‘Don’t you ma’am me!’: A Construction-based Analysis of the Schema ‘don’t you V me’ Expressing Disapproval in English

José Antonio Sánchez Fajardo

doi:10.35360/njes.537

Abstract

The cognitive construction grammar (CCxG) approach can be used to examine the correlation between a constructional schema (CS) and an illocutionary force, in spoken discourse. This study aims to explore the construction [D(Y)[X]viM]j as in “Don’t you ma’am me” in the expression of disapproval or reprimand through the CxG-based examination of data obtained from three corpora: The Movie Corpus (TMC), The TV Corpus (TTVC) and the Corpus of American Soap Operas (CASO). Five constructional schemas (CS-0 to CS-4) have been identified, and they pertain to a network of constructions in which low-level CSs are more unambiguous and productive than high-level ones. Although constant elements of such constructions contribute to a more solid correlation of form and meaning, the variable (verb) undergoes a process of functional shift to guarantee the formulaic constituency of these constructions and the expression of disapproval in a given communicative situation. A distinctive feature of the converted verb is its connection (or anchoring) to the preceding move, which can be either semantic or morphological (or echoic), the latter being, on some occasions, detached from the original meaning of the verb.

Highlights

The notion of Speech Acts (Austin 1962; Searle 1970) and the macrofunctions of language (Halliday 1970) have allowed for a better understanding of how speakers or writers construe meaning upon the lexical choices available within specific communicative situations
Conclusion the study focuses on four constructions expressing diapproval, the findings may well have a bearing on the general implications of construction constituents, notably variables
A variable, either semantically anchored or morphologically anchored, is expected to be the headword or nexus between the reactive move and its prior initiative one. This binary approach in conversation analysis has confirmed that even though the variable is generally expected to fall into the ‘converted denominal’ category, it exists on a three-layer network: (i) the variable is a new denominal verb that evaluates the interlocutor’s comments or ideas; (ii) the variable is found in the initiative and the speaker uses it in the constructional schema (CS) to show disapproval, as a vocative; (iii) the variable is found in the initiative, and its use in the construction does not respond to a specific criterion, it frequently originates from the last words that make up the initiative

Summary

Introduction

The notion of Speech Acts (Austin 1962; Searle 1970) and the macrofunctions of language (Halliday 1970) have allowed for a better understanding of how speakers or writers construe meaning upon the lexical choices available within specific communicative situations. Central to the discipline of discourse analysis is the correlation between the concepts of idiomaticity and illocutionary force. Idiomatic expressions show that their constituents are not as semantically relevant as the unit they generate. These expressions are not decomposable, and their meaning is constructed upon discourse functions “since their surface meanings can be readily decoded” (Moon 1997: 47). Examples (1) and (2) illustrate how the semantics of ma’am and ethic indirectly. “‘Don’t you ma’am me!’: A Construction-based Analysis of the Schema ‘don’t you V me’ Expressing Disapproval in English.”.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion