Cover not available

Article In: Comparing Constructions in Romance and Germanic Languages
Edited by Carmen Mellado Blanco and Pedro Ivorra Ordines
[Languages in Contrast 26:2] 2026
► pp. 214–240

Reduplicative constructions and snowclones

A corpus-based analysis of [once a N1 always a N1] in English and German

ORCiD logo with link | Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
ORCiD logo with link | Universitat de València, Spain
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This article presents a contrastive corpus-based analysis of the English construction [once a N1, always a N1] and its German counterpart [einmal N1, immer N1]. Drawing on Cognitive Construction Grammar, it argues that both patterns can be analyzed both as reduplicative constructional idioms and as snowclones. The study is based on data from the enTenTen18 and deTenTen23 corpora available through Sketch Engine. Its main aims are to assess the productivity of the two constructions and to compare their syntagmatic profiles.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Constructional idioms and their meaning
    • 2.2Reduplicative constructions in Construction Grammar
    • 2.3Snowclones and formal extravagance: The interplay between reduplication and repetition
  • 3.Corpora and methodology
  • 4.Qualitative analysis
    • 4.1The construction [once a N1, always a N1]
      • 4.1.1Previous research
      • 4.1.2Analysis of the construction
    • 4.2The construction [einmal N1, immer N1]
      • 4.2.1Previous studies
      • 4.2.2Analysis of the construction
  • 5.Contrastive Analysis
    • 5.1Different discourse functions of the construction
    • 5.2Productivity
    • 5.3Semantic clusters and semantic coherence
    • 5.4Productivity cline
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
References (63)
References
Audring J., & Boij G. (2016). Cooperation and Coertion, Linguistics, 54 (4), 617–637. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chlosta, G., & Stanković-Arnold, S. (1993). Das Sprichwort in der überregionalen Tagespresse. Eine systematische Analyse zum Vorkommen von Sprichwortern in den Tageszeitungen “Die Welt”, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” und “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Wirkendes Wort, Deutsche Sprache und Literatur in Forschung, 431, 671–696.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baayen, R. H. (2009). Corpus linguistics in morphology: Morphological productivity. In A. Lüdeling, & M. Kytö (Eds.), Corpus linguistics (pp. 899–919). De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baayen, H., & Lieber, R. (1991). Productivity and English derivation: a corpus-based study. Linguistics, 29(5), 801–844. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barðdal, J. (2008). Productivity: Evidence from Case and Argument Structure in Icelandic. In Medical Entomology and Zoology. [URL].
Barotto, A. & Mattiola, S. (2020). Reduplicazione e ripetizione in tipologia: due strategie separate o espressione dello stesso fenomeno?, CLUB, 41, 47–66.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, J. (2006). From usage to grammar: the mind’s response to repetition. Language, 82(4), 711–733. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Usage, Language and Cognition. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C. (2013). Cognitive Construction Grammar. In Oxford University Press eBooks. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Booij, G. (2002). Constructional idioms, morphology, and the Dutch lexicon. Journal of Germanic Linguistics, 14(4), 301–329. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Construction Morphology. Language and Linguistics Compass, 4(7), 543–555. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Börne, L. (1832). Briefe aus Paris. Bd. 2. Hamburg, p. 199. In Deutsches Textarchiv 〈[URL]〉, [last seen 25.11.2025].
De Smet, H. (2020). What predicts productivity? Theory meets individuals. Cognitive Linguistics, 31(2), 251–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Esteban-Fonollosa, M. (2023). El inútil de su hijo. Análisis de la construcción [DET{det/demost}ADJ de PRON{pos}N] y sus equivalencias en alemán, Lingüística, 571, 299–3011. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Estor, J. G. (1757). Bürgerliche rechtsgelehrsamkeit der Teutschen. Bd. 11. Marburg, p. 35. In Deutsches Textarchiv 〈[URL]〉, [last seen 25.11.2025].
Fahnestock, J., & Harris, R. A. (2022). The Routledge Handbook of Language and Persuasion. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J., Kay, P., & O’Connor, M. C. (1988). Regularity and idiomaticity in grammatical constructions: the case of let alone. Language, 64(3), 501–538. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Freywald, U., & Finkbeiner, R. (2018). Exact repetition or total reduplication? Exploring their boundaries in discourse and grammar. In R. Finkbeiner, & U. Freywald (Ed.), Exact Repetition in Grammar and Discourse (pp. 3–28). De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gil, D. (2005). From repetition to reduplication in Riau Indonesian. In Hurch, B. (Ed.), Studies on Reduplication, 31–64. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. E. (2004). Pragmatics and argument structure. In Laurence, R. H., and L. Ward G. (Eds.), The handbook of pragmatics, Blackwell, 427–441.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Constructions at Work: The nature of Generalization in language. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). Explain me this: creativity, competition, and the partial productivity of constructions. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, V., & Birdsong, D. (2024). Binomials in English and French: ablaut, rhyme and syllable structure. Linguistics, 62(4), 849–888. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gries, S. (2008). Phraseology and linguistic theory: A brief survey. In Granger, S. & Meunier, F. (Eds.), Phraseology. An interdisciplinary perspective, John Benjamin Publishing Company, 3–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gülich, Elisabeth. (1978): “Was sein muß, muß sein.” Überlegungen zum Gemeinplatz und seiner Verwendung. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld, Fakultät für Linguistik und Litera-turwissenschaft [= Bielefelder Papiere zur Linguistik 7], 343–363.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, R. A. (2020). Ploke. Metaphor & Symbol 35, 01: 23–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hartmann, S., & Ungerer, T. (2023). Attack of the snowclones: A corpus-based analysis of extravagant formulaic patterns. Journal of Linguistics, 60(3), 599–634. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2025). Chaos theory, shmaos theory: Creativity and routine in English shm-reduplication. In S. Arndt-Lappe & N. Filatkina (Eds.), Dynamics at the lexicon-syntax interface: Creativity and routine in word-formation and multi-word expressions (pp. 295–322). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. (1999). Why is grammaticalization irreversible? Linguistics, 37(6). 1043–1068. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoffmann, T. (2015). Cognitive Sociolinguistic aspects of football chants: The role of social and physical context in usage-based construction grammar. Zeitschrift Für Anglistik Und Amerikanistik, 63(3), 273–294. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ivorra Ordines (in press), Productivity and creativity of constructions. In Wen, X. & Sinha, C. (Eds.) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Cognitive Linguistics, Cambridge University Press.
Ivorra Ordines, P., & Mellado Blanco, C. (2025). Semi-schematic patterns and their social dimension on the proverb Dime con quién andas y te diré quien eres in Spanish and German, In Arndt-Lappe, S. & Filatkina, N. (Eds) Dynamics at the Lexicon-Syntax Interface. , 323–352.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary (OED): [URL] [last seen 29.11.2025]
Kišiček, G. (2022). Sonic Rhetoric: The Persuasive Power of Spoken Language. In J. Fahnestock & H. A. Randy. 2022. The Routledge Handbook of Language and Persuasion, New York: Routledge, 131–146. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koch, P. & Oesterreicher, W. (1985). Sprache der Nähe — Sprache der Distanz. Mündlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit im Spannungsfeld von Sprachtheorie und Sprachgeschichte. Romanistisches Jahrbuch, 361, 15–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Konstantinova, A. (2015). 13 Proverbs in Mass Media. In H. Hrisztova-Gotthardt, & M. Aleksa Varga (Eds.), Introduction to Paremiology (pp. 276–293). De Gruyter Open Poland. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Langacker, R. (1987). Foundations of Cognitive Grammar: Volume I Descriptive Application. Redwood City: Stanford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
López Meirama, B., & Mellado Blanco, C. (2018). Las construcciones [de X a Y] y [de X a X] realizaciones idiomáticas y no tan idiomáticas, Actas do XIII Congreso de Lingüística Xeral, Vigo, 576–583.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masini, F., & Di Donato, J. (2023). Non-prototypicality by (discontinuous) reduplication: the N-non-N construction in Italian. Zeitschrift Für Wortbildung / Journal of Word Formation, 7(1). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mattes, V. (2014). Types of Reduplication: A Case Study of Bikol. De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mellado Blanco, C. (2025). No solo de fútbol vive el hombre. In C. Cuéllar (Ed.) Estudios de literatura y lengua alemana desde una perspectiva intercultural (12). 13–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(in press). Constructional idioms, In X. Wen, C. Sinha (Eds.) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Cognitive Linguistics, Cambridge University Press.
Mellado Blanco, C., & Ivorra Ordines, P. (2023). Casi palmo de la risa. A corpus-based study of a Spanish constructional idiom with the causal preposition de, Constructions, 15 (1), 1–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(in press). Phraseology and Construction Grammar. In Wen, X. & Sinha, C. (Eds.) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Cognitive Linguistics, Cambridge University Press.
Mieder, W. (2004). „Andere Zeiten, andere Lehren" Sprach- und kulturgeschichtliche Betrachtungen zum Sprichwort. In K. Steyer (Ed.), Wortverbindungen — mehr oder weniger fest, 415–438. De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moon, R. (1998). Fixed Expressions and Idioms in English: A Corpus-based Approach, Oxford. University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perek, F. (2016). Using distributional semantics to study syntactic productivity in diachrony: A case study, Linguistics, 54 (1), pp. 149–188. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pisciotta, F. (2026). Beyond competition: dynamics of constructional interaction between HALFNESS evaluative constructions in Italian. Folia Linguistica, 1–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pullum, G. K. (2004). Snowclones: Lexicographical dating to the second. [Blog post]. [URL], [last seen 25.11.2025].
Rasulič, K. (2010). Long time, no buzz: fixed expressions as constructional frames. Cognitextes, 51(Volume 51). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richardson, S. (1749). Clarissa. Bd. 41. Göttingen, p. 319. In Deutsches Textarchiv 〈[URL]〉, [last seen 25.11.2025].
Sommerer, L. (2023). If that’s what she said, then that’s what she said: a usage-based, constructional analysis of pleonastic conditionals in English. Corpus Pragmatics, 7(4), 345–376. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stolz, T., & Levkovych, N. (2018). Function vs form — On ways of telling repetition and reduplication apart. In R. Finkbeiner & U. Freywald (Ed.), Exact Repetition in Grammar and Discourse. De Gruyter Mouton. (pp. 29–66). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, J. R. (2012). The mental corpus. In Oxford University Press eBooks. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ungerer T., & Hartmann, S. (2024). Contrastive is the new black: A cross-linguistic study of a ‘snowclone’ in English, German, and Spanish. Quaderns De Filologia — Estudis Lingüístics, 291, 217–235. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van den Heede, M., & Lauwers, P. (2023). Syntactic productivity under the microscope: the lexical and semantic openness of Dutch minimizing constructions. Folia Linguistica, 57(3), pp. 723–761. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wander, K. F. W. (eds.) (1867). Deutsches Sprichwörter-Lexikon. Bd. 11. Leipzig, p. [258]. In: Deutsches Textarchiv 〈[URL]〉, [last seen 25.11.2025].
(Eds.). (1870). Deutsches Sprichwörter-Lexikon. Bd. 2. 5 Bände. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1867–1870. Leipzig.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(Eds.). (1880). Deutsches Sprichwörter-Lexikon. Bd. 51. Leipzig, p. [518]. In: Deutsches Textarchiv 〈[URL]〉, [last seen 25.11.2025].
Wilson, D., & Sperber, D. (2002). Truthfulness and relevance. Mind, 111(443), 583–632. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zeldes, A. (2013). Productive Argument Selection: Is Lexical Semantics Enough? Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 9(2), 263–291. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zeschel, A. (2012). Incipient Productivity: A Construction-Based Approach to Linguistic Creativity. De Guyter Mouton Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zwicky, A. (2005). [ONCE A SNOWCLONE, ALWAYS A SNOWCLONE] [URL]
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue