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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. 145–178

Chapter 6
Construction grammar in domain-specific discourse

A contrastive analysis of existential constructions in Swedish, Norwegian and Dutch weather reports

| Université de Bourgogne/HHU Düsseldorf
| Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3
| Leibniz Universität Hannover

Within various frameworks interested in domain-specific language, like language for specific purposes (LSP) research and discourse linguistics, the insights provided by CxG-theory have led to the question of whether constructions can have domain-specific manifestations. Even though many linguists would, intuitively, answer this question positively, little empirical research can be found to back up this hypothesis, which is especially true for Scandinavian linguistics. To this aim, we conducted a contrastive (Swedish – Norwegian – Dutch) corpus-based analysis of existential constructions (e.g., Eng., there are some books on the table) within the specialized domain of weather reports. The analysis sets out to uncover (a) what their contextual-constructional features are, (b) how these can be linked to the domain and (c) whether these features appear across different languages.

Keywords: contrastive linguistics, corpus-based linguistics, domain-specific discourse, existential constructions, LSP-research, weather reports
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Constructions and domain-specific language
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1existential constructions
    • 3.2Corpus
    • 3.3Data analysis
  • 4.Text-linguistic and lexicological analysis
    • 4.1Swedish
      • 4.1.1Dominating speech act
      • 4.1.2Main topic
      • 4.1.3Information structure
      • 4.1.4Stylistic and formulative prototypical features
    • 4.2Norwegian
      • 4.2.1Dominating speech act
      • 4.2.2Main topic
      • 4.2.3Information structure
      • 4.2.4Stylistic and formulative prototypical features
    • 4.3Dutch
      • 4.3.1Dominating speech act
      • 4.3.2Main topic
      • 4.3.3Information structure
      • 4.3.4Stylistic and formulative prototypical features
    • 4.4Overview
  • 5.Constructional analysis
    • 5.1Swedish
      • 5.1.1Frequency
      • 5.1.2Formal features
      • 5.1.3Argument structure
    • 5.2Norwegian
      • 5.2.1Frequency
      • 5.2.2Formal features
      • 5.2.3Argument structure
    • 5.3Dutch
      • 5.3.1Frequency
      • 5.3.2Formal features
      • 5.3.3Argument structure
    • 5.4Comparison
  • 6.Summary
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.37.06lie
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