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Part of
Constructional Approaches to Nordic Languages
Edited by Evie Coussé, Steffen Höder, Benjamin Lyngfelt and Julia Prentice
[Constructional Approaches to Language 37] 2023
► pp. 114–144

Chapter 5
Meaning integration in pseudocoordination

| University of Bergen

Pseudocoordination in Scandinavian languages looks like VP coordination but has a number of characteristics which have led some researchers to regard it as not representing coordination. Research on pseudocoordination has often focused on grammaticalization of the first verb. But most researchers have concluded that very few such verbs actually exhibit any notable degree of grammaticalization. This indicates that grammaticalization is secondary, and it and calls for an improved understanding of non-grammaticalized pseudocoordination – in itself and as a precursor to grammaticalization. This article argues that pseudocoordination represents VP coordination with additional semantic integration: facilitation and backgrounding.

Keywords: backgrounding, coordination, facilitation, grammaticalization, Norwegian, pseudocoordination, single event, verb phrase
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1PC characteristics
    • 2.2PC subschemas and the paradigm of V1s
    • 2.3Most V1s are fully lexical
  • 3.PC is VP coordination
    • 3.1The constructional analysis of coordination
    • 3.2Explaining C1 and C2: The coordinands in PC are VPs
    • 3.3One step up: The VP coordination construction
  • 4.Meaning integration in PC
    • 4.1Comparison with serial verb constructions
    • 4.2Facilitation is at the core of PC
    • 4.3Explaining C3 concerning coordinators and focus adverbs
    • 4.4Explaining C4: Fixed coordinand order
    • 4.5Explaining C5 concerning negation and other sentence adverbials
    • 4.6Explaining C6: Identical verb inflections
    • 4.7Explaining C7: Backgrounding and filler–gap asymmetry
    • 4.8Desemanticization and grammaticalization rest on backgrounding
  • 5.Concluding discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.37.05kin
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