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Article published In: Asymmetries, Mismatches and Construction Grammar
Edited by Nikos Koutsoukos, Kristel Van Goethem and Hendrik De Smet
[Constructions and Frames 10:2] 2018
► pp. 147–177

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Matches and mismatches in Swedish [gå och V] ‘go/walk and V’

An exemplar-based perspective

 | University of Gothenburg
 | University of Gothenburg
Published online: 21 January 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cf.00017.and
Abstract
This article studies the pseudo-coordination [gå ‘go/walk’ och ‘and’ V]. The construction has several meanings and it also has subordination counterparts in Modern Swedish, unlike most Swedish pseudo-coordinations. Our diachronic study shows that [gå och V] cannot readily be reduced to the verbs in isolation and that synchronic lexicocentric perspectives based on syntactic (re)configurations cannot capture the constructional meaning such as the assumed inference of ‘surprise’ or ’unexpectedness’. We argue that a detailed analysis of the historical development makes the picture clearer.
In the development of [gå och V], item-based analogy continuously facilitates new verbs in the V slot. At a certain stage, there is a mismatch between the agentivity of the construction and the non-agentivity of events denoted by the second verb. This mismatch is resolved by the override principle that forces non-agentive verbs to be interpreted agentively and promote a more abstract and lexicalized version of the construction. The exemplar-based view to constructions proposed by Bybee (Bybee, J. (2010). Language, usage, and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Bybee, J. (2013). Usage-based theory and exemplar representations for constructions. In T. Hoffmann & G. Trousdale (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of construction grammar (pp. 49–69). Oxford. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) seems favorable, since frequent exemplars of [gå och V] allow for redundant or marginal features to serve as the model for novel expansions of the construction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Pseudo-coordination and previous studies of [gå och V]
    • 2.2Constructional approaches to grammatical change: The role of mismatch and item-based analogy
    • 2.3The exemplar model and change in constructions
  • 3.Method(s) and data
  • 4.The development of [gå och V]
    • 4.1[Gå och V] in Old Swedish
      • 4.1.1The variation between [gå och V] ‘go/walk and V’ and [gå att v] ‘go/walk to v.inf’
    • 4.2[Gå och V] in Early Modern Swedish
    • 4.3[Gå och V] in late Modern Swedish
    • 4.4Summary and the role of mismatch in the development of [gå och V]
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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