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Competing constructions construct complementary niches: A diachronic view on the English dative alternation

Zehentner, Eva (2022). Competing constructions construct complementary niches: A diachronic view on the English dative alternation. Language Dynamics and Change, 13(1):34-73.

Abstract

This paper traces the history of the English dative alternation by means of a quantitative analysis of instances of both the nominal and the prepositional construction in a corpus of Middle English (PPCME2), and compares the results to Wolk et al.’s (2013) data set from ARCHER. I show that the factors impacting the choice of one pattern over the other are subject to change over time: construction choice in Middle English is not straightforwardly predictable by the same factors at play in today’s alternation, but a clearer division based on syntactic semantic-pragmatic variables gradually emerges in the course to Late Modern English. I interpret this development as a prime case of competition, with a focus on (a) the initial emergence of functional overlap and thus competition, and (b) the subsequent creation of “functional niches” of the competing constructions.

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:06 Faculty of Arts > English Department
06 Faculty of Arts > Zurich Center for Linguistics
Dewey Decimal Classification:410 Linguistics
Scopus Subject Areas:Social Sciences & Humanities > Language and Linguistics
Social Sciences & Humanities > Linguistics and Language
Uncontrolled Keywords:dative alternation; ditransitives; Middle English; Late Modern English; competition; functional niches; usage-based construction grammar
Language:English
Date:17 August 2022
Deposited On:20 Feb 2023 15:38
Last Modified:29 Dec 2024 02:36
Publisher:Brill
ISSN:2210-5824
OA Status:Closed
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.1163/22105832-bja10021

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