Constructions in Spanish is the first book-length English-language volume in the field of usage-based and Cognitive Construction Grammar dedicated exclusively to Spanish. The contributions investigate a wide range of constructions from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective, cutting across morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. The constructionist perspective is also linked to comparative and typological research, to (foreign) language acquisition and to multi-modal discourse analysis. The volume aims both at increasing the visibility of constructionist approaches to Spanish, and at offering data and analyses of Spanish for scholars working on constructional analyses of other languages. The volume thus addresses both scholars in Spanish and Romance linguistics, as it builds connections between more traditional approaches and constructionist approaches, and construction grammarians generally, especially scholars interested in comparative work.

lgrsnf/Constructions in Spanish (Constructional Approaches to Language Series) [3672105].pdf

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Netherlands, Netherlands

Constructions in Spanish
Editorial page
Title page
Copyright page
Table of contents
Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 1 Construction Grammar meets Hispanic linguistics
1. Constructions in Spanish
2. Constructionist and traditional perspectives on Spanish
2.1 Word-level constructions
2.2 Phrase-level constructions with idiomatic meanings
2.3 Sentence-level constructions with grammatical, discourse-pragmatic or speech-act functions
2.4 Extending the scope
2.4.1 Historical linguistics and diachronic Construction Grammar
2.4.2 Language learning and teaching and Construction Grammar(s)
2.4.3 Interactional linguistics and Construction Grammar(s)
3. Conclusion and contributions of the present volume
References
Part 2 Comparative word-formation constructions
Chapter 2 Collection nouns as a derivational category in Spanish
1. Introduction
2. Collection nouns as a derivational category in Spanish
3. Empirical analysis of collective ad hoc constructs in Spanish
3.1 Methodology
3.2 Results
3.2.1 The predominantly non-collective suffixes
3.2.2 The predominantly collective suffixes
3.2.3 General tendencies
4. Digression
5. Conclusion
References
Chapter 3 Lexical reduplication in Spanish and Italian
1. Introduction
2. Studies on lexical reduplication in Spanish and Italian
3. Construction Grammar and the reduplication phenomena
4. Hypothesis
4.1 [XX] → [semantic meaning: prototype; pragmatic interpretation: argument strengthening]
4.2 [XX] → [semantic meaning: contrast; pragmatic interpretation: argument strengthening]
4.3 [XX] → [semantic meaning: precision; pragmatic interpretation: facilitating comprehension]
4.4 [XX] → [semantic meaning: iteration or continuity; pragmatic interpretation: to impress the hearer]
4.5 [XX] → [pragmatic interpretation: politeness strategy]
4.6 [XX] → [semantic meaning: lexicalized construction; pragmatic meaning: strengthening the speaker’s or hearer’s point of view]
5. Conclusions
References
Corpora
Part 3 Phrase-level constructions
Chapter 4 A constructional approach to causative support verbs in Spanish
1. Introduction
2. Support verb constructions in previous accounts
3. Constructionist approaches to support verbs
4. The caused emotion construction
4.1 Definition
4.2 Integration of the predicative noun with the construction
4.3 Introduction of the support verb
4.4 Collocational restrictions
4.5 Conventional pairs of form and meaning
5. Conclusions
References
Chapter 5 From idioms to semi-schematic constructions and vice versa
1. Object of study
2. Corpus data extraction
3. The family of proximity constructions
3.1 Spatial meaning
3.2 Temporal meaning
3.3 Modal-conditional meaning
3.3.1 The emergent micro-construction estar a un clic(k) ‘to be one click away’
3.3.2 Emergence of new semi-schematic constructions on the basis of micro-constructions
3.4 The epistemic modality construction and the micro-construction estar a un paso ‘to be one step away’ (‘to be about to’)
4. Conclusions
Funding
References
Consulted corpora
Chapter 6 The construction [a TODO Nsg] in Spanish
1. Introduction
2. [a TODO Nsg] as a constructional idiom
3. Description of the construction [a TODO Nsg]
3.1 Formal characterisation
3.1.1 Syntax
3.1.2 Morphology
3.1.2.1 Internal fixation
3.1.2.2 External fixation
3.2 Semantic characterisation
3.3 Pragmatic characterisation
4. Conclusions
Funding
References
Consulted corpora
Part 4 Abstract and schematic constructions
Chapter 7 On deconstructing mood
1. Introduction1
2. Two theories and a logical conundrum
3. The theory of a central value
4. The subjunctive in independent clauses?
5. A grammaticalisation account of the Romance subjunctive
6. A constructionalisation account of the Romance subjunctive
7. The Spanish subjunctive schema
7.1 The subjunctive schema [S [que Vsubj]]
7.2 The non-assertion subschema ( = ‘nonassertion’) [S [que Vsubj (/Vind)]
7.3 Modal agreement subschema [[Vtrigger] [que Vsubj]]
7.3.1 Orphaned subordinate subschemaS [[(que) Vsubj]]
7.3.2 Imperative-subjunctive subschema
7.4 Modal trigger subschema [S [Conjtrigger Vsubj]]
7.5 Protasis construction
8. Deconstructing the modal analysis for the Spanish subjunctive
9. Conclusion and outlook
References
Chapter 8 Quotative que constructions in Spanish
1. Introduction
2. Quotative que constructions in Spanish
2.1 Description of quotative que constructions
2.2 Formalist approaches
2.3 Functionalist approaches
2.4 A constructional approach
3. Construction Grammar and language variation
4. Research questions, data and methodology
5. Results
5.1 Geographical variation
5.2 Discourse variation
5.3 The interaction of geographical and discourse variation
6. Discourse and geographical variation in the constructional network
7. Conclusions
Abbreviations
References
Chapter 9 Que conste/sepas and como si constructions in Spanish
1. Introduction
2. Constructions in discourse grammar
2.1 The need for constructions in discourse syntax
2.2 Our concept of construction
3. Constructions and operators in a discursive approach
4. [Que + knowledge verb (subjunctive)] constructions in Spanish
4.1 A non-prototypical directive construction
4.2 The formation of a new construction
4.2.1 Reinforcement of assertions
4.2.2 Focalisation of information
4.3 A new construction as a constituent of the utterance
5. The [como si + subjunctive clause] construction
5.1 The construction [como si + clause]
5.2 [Como si + sentence] as independent reactive turn
5.3 Construction [como si + indicative]
5.4 Como si as pragmatic marker: recategorisation
5.5 Final remarks
6. Conclusion
Funding
References
Chapter 10 A constructional analysis of digo yo in peninsular Spanish
1. Introduction
2. Background
2.1 Previous work
2.2 Digo yo
3. Data and methodology
4. Analysis and discussion
4.1 Initial DY
4.2 Medial and final DY
4.3 Epistemic comment clauses
5. Constructional network
6. Conclusions and suggestions for future research
Corpora
References
Part 5 Extending the scope of constructionist research on Spanish
Chapter 11 From he aquí to aquí está
1. Introduction
2. Previous accounts
3. Synchronic constructional analysis
3.1 Functional properties
3.2 Formal properties
3.2.1 [He aquí NP]
3.2.2 [Aquí está/viene NP]
4. Historical and constructional origins
4.1 He aquí constructions
4.2 Aquí está constructions
5. Conclusion
References
Chapter 12 On the role of verb-particle constructions in Old Spanish
1. Motion encoding in Romance and the role of verb-particle constructions
2. Theoretical and methodological premises
3. Diachronic case study
3.1 Diachronic corpus data from CORDE
3.2 Constructional properties of VPCs formed with (P) atras
3.3 Prefixation and simple path verbs
3.3.1 Prefixation pattern [re-V]
3.3.2 Path verbs
3.3.3 Competing strategies?
4. Discussion and implications of the findings
References
Chapter 13 What can collaboratively produced lists tell us about constructions?
1. Introduction
2. Prior research
2.1 An interactional approach to constructions
2.2 Grammar and co-constructions
2.3 Lists in interaction
3. Data and method
4. Analysis
4.1 Collaboration during ONSET
4.1.1 Example 2
4.1.2 Example 3
4.2 Collaboratively constructed list body
4.2.1 Example 4
4.2.2 Example 5
4.2.3 Example 6
4.2.4 Example 7
4.3 Collaboration at Coda – Example 8
4.4 Gestalt latency and collaboration after the coda – Example 9 ‘(class) plannings’ (ssot201701-0426)
5. Complex list emergence in joint authorship
Example 10
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
References
Chapter 14 Construction grammar and foreign language learning (L3)
1. Introduction
2. The lexis-grammar-couple in foreign language teaching
2.1 The state of grammar in foreign language teaching
2.2 Corpus linguistics and construction grammar
2.3 Construction grammar and the usage-based approach
2.4 Why can construction grammar research and foreign language teaching benefit from each other?
2.5 Interlanguage and multilingualism
3. Contrastive studies on foreign language acquisition
3.1 The corpus
3.2 First year of language learning
3.2.1 Studies in grade 7
3.2.2 Discussion of the results
3.2.2.1 Task 1
3.2.2.2 Task 2
3.3 Fourth year of language learning
3.3.1 Studies in grade 10
3.3.2 Discussion of the results
3.3.2.1 Task 3
3.3.2.2 Task 4
3.4 Constructional extensions
4. Conclusion and outlook
References
Subject index
Construction index

Constructions in Spanish is the first book-length English-language volume in the field of usage-based and Cognitive Construction Grammar dedicated exclusively to Spanish. The contributions investigate a wide range of constructions from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective, cutting across morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. The constructionist perspective is also linked to comparative and typological research, to language learning and teaching and to multi-modal discourse analysis.
The volume aims both at increasing the visibility of constructionist approaches to Spanish, and at offering data and analyses of Spanish for scholars working on constructional analyses of other languages. The volume thus addresses both scholars in Spanish and Romance linguistics, as it builds connections between more traditional approaches and constructionist approaches, and construction grammarians generally, especially scholars interested in comparative work

2024-05-29