How the particular and the general interact in language change: The role of prefabs in grammaticization

Bybee, Joan L.; Torres Cacoullos, Rena

doi:10.1075/tsl.82.09the

In:Formulaic Language: Volume 1. Distribution and historical change
Edited by Roberta Corrigan, Edith A. Moravcsik, Hamid Ouali and Kathleen Wheatley
[Typological Studies in Language 82] 2009
► pp. 187–218

Get fulltext from our e-platform

Download Book PDF

The role of prefabs in grammaticization

How the particular and the general interact in language change

Joan L. Bybee | University of New Mexico

Rena Torres Cacoullos | University of New Mexico

Published online: 20 May 2009

https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.82.09the

Studies of grammaticization often reveal skewed distributions of lexical items in grammaticizing constructions, suggesting the presence of prefabs using these constructions. We examine here the role of prefabs in the grammaticization of can in English and the progressive estar ‘be (located)’ + V-ndo (Gerund) in Spanish. The data suggest that prefabs play a role in advancing formal and semantic change. We argue that (1) prefabs are ahead of the general construction in unit-hood status in early stages and thus demote the independent lexical status of the emerging grams, and (2) in their association with semantic classes of which they are the most frequent member, prefabs promote the productivity of the general construction. The evidence shows that prefabs maintain associations with the related general construction.

Cited by (72)

Cited by 72 other publications

Order by:

Leclercq, Benoît & Graeme Trousdale

2025. Investigating diachronic shifts within a domain of English modality: a study of collocates with well. English Language and Linguistics ► pp. 1 ff.

Shadrova, Anna

2025. No three productions alike: Lexical variability, situated dynamics, and path dependence in task-based corpora. Open Linguistics 11:1

Bybee, Joan & Carol Lynn Moder

2024. Interaction and conventionalized expressions create the contexts for bleaching and constructional expansion: the case of GRAB. Folia Linguistica 58:2 ► pp. 473 ff.

Delgado-Díaz, Gibran J.

2024. The imperfect progressive in Puerto Rican Spanish: a case of language contact or grammaticalization?. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2024:286 ► pp. 137 ff.

Granvik, Anton & Ester Fernández Incógnito

2024. Evaluating the importance of construal for choosing between alternating forms: the case of Spanish change-of-state verbs hacerse and volverse . Linguistics Vanguard 10:s1 ► pp. 75 ff.

Beckner, Clay

2023. Multiword Units and the Detection of Statistical Patterns in French. In The Handbook of Usage‐Based Linguistics, ► pp. 325 ff.

GAHL, SUSANNE

2023. Usage‐Based Approaches to Communication Disorders. In The Handbook of Usage‐Based Linguistics, ► pp. 393 ff.

Artigas, Esther & Mar Garachana

2022. Origin and development of Spanish verbal periphrases haber + (nexus) + infinitive . In From Verbal Periphrases to Complex Predicates [IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature, 31], ► pp. 131 ff.

Contreras Kallens, Pablo & Morten H. Christiansen

2022. Models of Language and Multiword Expressions. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence 5

Hou, Lynn

2022. LOOKing for multi-word expressions in American Sign Language. Cognitive Linguistics 33:2 ► pp. 291 ff.

Pichler, Heike

2021. Grammaticalization and language contact in a discourse-pragmatic change in progress: The spread ofinnitin London English. Language in Society 50:5 ► pp. 723 ff.

Shadrova, Anna, Pia Linscheid, Julia Lukassek, Anke Lüdeling & Sarah Schneider

2021. A Challenge for Contrastive L1/L2 Corpus Studies: Large Inter- and Intra-Individual Variation Across Morphological, but Not Global Syntactic Categories in Task-Based Corpus Data of a Homogeneous L1 German Group. Frontiers in Psychology 12

Buerki, Andreas

2020. Formulaic Language and Linguistic Change,

Comer, Marie

2020. ¿Perífrasis cuasisinónimas? Una regresión logística aplicada a las incoativas expresadas con ponerse y meterse. ELUA :34 ► pp. 9 ff.

Fanego, Teresa

2020. On the History of the English Progressive Construction Jane came whistling down the street. Journal of English Linguistics 48:4 ► pp. 319 ff.

Fanego, Teresa

2023. Tomorrow I’ll go (a) shopping: on the history of the Expeditionary Go construction and its relation to the absentive. Folia Linguistica 57:s44-s1 ► pp. 1 ff.

Fanego, Teresa

2024. “Don’t go getting into trouble again!”. Journal of Historical Pragmatics 25:1 ► pp. 33 ff.

Schwenter, Scott A. & Mark Hoff

2020. Cross-dialectal productivity of the Spanish subjunctive in nominal clause complements. In Variation and Evolution [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 29], ► pp. 11 ff.

Gonzálvez-García, Francisco

2019. Exploring the pedagogical potential of vertical and horizontal relations in the constructicon:The case of the family of subjective-transitive constructions withdecirin Spanish. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 57:1 ► pp. 121 ff.

Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.

2018. Areal diffusion and the limits of grammaticalization. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 337 ff.

Ansaldo, Umberto, Walter Bisang & Pui Yiu Szeto

2018. Grammaticalization in isolating languages and the notion of complexity. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 219 ff.

Arkadiev, Peter & Timur Maisak

2018. Grammaticalization in the North Caucasian languages. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 116 ff.

Coupe, Alexander R.

2018. Grammaticalization processes in the languages of South Asia. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 189 ff.

Coussé, Evie

2018. Grammaticalization, host-class expansion and category change. In Category change from a constructional perspective [Constructional Approaches to Language, 20], ► pp. 93 ff.

Dahl, Östen

2018. Grammaticalization in the languages of Europe. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 79 ff.

Enghels, Renata & Marie Comer

2018. Evaluating grammaticalization and constructional accounts. In Grammaticalization Meets Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language, 21], ► pp. 107 ff.

Enghels, Renata & Marie Comer

2020. Causative and inchoative constructions with poner and meter (‘to put’) in Spanish. In Changes in meaning and function [IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature, 25], ► pp. 21 ff.

Esseesy, Mohssen

2018. Typological features of grammaticalization in Semitic. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 35 ff.

Haig, Geoffrey

2018. Grammaticalization and inflectionalization in Iranian. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 57 ff.

Haspelmath, Martin

2018. Revisiting the anasynthetic spiral. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 97 ff.

Heine, Bernd

2018. Grammaticalization in Africa. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 16 ff.

Johanson, Lars & Éva Á. Csató

2018. Grammaticalization in Turkic. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 146 ff.

Klamer, Marian

2018. Typology and grammaticalization in the Papuan languages of Timor, Alor, and Pantar. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 235 ff.

McWhorter, John H.

2018. Is grammaticalization in creoles different?. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 394 ff.

Mithun, Marianne

2018. Shaping typology through grammaticalization: North America. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 309 ff.

Moyse-Faurie, Claire

2018. Grammaticalization in Oceanic languages. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 282 ff.

Mushin, Ilana

2018. Grammaticalization and typology in Australian Aboriginal languages. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 263 ff.

Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine

2018. Introduction. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 1 ff.

Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine

2018. Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective,

Narrog, Heiko, Seongha Rhee & John Whitman

2018. Grammaticalization in Japanese and Korean. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 166 ff.

Smith, Hiram L.

2018. Addressing questions of grammaticalization in creoles. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 372 ff.

Smith, Hiram L.

2019. Has nigga Been Reappropriated as a Term of Endearment?. American Speech 94:4 ► pp. 420 ff.

Wilson, Damián Vergara

2018. Gradient conventionalization of the Spanish expression of ‘becoming’ quedar(se) + ADJ in seven centuries. In Functionalist and usage-based approaches to the study of language [Studies in Language Companion Series, 192], ► pp. 175 ff.

Zariquiey, Roberto

2018. Diachronic stories of body-part nouns in some language families of South America. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. 350 ff.

Blanco-Suárez, Zeltia & Mario Serrano-Losada

2017. The rise and development of parentheticalneedless to say. Journal of Historical Linguistics 7:1-2 ► pp. 134 ff.

Ponsford, Dan

2017. From manipulation to social interaction. Constructions and Frames 9:1 ► pp. 41 ff.

Satyanath, Shobha

2017. Editorial. Asia-Pacific Language Variation 3:2 ► pp. 123 ff.

Bauman, Joseph

2016. From possession to obligation via shifting distributions and particular constructions. Diachronica 33:3 ► pp. 297 ff.

Garachana Camarero, Mar

2016. Verbos de movimiento y perífrasis verbales en español medieval: "uviar (a)" + infinitivo. Revista de Historia de la Lengua Española :11 ► pp. 59 ff.

Garachana Camarero, Mar

2022. Unexpected grammaticalizations. In From Verbal Periphrases to Complex Predicates [IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature, 31], ► pp. 171 ff.

Palacios Martínez, Ignacio M.

2016. He don’t like football, does he? A corpus-based study of third person singular don’t in the language of British teenagers. In World Englishes [Varieties of English Around the World, G57], ► pp. 61 ff.

Rivas, Javier

2016. Verb–object compounds with Spanishdar‘give’: an emergentgustar‘like’-type construction. <i>WORD</i> 62:1 ► pp. 1 ff.

Neels, Jakob

2015. The history of the quasi-auxiliaryuse(d)to. Journal of Historical Linguistics 5:2 ► pp. 177 ff.

Nikiforidou, Kiki

2015. Grammatical constructions and cross-text generalizations. Constructions and Frames 7:2 ► pp. 181 ff.

Smirnova, Elena

2015. Constructionalization and constructional change. In Diachronic Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language, 18], ► pp. 81 ff.

Mollin, Sandra

2013. Pathways of Change in the Diachronic Development of Binomial Reversibility in Late Modern American English. Journal of English Linguistics 41:2 ► pp. 168 ff.

Reuterskiöld, Christina & Diana Van Lancker Sidtis

2013. Retention of idioms following one-time exposure. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 29:2 ► pp. 219 ff.

Brown, Esther L. & Javier Rivas

2012. Grammatical relation probability: How usage patterns shape analogy. Language Variation and Change 24:3 ► pp. 317 ff.

Travis, Catherine E. & Rena Torres Cacoullos

2012. Discourse Syntax. In The Handbook of Hispanic Linguistics, ► pp. 653 ff.

Wray, Alison

2012. What Do We (Think We) Know About Formulaic Language? An Evaluation of the Current State of Play. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 32 ► pp. 231 ff.

Cacoullos, Rena Torres

2011. Variation and Grammaticalization. In The Handbook of Hispanic Sociolinguistics, ► pp. 148 ff.

Garachana Camarero, Mar & Malte Rosemeyer

2011. Rutinas léxicas en el cambio gramatical. El caso de las perífrasis deónticas e iterativas. Revista de Historia de la Lengua Española :6 ► pp. 35 ff.

PICHLER, HEIKE & STEPHEN LEVEY

2011. In search of grammaticalization in synchronic dialect data: general extenders in northeast England. English Language and Linguistics 15:3 ► pp. 441 ff.

Bolly, Catherine

2009. Constructionalisation et structure informationnelle. Quand la grammaticalisation ne suffit pas pour expliquer tu vois. Linx :61 ► pp. 103 ff.

Bolly, Catherine

2010. Flou phraséologique, quasi-grammaticalisation et pseudo marqueurs de discours : un no man’s land entre syntaxe et discours ?. Linx :62-63 ► pp. 11 ff.

[no author supplied]

2014. The (Ir)reversibility of English Binomials [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 64],

[no author supplied]

2014. Auxiliary Selection in Spanish [Studies in Language Companion Series, 155],

[no author supplied]

2018. Copyright Page. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. iv ff.

[no author supplied]

2018. Preface. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. viii ff.

[no author supplied]

2018. Series preface. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. vii ff.

[no author supplied]

2018. List of abbreviations. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. ix ff.

[no author supplied]

2021. References. In Foundations of Familiar Language, ► pp. 386 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 november 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.