Article published in:
Computational Construction Grammar and Constructional Change
Edited by Katrien Beuls and Remi van Trijp
[Belgian Journal of Linguistics 30] 2016
► pp. 55–90

Tracking shifts in the literal versus the intensifying fake reflexive resultative construction

The development of intensifying dood ‘dead’ in 19th–20th Century Dutch

| Ghent University | FWO-Flanders
| Ghent University
This paper explores diachronic shifts in the literal and intensifying uses of dood ‘dead’ in the Dutch fake reflexive resultative construction. Without sufficient context, a clause like Hij werkte zich dood (lit. ‘He worked himself dead’) is ambiguous in that it is unclear whether dood expresses an actual result of the activity denoted by the verb or whether it intensifies that verbal activity. We will investigate shifts in the (relative) type and token frequencies of both subtypes over the last two centuries and show that the intensifying use has become predominant. Particular attention is paid to the notion of productivity, which may help us to elucidate the possible pathways along which dood – in its function as an intensifier – is moving. By taking into account the variety of verbs that dood has occurred with since the early 19th Century, we aim to assess whether the dramatic increase in relative frequency of intensifying dood is paralleled by a concomitant extension of its collocational range or, conversely, whether this increase in frequency is mainly due to the rise of some highly frequent collocations.
Published online: 10 January 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.30.04gys
Sources

Sources

Delpher The online database of digitized Dutch newspapers from 1618–1995. Available at www​.delpher​.nl​/kranten
SoNaR = 500 million word Dutch reference corpus; see http://​opensonar​.inl​.nl and Oostdijk et al. (2013)
Van Dale = Boon, Ton den, and Dirk Geeraerts 2005 Van Dale: Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal: 3 Dl. (14e dr.). Utrecht: Van Dale Lexicografie.Google Scholar
WNT Online version of Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal , made available at http://​wnt​.inl​.nl by the Institute for Dutch Lexicology. Most recent version: 10th December 2015

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