Chapter 14
French type-noun constructions based on
genre
From the creation of ad hoc categories to ad hoc
categorization
Colloquial French genre is highly
polysemous with a variety of functions such as comparison,
approximation and the fully pragmaticalized functions as a mitigator,
a quotative marker, an exemplifier, a marker of narrative progression,
explanation and focussing. So far, the focus has been on the various
discourse functions, however, several studies also point out possible
paths of pragmaticalization. The aim of this paper is to analyse in
greater detail the construction at the root of all these functions,
i.e. “X of the same type as Y”, a construction originally used for
construing ad hoc categories. This rather learned construction became
established in the 19th century for French and transformed into a
backgrounded instruction for sloppy categorization and the other
derived colloquial functions listed above.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Well-established categories and linguistic labels
- 3.Ad hoc categories
- 4.Taxonomies and taxonomic nouns
- 4.1The implicit and explicit reference to subkinds: Taxonomic readings
- 4.2Preposed and postposed taxonomic nouns and the conflation of
type and instance readings
- 4.2.1Conflation of type and instance readings: Taxonomic nouns supporting adjectival
modification
- 4.2.2Conflation of type and instance readings: Postdeterminer uses
- 4.2.3From subkind specification to approximative ad hoc
categorization
- 5.Constructions with genre building ad hoc
categories
- 5.1Ce genre de choses and related anaphoric
constructions
- 5.2‘X of the same type as Y’ creating ad hoc categories
- 6.From ad hoc category to sloppy categorization: 20th and 21st century genre
- 6.1From ad hoc category to ad hoc categorization
- 6.2From comparison marker to approximation
- 6.3From comparison marker to exemplification marker to connecting
uses
- 6.4A tentative semantic map for the pragmatic marker genre
- 7.Conclusion
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
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