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Article published In: Constructions and Frames
Vol. 17:1 (2025) ► pp.92–140

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Scaffolding the sentential Ultimate construction into a word

A link-based analysis

 | Tel Aviv University
 | Tel Aviv University
Published online: 8 April 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/cf.22028.bec
Abstract
In this paper, we propose a model that accounts for the change in the grammatical status of the members of the Hebrew Ultimate construction family, the only full sentences in Hebrew to undergo lexicalization, from extra-sentential elements to full-fledged words, specifically, flexible modifiers. We propose a specific type of contextual construction — the Anaphoric degree-adverb exclamative — and argue that it is this construction that enables both the grammatical change and the categorial flexibility of the newly evolved words by incorporating the members of the Ultimate construction family as subordinate clauses. Our analysis emphasizes the critical role of network links between the (various) constructions involved in this lexicalization process.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Some comments about terminology
    • 2.1‘Lexicalization’ vs ‘constructionalization’
    • 2.2‘Word’
    • 2.3‘Sentence’ and ‘clause’
  • 3.The proposed model
    • Stage I
    • Stage II
    • Stage III
    • Stage IV
  • 4.The corpora used
    • 4.1Historical Jewish Press corpus
    • 4.2Yedioth Ahronoth corpus
    • 4.3IsraBlog corpus
    • 4.4HeTenTen corpus
    • 4.5Corpus selection
  • 5.The data and analyses supporting the model
    • 5.1The position of the newly evolved idiomatic sentences with respect to the relevant context(s) (issue i)
    • 5.2Strategies to compensate for the loss of emotive force of intensifiers (issue ii)
    • 5.3The frequency of stage II Anaphoric degree-adverb exclamatives with respect to any other alternative of stage II (issue iii)
    • 5.4The timeline of Anaphoric degree-adverb exclamatives (IIa) and their counterparts lacking the anaphoric degree-adverb (III) (issue iv)
    • 5.5A further look at the claim about a strong association between the members of the Ultimate construction family and the Anaphoric degree-adverb exclamatives
      • 5.5.1Horizontal links and constructional competition
      • 5.5.2The allosentence competing with the Anaphoric degree-adverb exclamative hosting en milim
    • 5.6The flexibility of the newly evolved modifiers and the timeline of emergence of adjectives, adverbs and intensifiers
  • 6.Summary and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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