Words are constructions, too: A construction-based approach to English ablaut reduplication

In this article we present a new approach to words of the type , , etc. in English. Such words form a formal (phonological) and functional (semantic) pattern in English. We argue that this pattern should be analysed in a construction-based approach, which has clear advantages over other approaches,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Linguistics 2020-11, Vol.58 (6), p.1701-1735
Main Authors: van de Weijer, Jeroen, Wei, Weiyun, Wang, Yumeng, Ren, Guangyuan, Ran, Yunyun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ablaut
constructions
English
English language
Linguistic productivity
Morphological complexity
morphology
productivity
Reduplication
Semantics
Syntactic structures
Syntax
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Summary:In this article we present a new approach to words of the type , , etc. in English. Such words form a formal (phonological) and functional (semantic) pattern in English. We argue that this pattern should be analysed in a construction-based approach, which has clear advantages over other approaches, e.g. analyses involving extragrammaticality or a synchronically productive reduplication process. We propose to extend the construction-based approach beyond its original scope (syntactic constructions) to words that may even no longer be morphologically complex. Finally, we make a tentative suggestion about how the difference between productive and unproductive patterns could be captured in the construction-based approach.
ISSN:0024-3949
1613-396X
DOI:10.1515/ling-2020-0169