Distinctive Collexeme Analysis Research Articles

GO (a)round and V vs. GO (a)round Ving

Abstract Distinctive collexeme analysis has proven very useful in identifying distinctive patterns of lexemic attraction among multiple constructions. However, if construction grammar is to take seriously the usage-based tenet that context is a crucial component of the language system, multivariate methods are required. In this article, one such analytical approach is proposed as we apply an extension of distinctive collexeme analysis — named multivariate collexeme analysis — in an analysis of the GO (a)round and V and GO (a)round Ving constructions. Based on the data-mining technique known as association rules, multivariate collexeme analysis can identify not just singular distinctive features but also establish entire ‘collo-profiles’ of multiple features going far beyond individual collexemes. Our analysis takes into account no less than eight features (including collexemic, colligational, pragmatic, and discursive ones), and it is found that this approach offers much more informative accounts of the two constructions than a traditional distinctive collexeme analysis would.

Speaking-AC vs. AC-speaking in Polish: A distinctive collexeme analysis

Speaking-AC vs. AC-speaking in Polish: A distinctive collexeme analysis

The similative-pretence alternating pair and filler-slot relations

Abstract The present paper investigates the similative-pretence alternating pair in Mexican Spanish (como/igual que and como si constructions) based on the analysis of 1362 instances from The Corpus del Español NOW (News on the Web) corpus. We apply a revised version of distinctive collexeme analysis to our concordance data to explore the variety of different verbs that can occur in the first slot of similative and pretence constructions. Specifically, we use (i) a new measure that distinguishes the attraction that a verb lemma exerts on a construction from the attraction that a construction exerts on a verb lemma and (ii) bootstrapping on the level of files to, for the first time, provide proper confidence intervals in the context of collostructional studies. The from-verb lemma-to-construction analysis shows that there is a significant attraction of epistemic lemmas (e.g., parecer ‘to seem’) to occur in como ‘like’, and of mistaken identity lemmas (e.g., actuar ‘to act’) to appear in como si ‘as if’ constructions. The from-construction-to-verb lemma analysis, on the other hand, demonstrates that igual que ‘like’ significantly attracts epistemic perception verbs (e.g., ver ‘to look’), and como si ‘as if’ constructions significantly attract the verb lemma sentir ‘to feel.’

Constructional Profiling and Distinctive Collexeme Analysis of Chinese Abstract Noun Synonyms ‘banfa’, ‘fangfa’, and ‘fangshi’

Constructional Profiling and Distinctive Collexeme Analysis of Chinese Abstract Noun Synonyms ‘banfa’, ‘fangfa’, and ‘fangshi’

Expressing smells in (American) English

Abstract The paper reports on a study of the usage of smell verbs over the last 200 years by speakers of American English. The focus is on how the expression of smell changes over time and what this reveals about the way speakers conceptualize and assess smells. The study is based on usage data from the COHA (Corpus of Historical American English). They were quantitatively analysed employing the methods of simple and (multiple) distinctive collexeme analysis. The results of our investigations indicate both a general increase over time in the usage of smell-verb constructions and a noticeable diversification of the smell vocabulary used by American English speakers. Moreover, the results of the collexeme analyses reveal more detailed aspects of the types of smell descriptors people use in smell talk. Reflecting what kinds of smell emitters are most typically and especially closely associated with the individual smell-verb constructions at particular times, they are informative about the sources of smells that are salient enough in our culture and (well-)known enough in the speech community to be used as functional smell descriptors and how these may change over time.

Transfer five ways: applications of multiple distinctive collexeme analysis to the dative alternation in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract The dative alternation has been extensively studied in the world’s languages, and the meanings of the verbs participating in the alternation have been shown to play a key role in determining its argument realization options. The present paper presents a multiple distinctive collexeme analysis approach to the dative alternation in Mandarin Chinese, which involves a choice of one of five functionally similar alternants, and it does so by also discussing several ways to improve how this has been done statistically in most previous analyses. Linguistically, we identify the core semantic differences of the five constructions based on which verbs statistically prefer to occur in which pattern, focusing on semantic potential and direction of transfer. Methodologically, this study contributes to the slowly growing body of studies that use collexeme strengths that are not only less related to frequency than the traditional methods (i.e., association is measured in a less diluted way) and that are directional (i.e., we can focus on one direction of association from the verb to the construction).

Well, maybe you shouldn’t go around shaving poodles: collostructional semantic and discursive prosody in the go (a)round Ving and go (a)round and V constructions

Abstract This article presents a corpus-based study of the go (a)round Ving- and go (a)round and V-constructions in American English. More specifically, it addresses the possibility of the constructions serving as pragmatic markers of stance through the collocational phenomenon of semantic prosody. It is argued that the notions of internal and external constructional properties from the early days of construction grammar as well as the corpus-linguistic idea of association patterns would be beneficial to usage-based construction grammatical descriptions of phenomena such as semantic prosody. Drawing on a 248,145,425-word portion of the Corpus of Contemporary American English, both simple collexeme analysis and distinctive collexeme analysis are applied to generate output that feeds into semantic-prosodic analysis. Moreover, standard distinctive collexeme analysis and multiple distinctive collexeme analysis are applied at the level of semantic prosodies in the collexemic fields (i.e., distinctive semantic-prosodic analysis), at the level of verbal category colligations (i.e., distinctive colligational analysis), and at the level of speech act functions of usage-events of the two constructions (i.e., distinctive speech act analysis) as a type of trial balloon. The purpose is to expand semantic-prosodic analysis from focusing merely on lexemes to exploring how other linguistic and pragmatic phenomena may be at play.

Zooming in on the semantics of French ingressives: a collostructional analysis

AbstractThis article examines the semantic value of the infinitive in the ingressive constructions se mettre à (SMA) and commencer à (COMA) using a distinctive collexeme analysis. We find that the collexemes significant for the construction SMA are fairly homogeneous across the different corpora and can be grouped into the general category of expressive collexemes. The collexemes significant for COMA are more heterogeneous and belong to the category of cognitive collexemes and to semantic fields of sensory and creative acts. The results are compatible with the hypothesis put forward by Verroens and De Cuypere (2023) stating that the overall meaning of the SMA construction is intrinsically punctual. The punctual value of SMA is not only compatible with expressive collexemes, but, moreover, emphasizes their unforeseen and unintentional meaning. Conversely, the incremental value of COMA is consistent with the gradual onset of cognitive and sensory collexemes.

Allostructions and stancetaking: a corpus study of the German discourse management constructionsWo/wenn wir gerade/schon dabei sind

AbstractThe paper reconciles the sociolinguistic concept of stance and stancetaking and Construction Grammar (CxG); it shows that overlapping allostructions may differ in terms of the stances they convey. Drawing on a corpus study of Wikipedia Talk pages, the paper presents a case study of German discourse management markers such aswo wir gerade dabei sind‘speaking of which’ orwenn wir schon dabei sind‘while we’re at it’. By statistically comparing the observed frequencies of the filler items with the expected ones (using Hierarchical Configural Frequency Analysis and Distinctive Collexeme Analysis), I will argue that there are two different collocational types, namelywo wir/ich gerade beiNPsind/bin‘as we are/I am just at NP’ andwenn wir/du schon beiNPsind/bist‘as we/you are already at NP’. Both serve as discourse management markers, topic orientation markers in particular, whose purpose it is to shift the topic. They involve the same fixed pattern, combining the same categorical slots. However, they diverge in collocational preferences. I will argue that these collocational preferences are indicative of the stances the allostructions conventionally convey: While the allostructionwo wir/ich geradePPsind/binseems to be neutral in terms of stance (face-less stance),wenn wir/du schonPPsind/bistis often used to express negative evaluation of a previous utterance made by an interlocutor, thus marking disalignment. The expression of disalignment seems to be related to the construction’s propensity to reference utterances made by an interlocutor.

AC-rzecz biorąc v. AC-mówiąc in Polish

Applying the perspective of Construction Grammar and the corpus-based methodology termed Distinctive-Collexeme Analysis, this study aims to ascertain adverbial complements (ACs) that show a marked preference for either the AC-rzecz biorąc-construction ‘AC- thing taking-construction’ (e.g. historycznie rzecz biorąc ‘historically speaking’; verbatim: ‘historically thing taking’) or the AC-mówiąc-construction ‘AC-speaking-construction’ (e.g. ogólnie mówiąc ‘generally speaking’) in the Polish language. Drawing upon data retrieved from The National Corpus of Polish (NKJP), the findings reveal that these constructions display a strong tendency to co-occur with particular ACs that convey a range of meanings and serve different functions in discourse. In addition, the study reports that both constructions are predominantly observed in journalism, are used commonly in quasi-spoken texts, occur frequently in literature, and are relatively rare in Internet sources, scientific-didactic texts, and conversational contexts.

A Sea of-Noun vs. a Mountain of-Noun: A Quantitative Corpus-Based Study of Two Metaphorical Constructions

Applying the perspective of Construction Grammar and the corpus-based method known as Distinctive-Collexeme Analysis, this study seeks to identify nouns that indicate a strong preference either for the sea of-noun-construction or the mountain of-noun-construction. Based on the data extracted from the corpus, this study reveals that the constructions convey subtle nuances of meaning, reflect different degrees of metaphoricity, and have a strong tendency to occur with specific nouns.

Beyond dynasties and binary alternations: a diachronic corpus study of four-way variability in Chinese theme-recipient constructions

Abstract Despite the vast body of literature on the historical development of the theme-recipient alternation (also known as the “dative” alternation) in Chinese, most studies that have been conducted so far are limited to philological recounts of the binary choice between the prepositional dative and the ditransitive dative across dynasties, which usually spanned centuries. Against this backdrop, we conduct a state-of-the-art variationist analysis of the four variants, utilizing a large and richly annotated diachronic dataset based on a corpus of Chinese texts (1300s–1900s). Using conditional inference trees and conditional random forest analysis, we demonstrate that end-weight effects are the most stable linguistic constraint on variation, while definiteness and animacy of the theme constituent tend to be more fluid. Supplementary distinctive collexeme analysis reveals a strong collostructional interplay between verbs and the variants, including changes involving the prototypical verb of GIVING 给gĕi.

Combinatorial Productivity of Spanish Verbal Periphrases as an Indicator of Their Degree of Grammaticalization

Studies on the constitution of the Spanish periphrastic system show that there is a great ease with which verbal periphrases admit different lexical items in the second verb slot as they go through their grammaticalization process. However, it has not been sufficiently explored whether the evolution of combinatorial patterns in near-synonymous periphrases follows similar grammaticalization paths. Adopting a constructionist, usage-based approach, we investigate the evolution of the so-called near-synonymous periphrases dejar de + inf and parar de + inf, as in Deja de/Para de gritar, ‘Stop shouting.’ More specifically, we discuss the semantic areas they cover, the functional distribution between the two throughout time, their evolution in terms of collostructional patterns, and their realized and potential productivity, paying special attention to the Aktionsart of the predicates in the Vinf slot. All tokens in the corpus were extracted from CORDE and analyzed in terms of morphosyntactic and semantic-pragmatic parameters, as well as contextual elements. We conduct a distinctive collexeme analysis to investigate which lexemes are strongly attracted or repelled by the Vinf slot in each construction. This analysis shows that the evolution of parar de + inf is not parallel to that of dejar de + inf and that there is a clear distribution of labor between the two constructions.

The English Reaction Object Construction: A Case of Syntactic constructional Contamination

This paper discusses a case of constructional contamination (Pijpops and Van de Velde 2016; Pijpops et al. 2018), a phenomenon which describes the relation between two or more constructions such that usage frequencies of one construction influence the patterns of variation in another (Hilpert and Flach 2022). Specifically, I investigate the influence of structures of the type she gave a nod of intelligence or she nodded with satisfaction on the variation in the object slot of the so-called English Reaction Object Construction (ROC; Levin 1993), as in she nodded intelligence and she nodded satisfaction. Using the British Sentimental Novel Corpus (Ruano San Segundo and Bouso 2019) and the method of distinctive collexeme analysis (Gries and Stefanowitsch 2004; Hilpert 2006, 2014), it is argued that early and frequent structures superficially similar to the ROC, like those just mentioned, partly explain the lexical diversity found in the object slot of the nineteenth-century ROC (Bouso 2020b). The results thus corroborate findings on the pervasiveness of constructional contamination in English syntax, confirm the claim put forward in Bouso (2021) that the ROC can be treated as an example of a multiple source construction, and provide evidence of the large-scale transitivisation process experienced by the English language since Old English times.

Lexical factors in non-finite complementation of continue

The study examines the usage of two non-finite complements of the verb continue: the -ing form and the to-infinitive, arguing for the importance of low level generalizations in accounting for the complement choice. The semantic import of complement constructions may vary with specific lexeme classes of both the matrix verb and the complement verb, as well as be conditioned by more general features associated with the verbs’ lexical aspect. The determinants of complement choice are characterized in terms of the aspectual construal of the complement event imposed by the two alternative constructions: conceptual proximity and distance associated respectively with the -ing form and the to-infinitive. The study relies on distinctive collexeme analysis: a statistical technique which compares the lexemes distinctive for the two constructions in order to describe the semantics of the construction by examining its most characteristic collocates.

A corpus-based study of explicit objective modal expressions in English

ABSTRACT The grammatical pattern of explicit objective modal expressions and its three subtypes (i.e., explicit objective expressions of probability, usuality and obligation) are investigated in this paper. By implementing a collostructional analysis, specifically collexeme analysis and multiple distinctive collexeme analysis, we aim at uncovering how, with respect to different genres in COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English), modal expressions are significantly attracted or repelled by the grammatical pattern, and how these expressions are diachronically associated with the grammatical pattern in different time periods of COCA and COHA (Corpus of Historical American English). The genre-related findings demonstrate that explicit objective modal expressions of probability and obligation are attracted by formal genres while repelled by informal ones, whereas those of usuality are repelled by both formal academic and informal spoken genres. The diachronic findings demonstrate that modal expressions that denote low values of probability and obligation have undergone a path of gradual change from repulsion to attraction because of an accumulation of negotiability and politeness by language users.

Investigating Lexical Effects in Syntax with Regularized Regression (Lasso)

Within usage-based theory, notably in construction grammar though also elsewhere, the role of the lexicon and of lexically-specific patterns in morphosyntax is well recognized. The methodology, however, is not always sufficiently suited to get at the details, as lexical effects are difficult to study under what are currently the standard methods for investigating grammar empirically. In this short article, we propose a method from machine learning: regularized regression (Lasso) with k-fold cross-validation, and compare its performance with a Distinctive Collexeme Analysis.

Child and Children in a Corpus of American Fiction: Contrasting Semantic Preferences and Their Experiential Motivations

Abstract This study investigates the nature of the semantic differences between collexemes of singular child and plural children in a corpus of American fiction. Collexemes in three specific syntactic slots are investigated: adjectives in the attributive position, nouns grammatically possessed by child’s and children’s, and present participial forms of verbs in the position immediately to the right of child/children. The approach relies on Distinctive Collexeme Analysis to establish statistically significant differences, revealing a surprising variety of semantic distinctions not usually acknowledged in discussions of the singularity vs. plurality of count nouns. Finally, an attempt is made to relate the key findings to broader cognitive and behavioural realities.

EXPLORING PRESENT ABILITY: A COLLOSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH

The paper investigates two constructions commonly thought to be semantically equivalent, S can V and S be able to V. Both modal can and semi-modal be able to are used to express ability that could be described as either mental or acquired accomplishment, pertaining to past or present. The difference between them is typically denoted as general ability or that someone managed to do something on a particular occasion. If not limited by the main verb (e.g. there is a constraint against can after another modal verb), can and be able to are mostly interchangeable. Starting from the premise that every construction carries meaning which is dependent on the meaning of lexical elements occurring in that construction, the aim is to shed light on the usage of the two verb constructions and the degree of their interchangeability by examining their complements. To compare and contrast the two constructions, we rely on a corpus-based and quantitative method of collostructional analysis (Gries and Stefanowitsch 2004), or specifically on distinctive collexeme analysis which allows us to determine if the V slot in the construction is preferred by or restricted to particular lexemes. As S can V and S be able to V are highly attested in the corpus, the research is restricted only to their meaning of the present ability

Too early to say: The Englishtoo ADJ to Vconstruction and models of cross-cultural communications styles

AbstractThis paper studies the Englishtoo ADJ to Vconstruction. It starts with a (multiple) distinctive collexeme analysis (as one of the subtypes of collostructional analysis) of theADJ-Vpairs appearing in the given construction in three regional varieties of English (American, British and Indian English) based on the GloWbE corpus. This analysis establishes the most distinctive and most strongly repelledADJ-Vpairs in the respective varieties. These results are then interpreted from the perspective of three models of inter-cultural and cross-cultural communication styles. The paper demonstrates that the most distinctive and the most repelledADJ-Vpairs do differ across the three varieties and that this may reflect subtle differences in the underlying cultural conceptualizations. The paper also introduces the notion of ‘(multiple) distinctive collexeme analysis of co-varying collexemes’, as an extension of the existing notion of the given type of collostructional analysis.