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Lost in Change: Causes and processes in the loss of grammatical elements and constructions
Edited by Svenja Kranich and Tine Breban
[Studies in Language Companion Series 218] 2021
► pp. 51–74

So-adj-a construction as a case of obsolescence in progress

| University of Gdańsk

The main focus of this study is the so-adj-a construction seen as an instantiation of grammatical obsolescence in progress. Starting at where Klégr’s (2010) synchronic study of the construction’s local grammar and syntactic functions leaves it, the present work provides a diachronic account of changes in the frequency of use in the last two centuries; their implications; and an overview of possible causes that had led to the situation in which the construction became considerably rare in Present Day English. Methodologically, the paper features quantitative and statistical analyses of corpus data. The work uses the framework for the investigation of grammatical obsolescence designed in the author’s doctoral thesis (Rudnicka 2019). Additionally, the present chapter suggests extravagance as a cognitive motivation behind the emergence of the so-adj-a construction.

Keywords: grammatical obsolescence, so-adj-a construction, big mess construction, syntactic loss, extravagance
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2. So-adj-a construction – an example of the Big Mess Construction
    • 2.1Noun phrases with so-adj predeterminers – their characteristics
  • 3.Diachronic account
    • 3.1The construction’s origin: A handy stylistic device from the very beginning?
    • 3.2Frequency of use
      • 3.2.1Methodology
      • 3.2.2Results and discussion
  • 4.Grammatical obsolescence
    • 4.1 Negative correlation between time and the frequency of use
    • 4.2Distributional fragmentation
      • 4.2.1Methodology
      • 4.2.2Results and discussion
    • 4.3Paradigmatic atrophy
    • 4.4Competition on the constructional level
      • 4.4.1That-adj-a construction
      • 4.4.2Competition with the that-adj-a construction: An explanation
      • 4.4.3Such-a-adj construction
    • 4.5Larger changes
    • 4.6Summary of the results
  • 5.Conclusions and outlook
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Language corpora
  • Software
  • References
Published online: 16 June 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.218.02rud
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