Lauren Fonteyn
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190917579
- eISBN:
- 9780190917609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190917579.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, English Language
This chapter discusses the literature dealing with the formal and functional features of the major grammatical categories noun and verb, focusing on the so-called “mixed” or “hybrid” structures known ...
More
This chapter discusses the literature dealing with the formal and functional features of the major grammatical categories noun and verb, focusing on the so-called “mixed” or “hybrid” structures known as deverbal nominalizations. It is argued that, to understand the peculiarities of these much-discussed constructions and, more generally, to investigate whether abstract linguistic concepts such as “noun” and “verb” are—as suggested in functionalist and cognitive linguistics—to a certain extent “iconic,” we should adopt an approach that devotes attention to structural as well as functional-semantic properties. The discussion will lead to the presentation of a theoretical model of functional-semantic nominality and verbality/clausality, which will serve as the core for further investigation of the functional-semantic organization of the English gerundive system.Less
This chapter discusses the literature dealing with the formal and functional features of the major grammatical categories noun and verb, focusing on the so-called “mixed” or “hybrid” structures known as deverbal nominalizations. It is argued that, to understand the peculiarities of these much-discussed constructions and, more generally, to investigate whether abstract linguistic concepts such as “noun” and “verb” are—as suggested in functionalist and cognitive linguistics—to a certain extent “iconic,” we should adopt an approach that devotes attention to structural as well as functional-semantic properties. The discussion will lead to the presentation of a theoretical model of functional-semantic nominality and verbality/clausality, which will serve as the core for further investigation of the functional-semantic organization of the English gerundive system.
Lauren Fonteyn
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190917579
- eISBN:
- 9780190917609
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190917579.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, English Language
This study presents the first elaborate attempt to set out a functional-semantic definition of diachronic transcategorial shift between the major classes “noun”/“nominal” and “verb”/“clause.” In ...
More
This study presents the first elaborate attempt to set out a functional-semantic definition of diachronic transcategorial shift between the major classes “noun”/“nominal” and “verb”/“clause.” In English, speakers have different options to refer to an event by using “deverbal nominalization” strategies (e.g., Him guessing her size/His guessing of her size (was incredibly lucky)). Interestingly, not only do these strategies each resemble “prototypical” nominals to varying extents, it also has been observed that some of these strategies increasingly resemble clauses and decreasingly resemble prototypical nominals over time, as if they are gradually shifting categories. Thus far, the literature on such cases of diachronic categorial shift has mainly described the processes by focusing on form, leaving the reader with a clear picture of what and how changes have occurred. Yet, the question of why these formal changes have occurred is still shrouded in mystery. This study tackles this mystery by showing that the diachronic processes of nominalization and verbalization can also involve functional-semantic changes. The aim of this study is both theoretical and descriptive. The theoretical aim is to present a model that allows one to study diachronic nominalization and verbalization as not just formal or morpho-syntactic but also functional-semantic processes. The descriptive aim is to offer “workable” definitions of the abstract functional-semantic properties of nominals and verbs/clauses, and subsequently apply them to one of the most intriguing deverbal nominalization systems in the history of English: the English gerund.Less
This study presents the first elaborate attempt to set out a functional-semantic definition of diachronic transcategorial shift between the major classes “noun”/“nominal” and “verb”/“clause.” In English, speakers have different options to refer to an event by using “deverbal nominalization” strategies (e.g., Him guessing her size/His guessing of her size (was incredibly lucky)). Interestingly, not only do these strategies each resemble “prototypical” nominals to varying extents, it also has been observed that some of these strategies increasingly resemble clauses and decreasingly resemble prototypical nominals over time, as if they are gradually shifting categories. Thus far, the literature on such cases of diachronic categorial shift has mainly described the processes by focusing on form, leaving the reader with a clear picture of what and how changes have occurred. Yet, the question of why these formal changes have occurred is still shrouded in mystery. This study tackles this mystery by showing that the diachronic processes of nominalization and verbalization can also involve functional-semantic changes. The aim of this study is both theoretical and descriptive. The theoretical aim is to present a model that allows one to study diachronic nominalization and verbalization as not just formal or morpho-syntactic but also functional-semantic processes. The descriptive aim is to offer “workable” definitions of the abstract functional-semantic properties of nominals and verbs/clauses, and subsequently apply them to one of the most intriguing deverbal nominalization systems in the history of English: the English gerund.
Lauren Fonteyn
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190917579
- eISBN:
- 9780190917609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190917579.003.0008
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, English Language
The concluding chapter synthesizes the results of the preceding analyses. It highlights that the most important functional-semantic categorial shift that has taken place within the English gerundive ...
More
The concluding chapter synthesizes the results of the preceding analyses. It highlights that the most important functional-semantic categorial shift that has taken place within the English gerundive system did not affect the morphosyntactically verbalizing component; instead, it affected the “original” nominal gerund, which started to functionally assimilate to more prototypical members of the nominal class. It is explained that in earlier stages, the English gerund exhibited functional hybridity, using an exclusively nominal form to realize more nominal as well as more clausal functions; but with the rise of the verbalized gerund, this functional hybridity started to be gradually sorted out. What emerges from the discussions of the case studies is that adopting a model of functional-semantic categoriality allows one to tackle the remaining lacunae in understanding this history of the English gerund, and perhaps, in the not-so-distant future, of “categoriality in language change” more generally.Less
The concluding chapter synthesizes the results of the preceding analyses. It highlights that the most important functional-semantic categorial shift that has taken place within the English gerundive system did not affect the morphosyntactically verbalizing component; instead, it affected the “original” nominal gerund, which started to functionally assimilate to more prototypical members of the nominal class. It is explained that in earlier stages, the English gerund exhibited functional hybridity, using an exclusively nominal form to realize more nominal as well as more clausal functions; but with the rise of the verbalized gerund, this functional hybridity started to be gradually sorted out. What emerges from the discussions of the case studies is that adopting a model of functional-semantic categoriality allows one to tackle the remaining lacunae in understanding this history of the English gerund, and perhaps, in the not-so-distant future, of “categoriality in language change” more generally.
