Chapter published in:
Category Change from a Constructional PerspectiveEdited by Kristel Van Goethem, Muriel Norde, Evie Coussé and Gudrun Vanderbauwhede
[Constructional Approaches to Language 20] 2018
► pp. 179–206
Chapter 7The emergence of a new adverbial downtoner
Constructional change and constructionalization of Dutch [ver van X] and [verre van X] ‘far from X’
The English expression far from, denoting spatial or metaphorical distance, has developed into an adverbial downtoner (De Smet, 2012). In this corpus-based study, our first purpose is to analyze to which degree the Dutch counterparts of the English [far from X] construction, that is [ver van X] and [verre van X], have also developed into downtoners. We show that synchronically ver van mostly has a spatial or metaphorical meaning, while verre van is generally used as an adverbial downtoner. As a second objective, we explore the diachronic pathways taken by both constructions and argue that the category change undergone by [verre van X] is part of a true constructionalization process, while [ver van X] has been affected by minor constructional changes only.
Keywords: downtoner, degree adverb, Dutch, category change, constructional change, constructionalization
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Downtoners
- 3.[ver van X] and [verre van X] in present-day Dutch
- 3.1Method
- 3.2Semantics
- 3.3Complementation patterns
- 4.Diachronic developments
- 4.1Method
- 4.2[ver van X]
- 4.2.1Semantic changes
- 4.2.2Changes in the complementation types
- 4.3[verre van X]
- 4.3.1Semantic changes
- 4.3.2Changes in the complementation types
- 4.4Comparison [ver van X] and [verre van X]
- 5.Category change, constructional change and constructionalization
- 6.Conclusions
-
Acknowledgements -
Notes -
References -
Online sources
Published online: 22 March 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.20.07goe
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.20.07goe
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Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Brinton, Laurel J. & Tohru Inoue
Koutsoukos, Nikos, Kristel Van Goethem & Hendrik De Smet
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 31 march 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.