Constructionalization, constructional competition and constructional death Investigating the demise of Old English POSS DEM constructions

Sommerer L (2020)


Publication Language: English

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes

Publication year: 2020

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Edited Volumes: Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar

Series: Constructional Approaches to Language

Book Volume: 27

Pages Range: 69-103

ISBN: 9789027261298

DOI: 10.1075/cal.27.02som

Abstract

This paper revisits POSS DEM constructions in Old English (OE) by analyzing 13 OE prose texts from the York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Prose (YCOE). It aims to explain the marginalization and ultimate demise of this constructional family by discussing how the emergence of a new node (“constructionalization”) but also the reorganization of node-external, vertical and horizontal links can lead to constructional competition and ultimately to the disappearance of (a) node(s) in the network. It will especially discuss frequency effects and cognitive factors like strong/weak entrenchment or analogical thinking as driving forces of network change, especially constructional loss. Additionally, this paper makes some suggestions on how constructions should be annotated and sketched in networks.

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How to cite

APA:

Sommerer, L. (2020). Constructionalization, constructional competition and constructional death Investigating the demise of Old English POSS DEM constructions. In Lotte Sommerer & Elena Smirnova (Eds.), Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar. (pp. 69-103). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

MLA:

Sommerer, Lotte. "Constructionalization, constructional competition and constructional death Investigating the demise of Old English POSS DEM constructions." Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar. Ed. Lotte Sommerer & Elena Smirnova, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2020. 69-103.

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