Lieselotte Brems

Layering of Size and Type Noun Constructions in English

On the basis of synchronic and diachronic data analysis, the volume takes a close look at the synchronic layers of binominal size noun and type noun uses (a bunch/a load of X; a sort of X; a Y type of X) and reconsiders the framework of grammaticalization in view of issues raised by the phrases under discussion. As a result, a construction grammar-approach to grammaticalization is developed which does justice to the syntagmatic lexical, or collocational, reclustering observed in the data within an eclectic cognitive-functional approach.

The Grammaticalization of Small Size Nouns Reconsidering Frequency and Analogy

This article discusses the grammaticalized status of low-frequency small size nouns (henceforth SSNs), such as jot of, scrap of, and flicker of, which cannot have engaged in the spiral routinization processes with attrition, decategorialization, and grammatical reanalysis characteristic of “default” grammaticalization. The proposal to account for the grammatical status of low-frequency complex prepositions in terms of grammaticalization by analogy is partially rejected. Corpus studies on nine SSNs show that mere analogy with one highly schematic construction, a+SSN+of, as instantiated by frequent a bit of, cannot be the sole factor involved in the grammaticalization of infrequent SSNs. Instead, more complex analogies with different quantifier models are involved which incorporate polarity sensitivity, similar to some and any, and which seem to serve as distant models in these analogies. However, in contrast to some and any, which can be used generally in quantifying contexts, the infrequent SSNs are further characterized by specific collocational and pragmatic values, and their appearance seems restricted to particular discourse contexts. More generally, the present article supports the claim that grammaticalization as such directly works on and results in (at least partially) substantive constructions, rather than schematic ones. It furthermore makes a claim for caution in describing what serves as a source for analogical extension, both in terms of describing all of the factors that come into play and deciding on the specific level of schematicity at which these need to be described.

The grammaticalization of nominal type noun constructions with kind/sort of: chronology and paths of change

Denison distinguishes three main NP constructions with type nouns such as sort/kind/type of in Present-day English, namely the head, postdeterminer and qualifier constructions. The latter two developed from the binominal construction in which lexically full sort/kind/type is the head followed by a second noun designating a superordinate class. In the chronology he posits the postdeterminer construction as an early reanalysis of the binominal construction (c.1390 for all kind of and c.1550 for kind and sort of), whereas the qualifying constructions developed later from it (c.1580 for kind of and c.1710 for sort of), via the mediation of the postdeterminer construction. However, in recent synchronic corpus studies we have distinguished two additional NP constructions with type nouns, namely quantifier and descriptive modifier, on the basis of syntactic, semantic and collocational features. In the present article we consider the diachronic import of these newly distinguished constructions and argue that they are key pivots in the developmental paths that have led from the head construction to constructions in which the type noun is not the head. By thus refining Denisons proposed chronology, we argue that new constructions emerge as the result of complex interlocking paths in which the quantifier and descriptive modifier constructions pre-dated, and helped facilitate and entrench, the postdeterminer and qualifying constructions.

Size noun constructions as collocationally constrained constructions: lexical and grammaticalized uses

Basing myself on synchronic and diachronic data analysis, I argue in this article that size nouns (SNs) such as bunch/load(s)/heap(s) of within binominal NPs display synchronic variation which can be hypothesized to be the result of grammaticalization processes. Synchronically, I propose that SNs have two major non-head uses, a quantifier use, e.g. a bunch of people walked in , and a valuing(-quantifying) use, in which the referent is evaluated rather than quantified. The latter is restricted mainly to bunch/load of , e.g. What a bunch of gobbledygook . The semantic and syntactic reanalysis of SNs as quantifiers has recently been acknowledged (e.g. Traugott forthcoming), but the valuing use of SNs remains largely unrecognized (see Brems 2007). On a theoretical level, it will be argued that head, quantifier and valuing(-quantifier) SN-uses synchronically have to be studied as collocationally constrained constructions in that the semantico-syntactic parsing of each SN-use links up with specific collocational patterns (Sinclair 1991). Head uses are restricted to sets of (un)count concrete nouns, whereas quantifier uses team up with all sorts of (un)count concrete as well as abstract nouns. Valuing uses show restrictions to concrete animate and abstract nouns, which they typically evaluate negatively, and have negative semantic prosody patterns, in which the SNs themselves come to predict negative collocates (see Louw 1993; Stubbs 1995; Bublitz 1996). The grammaticalization of SNs will be hypothesized to involve not only processes of semantic generalization and collocational extension, but also collocational reclusterings characterized by particular semantic prosody constraints. The latter are not traditionally associated with processes of grammaticalization and hence offer new insights into the semantic changes that may accompany grammaticalization.

NP-internal functions and extended uses of the ‘type’ nouns kind, sort, and type: towards a comprehensive, corpus-based description

In this paper we investigate the various constructions containing one of the three main type nouns sort, kind and type. Basing ourselves on data from the COBUILD corpus and COLT corpus, we first present a subclassification of the main type noun constructions, which owes a lot to but also expands on Denison (2002) and Aijmer (2002). In comparison with the categories proposed in the current literature, we advocate finer distinctions mainly within the NP-internal uses of type nouns, by positing fundamental structural and semantic distinctions between head uses on the one hand and modifier uses (attributive and semi-suffix) and postdeterminer uses on the other. The subjectified qualifying uses and discourse marker uses of type nouns, by contrast, have been covered rather extensively in the literature. From the existing descriptions we retain the distinction between nominal, adverbial and sentential qualifiers, discourse markers and quotative markers. We then apply this descriptive framework to two British English data sets from opposing registers: written texts from the quality newspaper The Times (COBUILD subcorpus) and spontaneously spoken conversation between teenagers (COLT). The quantification of these analyses reveals strong asymmetries in the relative frequencies of the various type noun uses in the two data sets. While type nouns are used predominantly NP-internally in The Times, adverbial qualifiers and discourse markers predominate in the COLT-data.

Complex subordinators derived from noun complement clauses: grammaticalization and paradigmaticity

In this article, we investigate the development of complex subordinators from noun complement clauses in English, basing ourselves on the analysis of synchronic data from the COBUILD corpus. We first present a breadth study of complex subordinators originating in “in + NP + that/of-clause”-syntagms and show how these align themselves with oppositions within the causal, temporal and comparative subordinator paradigms. We then offer an in-depth study of the cluster of strings “in (the) hope(s) that/of”, arguing that the subordinators they yield enter as marked members into the subparadigm of purposive conjunctions, which they semantically enrich through lexical and structural persistence.

Pattern-learning and pattern-description: an integrated approach to proficiency and research for students of English

In this paper we discuss our approach to two areas of learning that have tended to be kept separate in the past, viz. proficiency and research-oriented descriptive heuristics. In proficiency courses the aim is for L2 students to acquire an advanced competence in English, while in research seminars students have to learn a methodology for language description. We will argue that these two aims can be integrated with each other by involving students throughout the curriculum in progressively more advanced forms of pattern discovery in English language corpora. We will illustrate this interaction between research and proficiency by means of the case study of ‘size nouns’. Brems (2003) showed through corpus-driven analysis that nouns such as bunch, load(s), pile(s), heap(s) have, besides literal uses as heads, also grammaticalized quantifier uses. This research informed the unit on size nouns in COLLEX, a corpus-based learning environment being developed by us, which aims at letting students acquire frequent and communicatively useful lexicogrammatical patterns. This case study of size nouns also illustrates the ongoing incorporation of results from research seminars in the higher years into the COLLEX proficiency resource offered to first year students.