How typology shapes the constructional network: Denominal verb constructions in English, Dutch and German

This study proposes a cross-linguistic, corpus-based, and constructionist analysis of denominal verbs (DNVs) in English, Dutch and German. DNV constructions include various morphological construction types, such as conversion (e.g. English bottle > to bottle), prefixation (e.g. Dutch arm ‘arm’ > omarmen ‘to embrace’) and suffixation (e.g. German Katapult ‘catapult’ > katapultieren ‘to catapult’). We investigate the correlation between the distribution of DNV constructions and the typological properties of the languages, focusing on boundary permeability, inflectional c... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Van Goethem, Kristel
Koutsoukos, Nikolaos
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
Verlag/Hrsg.: Peter Lang
Schlagwörter: denominal verbs / Construction Morphology / corpus analysis / comparative analysis / English / Dutch / German
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27063878
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/254314

This study proposes a cross-linguistic, corpus-based, and constructionist analysis of denominal verbs (DNVs) in English, Dutch and German. DNV constructions include various morphological construction types, such as conversion (e.g. English bottle > to bottle), prefixation (e.g. Dutch arm ‘arm’ > omarmen ‘to embrace’) and suffixation (e.g. German Katapult ‘catapult’ > katapultieren ‘to catapult’). We investigate the correlation between the distribution of DNV constructions and the typological properties of the languages, focusing on boundary permeability, inflectional complexity, syntactic configurationality and word-class assignment. The study shows that, although the three languages have the same repertoire of DNV constructions at their disposal, a Germanic cline can be detected in their preferences for non-overt vs overt marking of the word-class change. As such, the study highlights the impact of typological factors on the shape of language-specific constructional networks.