The reanalysis and grammaticalization of nominal constructions with "kind/sort of": chronology and paths of change

• Autores: Lieselotte Brems, Kristin Davidse
• Localización: A survey of corpus-based research / coord. por Pascual Cantos Gómez, Aquilino Sánchez Pérez, 2009, ISBN 978-84-692-2198-3, págs. 414-430
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Denison (2002) distinguishes three main NP constructions with type nouns such as sort/kind/type, viz. the binominal, postdeterminer and qualifier constructions. The latter two developed via grammaticalization from the binominal construction in which the lexically full type noun head is followed by a second noun designating a superordinate class. The chronology he posits for these grammaticalized uses sees the postdeterminer use as an early reanalysis of the binominal construction (c1390 for all kind of and c1550 for kind and sort of), whereas the qualifying use developed from the binominal construction c1580 for kind of and c1710 for sort of, via the mediation of the postdeterminer construction. However, the synchronic corpus study by Davidse, Brems and De Smedt (2008) distinguishes two additional NP constructions with type nouns, viz. quantifier and descriptive modifier, on the basis of syntactic, semantic and collocational features. In the present article we consider the diachronic import of these newly distinguished constructions and argue that they are key pivots in the developmental paths that have led from the head construction to constructions in which the type noun is not the head. By thus refining Denison's proposed chronology, we argue that new constructions emerge as the result of complex interlocking paths in which the quantifier and descriptive modifier constructions predated, and helped facilitate and entrench, the postdeterminer and qualifying constructions