R-3 Repository :: Browsing by Author "Kemmer, Suzanne E."

Browsing by Author "Kemmer, Suzanne E."

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Analytic Causative Constructions in Medieval Spanish: The Origins of a Construction
(2011) Sanaphre Villanueva, Monica; Kemmer, Suzanne E.
he goal of this study is to provide an inventory of the Analytic Causative constructions that were in use in Peninsular Spanish from the 12 th to the 16 th centuries from the constructional perspective of Cognitive Grammar. A detailed profile of each construction was made including its constructional schema along with relevant semantic, syntactic, lexical, pragmatic, and socio-cultural information. Fifteen different constructions involving the verbs mandar 'command', fazer 'make/do', and enviar 'send' were recorded and described. Moreover, several of the evolution paths constructions followed and the way constructions influenced and interacted with each other forming constructional networks were identified. The importance of semantic factors triggering change, as well as the role that prototypical exemplars, collocations, and analogy play in the emergence and conservation of constructions are discussed.
Analyzing path: The interplay of verbs, prepositions and constructional semantics
(2001) Rohde, Ada Ragna; Kemmer, Suzanne E.
In this dissertation I examine first how the dynamicity of prepositions and the meaning of verbs interact in English motion constructions, and second what role the constructions themselves play in this interaction. I adopt a Construction Grammar perspective, which assumes that constructions can contribute to the interpretation of utterances. Based on an extensive corpus study and additional evidence from a survey on acceptability judgments, I investigate the limits of the semantic import of constructions with respect to the expression of PATH. To that end, I determine the degree of dynamicity of 19 prepositions on the basis of their frequency of occurrence in static versus dynamic utterance types. This degree of dynamicity measures a preposition's contribution to the semantics of utterances instantiating the Caused-Motion Construction (CMC) or the Intransitive-Motion Construction (IMC) with respect to the predication of a dynamic PATH. I show that a dynamic PATH needs to be lexically expressed in motion constructions, either by the preposition or by the verb, if it is not retrievable through contextual factors. This has direct repercussions for the use of prepositions in the two constructions. I show that coercion of non-dynamic prepositions into a dynamic interpretation is only possible if both the verb and the preposition inherently profile the endpoint. The power of constructions to coerce the meanings of lexical items, i.e. to influence the canonical interpretation of these items where they do not correspond to the construction's semantics, is thus much more restricted than commonly assumed. I also show that constructions are limited with respect to the number of lexical items that they can coerce in a given instantiation. The CMC and the IMC can either coerce a non-motion verb or a non-dynamic preposition, but the combination of non-motion verbs with non-dynamic prepositions yields utterances that no longer express a directional PATH. Overall, this thesis illustrates that it is indispensable to consider the lexical semantics of the instantiating verbs and their co-occurrence restrictions with specific prepositions, even when examining the workings of more abstract linguistic units such as constructions.
Constructing causation: A construction grammar approach to analytic causatives
(2001) Stefanowitsch, Anatol; Kemmer, Suzanne E.
This dissertation proposes a Construction Grammar account of how the meaning of complex constructions, specifically, analytic causatives, emerges from an aggregation of simpler constructions, which individually have fairly abstract semantics, but which in combination encode very specific event types. The constructions investigated are make s.o. V, have s.o. V, have s.o. Ving, get s.o. to V, force s.o. to V, set s.o. ( to) Ving, drive s.o. to V, move s.o. to V, lead s.o. to V, bring self to V, send s.o. Ving, give s.o. to understand, and leave s.o. Ving. Three causation event types are posited that are relevant to an analysis of analytic causative constructions: the MANIPULATE type, where an animate causer intentionally acts on a causee in a way that influences the causee such that he or she performs some activity; the TRIGGER type, where an event occurs which influences a causee such that, given the nature of the causee, the causee will inevitably undergo some process; and the PROMPT type, where an event occurs and a causee perceives this event and decides to react by performing some activity. Any given analytic causative encodes a more specific version of one or more of these event types. The two simple constructions that contribute most to a given analytic causative are causation verbs (make, have, get , etc.) and sentential complements (the bare infinitive, the to-infinitive, the present participle, etc.). Which event type(s) can be encoded by a given analytic causative does not depend on the causation verb or the sentential complement alone. Instead, particular combinations of the two yield meanings that are either compatible or incompatible with a given event type. Also discussed in the dissertation are the passivization of matrix or embedded clauses in analytic causatives, the relationship between causation verbs and their lexical sources, and the relationship between analytic causatives and transitive constructions with change-of-state or motion verbs.
Constructions, Semantic Compatibility, and Coercion: An Empirical Usage-based Approach
(2013-07-24) Yoon, Soyeon; Kemmer, Suzanne E.; Achard, Michel; Orlandi, Nicoletta; Franklin, Amy
This study investigates the nature of semantic compatibility between constructions and lexical items that occur in them in relation with language use, and the related concept, coercion, based on a usage-based approach to language, in which linguistic knowledge (grammar) is grounded in language use. This study shows that semantic compatibility between linguistic elements is a gradient phenomenon, and that speakers’ knowledge about the degree of semantic compatibility is intimately correlated with language use. To show this, I investigate two constructions of English: the sentential complement construction and the ditransitive construction. I observe speakers’ knowledge of the semantic compatibility between the constructions and lexical items and compared it with empirical data obtained from linguistic corpora and experiments on sentence processing and acceptability judgments. My findings specifically show that the relative semantic compatibility of the lexical items and the construction is significantly correlated with the frequency of use of their co-occurrences and the processing effort and speakers’ acceptability judgments for the co-occurrences. The empirical data show that a lexical item and a construction which are less than fully compatible can be actually used together when the incompatibility is resolved. The resolution of the semantic incompatibility between the lexical item and its host construction has been called coercion. Coercion has been invoked as a theoretical concept without being examined in depth, particularly without regard to language use. By correlating degree of semantic compatibility with empirical data of language use, this study highlights that coercion is an actual psychological process which occurs during the composition of linguistic elements. Moreover, by examining in detail how the semantics of a lexical item and a construction interact in order to reconcile the incompatibility, this study reveals that coercion is semantic integration that involves not only dynamic interaction of linguistic components but also non-linguistic contexts. Investigating semantic compatibility and coercion in detail with empirical data tells about the processes by which speakers compose linguistic elements into larger units. It also supports the assumption of the usage-based model that grammar and usage are not independent, and ultimately sheds light on the dynamic aspect of our linguistic system.
Germanic future constructions: A usage-based approach to grammaticalization
(2007) Hilpert, Martin; Kemmer, Suzanne E.
This study offers a new approach to grammatical constructions that express futurity in Danish, Dutch, English, German, and Swedish. Future constructions develop out of lexical elements whose meanings persist to some degree in modern usage. Future constructions thus convey not only future time reference, but also modal meanings of volition, obligation, or possibility. This multifunctionality has been a challenge for previous accounts that aimed to delimit their function to either tense or modality. The present study aims to overcome this debate and views future constructions as meaningful units of language, not as mere paradigmatic alternatives to temporal or modal categories. The present study develops a methodology that provides the study of meaning with a strong empirical basis in the form of large computerized text collections. In order to characterize the meaning of a given future construction, the present analysis investigates the types of main verbs that typically co-occur with it in actual usage: If a given construction typically occurs with intentional verbs such as write or speak, its meaning will differ from constructions that typically occur with verbs such as rain or increase. The same methodology is applied to the historical study of future constructions: If a given construction tends to co-occur with different main verbs at subsequent stages in time, this is indicative of a semantic change. The results of both the synchronic and the historical investigation challenge results of earlier studies. For instance, the English future construction with be going to has been commonly assumed to be a translational equivalent of Dutch gaan. Evidence from modern usage data shows that this is not the case, since both constructions are used to refer to different types of future events. With respect to the historical development of future constructions, several developmental paths have been proposed for constructions deriving from verbs of motion, obligation, and other lexical sources. For example, verbs of motion are supposed to become markers of intention before they acquire temporal meaning. This study presents historical data from a Swedish future construction with the verb komma 'come', which has developed in an entirely different way. Overall, the comparison of future constructions across languages and across different periods of time is intended to develop an understanding of these constructions as meaningful units. While many aspects of these constructions are idiosyncratic, and thus account for the controversies that have surrounded them, some aspects are invariant across the investigated languages, and thus seem to be typical of future constructions in general. The study also yields new insights into the workings of grammatical change, especially regarding the function of co-occurring lexical material in the historical development of constructions. Methodologically, the present study breaks new ground as it empirically tests general tenets and specific proposals regarding grammatical change on the basis of primary usage data.
Inhibitory control mechanisms and their role in task switching: A multi-methodological approach
(2013-05-13) Allen, Corinne; Martin, Randi C.; Schnur, Tatiana T.; Oswald, Frederick L.; Kemmer, Suzanne E.; Basak, Chandramallika
Executive control allows us to ignore distraction and switch between tasks in a flexible, yet organized fashion. While a hallmark of controlled behavior, distinctions among executive control processes are not thoroughly agreed upon. The present work explored the organization of two of these executive control processes, inhibition and shifting, and their relationship to each other. There were two primary goals. The first goal was to investigate the distinction among inhibitory control processes, as “inhibition” has oftentimes been considered a unitary construct. For example, there is evidence that response-distractor inhibition, which involves resolving interference from dominant responses or distractors in the external environment, is different from resistance to proactive interference (PI), which involves overcoming interference from previously relevant representations in memory. Using aging, neuropsychology, and individual differences methodologies, I investigated the unity and diversity of inhibitory control mechanisms. The healthy aging and neuropsychological evidence supported a distinction between response-distractor inhibition and resistance to proactive interference. However, when controlling for processing speed, the individual differences work suggested a need for further specification, as only a subset of these tasks emerged in the single factor model that provided the best fit to the data. The second goal was to explore how inhibitory control processes interact with task switching, as some theoretical accounts of task switching have suggested that switch costs result from the need to overcome interference from the previously relevant task. Inconsistent with these theories, I found little relation between inhibitory control and measures of global and local task switching, and instead, working memory served as the best predictor of these shifting measures. In contrast, inhibitory control was related to the backward inhibition abilities of older adults. These findings are discussed within a theory of working memory that accounts for the patterns of results found across the different methodologies.
Proto-Bungku-Tolaki: Reconstruction of its phonology and aspects of its morphosyntax
(1998) Mead, David E.; Kemmer, Suzanne E.
The Bungku-Tolaki group of languages (Austronesian, Western Malayo-Polynesian) comprises fifteen languages spoken in and around the southeastern peninsula of Sulawesi Island in present-day Indonesia. Although there exist no written records for these languages prior to 1900, I apply the traditional methods of historical and comparative linguistics, as well as bring to bear more recent understandings regarding the nature of grammatical and semantic change, in order to develop a picture of their common ancestor language, Proto-Bungku-Tolaki. The dissertation has two parts. In part one, I reconstruct the sound system of Proto-Bungku-Tolaki, detailing both the innovations which distinguish it from its nearest identified ancestor, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, along with the phonological changes which occurred in the various daughter languages, bringing us up to the present day. In the second part I focus on issues of transitivity including the grammaticalization of the preposition taken as a valence-changing applicative suffix, clause structure including relative clauses, and verbal inflection. Herein, Proto-Bungku-Tolaki is reconstructed as having three construction types which allowed the expression of both an agent and a patent, namely the active, the passive, and the antipassive. Nominative and absolutive pronoun sets served as agreement markers, though the genitive subject marking original to subordinate temporal adverbial clauses has in some languages also made its way into main clauses. Because there is not as yet a significant body of published material on the Bungku-Tolaki languages, I have made a conscious effort to amply supply this dissertation with the primary data upon which my analyses have been based. Therefore although the present work is of particular relevance to Austronesianists working in the field of historical reconstruction, the data and descriptions alone should make this an invaluable reference for anyone interested in the languages of this small corner of the world. Appendices include five texts with interlinear glossing and free translation, and a compilation of Proto-Bungku-Tolaki lexical reconstructions with supporting evidence.

Browsing by Author "Kemmer, Suzanne E."

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