145
7.2Perspectivisation and negotiatory gradience: Dialogicity in new light149
7.3Unpacking the network151
Chapter 8.Conclusion and future research prospects161
8.1Introduction161
8.2A summary of interdisciplinary contributions161
8.3Future research projects163
Expanding the spectrum163
Dialogic constructions: Discourse connectivity in focus164
8.4Closing remarks168
References169
Appendixes
Appendix I194
Appendix II.Chapter 4195
Appendix II.Chapter 5212
Appendix II.Chapter 6223
Name index
Subject index
