Lieven Vandelanotte

Subjectification, Intersubjectification and Grammaticalization

The book examines the relation between (inter-)subjectification and grammaticalization. As such, its aims are to clearly delineate the domain of (inter-)subjectivity - the encoding of speaker and hearer-orientation - in the language system, and to elaborate a grammar-based definition of the diachronic counterparts subjectification and intersubjectification. At the descriptive level, it seeks to test these hypotheses in three areas of grammaticalization research: adverbials, modals and the NP.

Speech and thought representation in English: A cognitive-functional approach

The author argues for a new, linguistically grounded typology of speech and thought representation in English from a cognitive-linguistic perspective. Apart from direct and indirect speech/thought, the types described include the character-oriented free indirect and the narrator-oriented distancing indirect type, and two subjectified types in which reporting clauses such as I think function as hedges.

Dependency, framing, scope? The syntagmatic structure of sentences of speech or thought representation

Abstract In this paper*, I consider several ways in which the syntagmatic structure of sentences of speech or thought representation has been modelled. I reject the traditional constituency view according to which reported clauses of indirect and even of direct speech or thought are direct objects of the reporting verb. From Hallidays (1985/1994) and McGregors (1997) concepts of projection and framing, respectively, I take the idea that it is the entire reporting clause rather than merely the reporting verb which enters into a relation with the reported clause. At the same time, I do not fully adopt either of their analyses, but propose rather to make a distinction between representational and subjectified forms of speech or thought representation, the former involving an asymmetrical relationship of conceptual dependence between the two component clauses in the sense of Langacker (1987: Ch. 8), the latter having a subjectified reporting clause functioning as an interpersonal, ‘scopal operator in the sense of McGregor (1997: Ch. 6).

Recent Advances in Corpus Linguistics

This book is a selection of studies presented at the 33rd International Conference of the International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English (ICAME), hosted by the University of Leuven (30 May - 3 June 2012). The strictly refereed and extensively revised contributions collected here represent recent advances in corpus linguistics, both in the development of specialist corpora and in ways of exploiting them for specific purposes. The first part focuses on “Corpus development and corpus interrogation” and features papers on the compilation of new, highly specialized corpora which aim to fill gaps in historical databases, and on new ways of extracting relevant patterns automatically from computerized datasets. The second part, devoted to “Specialist corpora”, presents detailed descriptive studies on grammatical patterns in World Englishes, on neology, and – using a contrastive approach – on prepositions and cohesive conjunctions. The third and final part on “Second language acquisition” groups together studies situated at the intersection of corpus linguistics and educational linguistics and dealing with markers of relevance and lesser relevance in lectures, deceptive cognates, the automatic annotation of native and non-native uses of demonstrative this and that, and measuring learners’ progress in speech and in writing. Each contribution in its own way reports on novel ways of getting mileage out of specialist corpora, and collectively the contributions attest to the rude health of computerized corpus linguistic studies.

Restrictive and non-restrictive modification of proprial lemmas

Abstract The notion of rigid designation has become a widely accepted, if not unproblematic one in connection with the function of proper names. In this paper, some less “rigid” uses of proper names will be looked at. Proprial lemmas—that is to say, words that function prototypically as proper names—may sometimes function as common nouns rather than as proper names, for instance in There are two Johns in my class. On the other hand, proprial lemmas may also receive some amount of modification without acquiring the “categorizing” function of common nouns, but rather retaining the rigid, unique designation associated with proper names, as in An angry Blair left the meeting yesterday. The aim of the present paper is twofold: (i) to offer a workable terminological and conceptual framework to deal with these different constructional schemata involving proprial lemmas; and (ii) to propose a tentative classification of both “restrictive” and “non-restrictive” modification of proprial lemmas into distinct subtypes. In the end, it is hoped, these endeavours may shed a new light on the nature and potential of proper names and proprial lemmas.

Internet memes as multimodal constructions

Abstract This paper considers a range of so-called image macro Internet memes and describes them as emerging multimodal constructions relying as much on image as on text, and apportioning roles to images much like constructional slots, for instance to fill in a subject role in a subjectless clause, or even to provide the main clause content to a textually given when-clause. In addition to existing or partially altered linguistic constructions, many examples also rely on specific top text/bottom text division of labor, and crucially depend on frame metonymy, with limited formal means quickly cueing richly detailed frames (for instance by using iconic images). The popularity of memes, forming series and cycles of iterations and remixes, and their role in establishing and maintaining discourse communities seems to be driven by a need to express and reconstrue viewpoints, often starting from ideas, affects or stereotypes assumed to be intersubjectively shared with viewers, whose responses they solicit. This paper argues that a proper description of Internet memes of the type considered requires a construction grammar approach, complemented by an understanding of viewpoint dynamics in terms of a Discourse Viewpoint Space regulating the network of spaces and viewpoints.

Viewpoint phenomena in multimodal communication

Abstract In this introduction to the special issue on viewpoint phenomena in multimodal communication, we highlight central questions concerning the nature of multimodality and of conceptual viewpoint, which the issue as a whole expands and clarifies. We argue that multimodality needs to be rethought as a varied but cohesive phenomenon, and we briefly illustrate both embodied multimodal interaction (in an example from stand-up comedy) and the meaning emergence in artifacts relying on both text and image (in an example of a poster with an environmental message). Correspondingly, the category of multimodal constructions already recognized for embodied interactions should be expanded to cover conventionalized image/text combinations. Finally, we stress that viewpoint is the pivotal concept that elucidates how communicators use the various modalities for cohesive communicative purposes across the wide range of artifacts and multimodal forms discussed in the special issue, including gesture in political speeches, viewpoint in comics, grammatical forms in Internet memes, ASL, stance expressions, eye gaze, and embodied responses to objects and architectural artifacts.