Cover not available

In:Usage-Based Approaches to Language Change
Edited by Evie Coussé and Ferdinand von Mengden
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 69] 2014
► pp. 203–242

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

Constructional change, paradigmatic structure and the orientation of usage processes

Published online: 10 July 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.69.08hel
This article presents a model analysis of the interplay between structure and usage in the semantic change of constructions, with a focus on the role of content structure in the sense of paradigmatically organised semantic structure. The case at hand is the development of the Danish indirect object construction from the 18th century to the present, a specialisation process parallel to the one described for English by Colleman & De Clerck (2011), though not identical to it. The semantics of constructions is described in terms of linguistic content, as distinct from conceptual structure, and the linguistic content of constructions is organised to a great extent in paradigmatic oppositions, similar to those found in classical morphology (Nørgård-Sørensen, Heltoft & Schøsler 2011). This organisation principle implies that the semantic description must uncover the boundaries of the construction’s content, a strategy different from a description in terms of prototypicality, but compatible with it.The identification of changes in the paradigmatic organisation of constructions is a precondition for identifying and interpreting the changes we observe in usage. In a concluding example, the reanalyses of the verbs bebrejde ‘reproach’ and gifte sig ‘marry’ are compared, and two kinds of usage processes (actualisation processes) are identified: (1) actualisation processes that are a consequence of structural change in the sense of reanalysis, and (2) processes of redistribution which, in the present case, move verb stems from one already existing construction type to another. Thus, structural descriptions allow us to orient and interpret usage processes.
References (52)
Sources:
ADL = Arkiv for dansk litteratur [Archive of Danish Literature]. [URL]
DDO = Den Danske Ordbog 1-6 [The Danish Dictionary]. Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab. Copenhagen: Gyldendal. 2000-2006.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
GL = Gammeldansk læsebog . Eds. Nelly Uldaler & Gerd Wellejus. København 1968.
Korpus.dk. [URL]
Legend of St. Christina. Text from GL.
ODS = Ordbog over det danske Sprog 1-28. [Dictionary of the Danish Language. 1918–1955.
References
Andersen, H. (1973). Abductive and deductive change. Language 49, 4, 765–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1980). Morphological change: towards a typology. In J. Fisiak (Ed.), Historical Morphology (pp. 1–50). The Hague, Paris, New York: Mouton Publishers. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001a). Markedness and the theory of linguistic change. In H. Andersen (Ed.), Actualization. Linguistic change in progress (pp. 21–57). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001b). Actualization and the (uni)directionality of change. In H. Andersen (Ed.), Actualization. Linguistic change in progress (pp. 225–248). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2006a). Synchrony, Diachrony, and Evolution. In O. Nedergaard Thomsen (Ed.), Competing Models of Linguistic Change. Evolution and beyond (pp. 59–90). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2008). Grammaticalization in a speaker-oriented theory of change. In Th. Eythórsson (Ed.), Grammatical Change and Linguistic Theory. The Rosendal papers (pp. 11–44). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, J., Perkins. R. & Pagliuca, W. (1994). The Evolution of Grammar . Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World . Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, J.L. (2010). Language, usage, and cognition . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colleman, T. (2011). Ditransitive Verbs and the Ditransitive Construction: A diachronic perspective. Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 59, 387–410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colleman, T. & de Clerck, B. (2011). Constructional semantics on the move: On semantic specialization in the English double object construction. Cognitive Linguistics 22, 183–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, W. (2001). Radical Construction Grammar . Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective . Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Faarlund, J.T., Lie, S. & Vannebo, K.I. (1997). Norsk Referansegrammatikk . Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fabricius-Hansen, C. (1975). Transformative, intransitive und kursive Verben . Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fried, M. & Östman, J.-O. (Eds.). (2004). Construction Grammar in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective . Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2004). Construction Grammar: A Thumbnail sketch. In M. Fried & J.-O. Östman (Eds.) (pp. 11–86).
Goldberg, A. (1995). A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1998). Patterns of experience in patterns of language. In M. Tomasello (Ed.) (pp. 203–220).
Hakulinen, A., Vilkuna, M., Korhonen, R., Koivisto, V., Heinonen, T.R. & Alho, I. (2004). Iso Suomen Kielioppi . Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hansen, E. & Heltoft, L. (2011). Grammatik over det Danske Sprog 1-3. [Grammar of the Danish Language]. Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab. Odense: University of Southern Denmark Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harder, P. (1996a). Functional semantics: a theory of meaning, structure and tense in English . Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1996b). Linguistic structure in a functional grammar. In E. Engberg-Pedersen, M. Fortescue, P. Harder, L. Heltoft & L. Falster Jakobsen (Eds.), Content, Expression, and Structure: Studies in Danish Functional Grammar (pp. 423–452). Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. (2002). Understanding Morphology . London: Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2006). Against markedness (and what to replace it with). Journal of Linguistics 42, 25–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heltoft, L. (1996). Paradigms, Word Order and Grammaticalization. In E. Engberg-Pedersen, M. Fortescue, P. Harder, L. Heltoft & L. Falster Jakobsen (Eds.), Content, Expression, and Structure: Studies in Danish Functional Grammar (pp. 469–494). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2010). Paradigmatic structure in a usage-based theory of grammaticalisation. In K. Boye & E. Engberg-Pedersen (Eds.), Language usage and language structure (pp. 145–166). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heltoft, L., Nørgård-Sørensen, J. & Schøsler, L. (2005). Grammatikalisering og struktur. In L. Heltoft, J. Nørgård-Sørensen & L. Schøsler (Eds.), Grammatikalisering og struktur (pp. 9–30). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hjelmslev, L. (1935–37). La catégorie des cas 1-2 . Copenhagen: Munksgaard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1943). Omkring Sprogteoriens Grundlæggelse . Københavns Universitets Festskrift november 1943. Copenhagen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (19592 [1939]). Notes sur les oppositions supprimables. In Essais linguistiques. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague , vol. XII, 84–88.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, P.J. (1998). Emergent Grammar. In M. Tomasello (Ed.) (pp. 155–176).
Høysgaard, J.P. (1752). Methodisk Forsøg til en fuldstændig dansk Syntax [Methodical Essay at a Complete Danish Grammar] Copenhagen. (=H. Bertelsen (Ed.), Danske Grammatikere V. Det danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab [1919–1920]).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kay, P. (2005). Argument structure constructions and the argument-adjunct distinction. In M. Fried & H.C. Boas (Eds.), Grammatical Constructions: Back to the Roots (Constructional Approaches to Language 4) (pp. 71–98). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kittilä, S. (2005). Recipient-prominence vs. beneficiary-prominence. Linguistic Typology 9, 269–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mikkelsen, K. (1911). Dansk Ordföjningslære . Copenhagen: Lehmann og Stages Forlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nørgård-Sørensen, J., Heltoft, L. & Schøsler, L. (2011). Connecting Grammaticalisation . Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Romppanen, B. et al. (1997). Suuri Suomi-Ruotsi-Sanakirja 1-2 . Porvoo-Helsinki-Juva: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
SAG = Teleman, U. et al.
Taylor, J.R. (1989). Linguistic Categorization. Prototypes in Linguistic Theory . Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1998. Syntactic Constructions as Prototype Categories. In M. Tomasello (Ed.) (pp. 177–202).
Teleman, U. Hellberg, S. & Andersson, E. (1999). Svenska Akademiens Grammatik 1-4. Stockholm: Nordstedts.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Timberlake, A. (1977). Reanalysis and actualization in syntactic change. In C.N. Li (Ed.), Mechanisms of Syntactic Change (pp. 141–180). Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. (Ed.). (1998). The New Psychology of Language. Cognitive and Functional Approaches to Language Structure . Mahwah N.J. and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A. (1988). The Semantics of Grammar . Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (7)

Cited by seven other publications

GÜZEL, Hasan
2023. DİL İLİŞKİLERİNDE KULLANIM TEMELLİ YAKLAŞIM. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi (HÜTAD) :38/Özel Sayı ► pp. 97 ff. DOI logo
Nielsen, Peter Juul & Lars Heltoft
2023. Indexicality across the boundaries of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. In Ditransitives in Germanic Languages [Studies in Germanic Linguistics, 7], ► pp. 150 ff. DOI logo
Zehentner, Eva, Melanie Röthlisberger & Timothy Colleman
2023. Ditransitive constructions in Germanic languages. In Ditransitives in Germanic Languages [Studies in Germanic Linguistics, 7], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Nielsen, Peter Juul
2022. The affactivefå‘get’ construction in Danish. Constructions and Frames 14:1 ► pp. 78 ff. DOI logo
Kragh, Kirsten Jeppesen & Lene Schøsler
2014. Reanalysis and gramma(ticaliza)tion of constructions. In Usage-Based Approaches to Language Change [Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 69], ► pp. 169 ff. DOI logo
KRAGH, KIRSTEN JEPPESEN & LENE SCHØSLER
2015. Regrammation and paradigmatization: Diachronic analysis of a number of progressive periphrases in French. Journal of French Language Studies 25:2 ► pp. 265 ff. DOI logo
Nørgård-Sørensen, Jens
2014. Filling empty distinctions of expression with content. In Usage-Based Approaches to Language Change [Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 69], ► pp. 243 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 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