From complementizing to modifying status: On the grammaticalization of the complement-taking-predicate-clauses chances are and odds are

Abstract

This article explores the process of grammaticalization undergone by complementation constructions with the shell nouns chances and odds, namely (the) chances/(the) odds + BE + clause, where the subordinate clause functions as a complement to the noun (e.g. The chances are that you will never behold the light of another sun/The odds are that you are out of your reckoning). Structures of this type, which convey the epistemic meaning of probability, develop over time into parenthetical structures (e.g. You never will need it, the chances are./The way he always has and, odds are, always will). The grammaticalization of the construction involves a number of morphosyntactic changes, among them the gradual loss of the determiner in the shell NP and the preference for the zero complementizer introducing the subordinate clause, as well as the tendency for the verb BE to occur in its present tense form. This process of grammaticalization culminates with the availability of complement-taking-predicate-clauses (CTP-clauses) with chances and odds in unambiguous parenthetical positions (medially and finally) and as stand-alone units. Both the matrices in the complementation structures and the parentheticals are shown to be non-propositional and to be deployed for pragmatic functions both at the subjective and at the intersubjective level. The study is based on data from American English, as represented in the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA).