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Project

The role of discourse in grammaticalization.

This project aims to reassess the role of discourse in grammaticalization processes and builds on the results of my PhD-research. The point of departure are the following conclusions drawn in my PhD: (1) binominal quantifiers in Spanish (e.g. un montón de gente a lot of people) engage in a process of grammaticalization (GR); (2) a constructional network model can capture their development as well as the synchronic co-existence of older and newer readings; (3) binominal quantifiers and expressive binominal constructions (e.g. una maravilla de professor a wonder of a professor essentially evoke coextensiveness between both nominal elements. My research proposal addresses the following questions: What is the actual role of the discourse-component in GR and how can this factor be operationalized in constructional terms? Are the claims concerning the constructional network model and the binominal coextensive construction cross-linguistically valid? The project, which for now envisages the synchronic data analysis of the binominal quantifier construction in Spanish and Dutch, will provide a good basis for an ulterior three-year investigation that will include other languages (English and French in particular) and incorporate the diachronic dimension.
Date:1 Oct 2012 →  30 Sep 2013
Keywords:Constructional network model Comparative, Spanish/Dutch, Binominal quantifier construction, Co-extensiveness, Grammaticalization, Discourse
Disciplines:Theory and methodology of literary studies