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  1. Home
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  3. English Comparative Correlatives
  • Cited by 17
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
May 2019
Print publication year:
2019
Online ISBN:
9781108569859
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108569859
Subjects:
Grammar and Syntax, English Language and Linguistics: General Interest, Language and Linguistics, History of the English Language
Series:
Studies in English Language
Information

Book description

One of the most intriguing features of languages is that speakers can produce novel grammatical utterances that they have never heard before. Consequently, most linguists agree that the mental grammars of speakers are complex systems that must be more abstract than the input they are exposed to. Yet, linguists differ as to how general and abstract speakers' mental representations have to be to allow this grammatical creativity. This book addresses this issue by empirically investigating one specific construction, English comparative correlatives (e.g., the more you eat, the fatter you get). Drawing on authentic corpus data from Old English to Present-day English varieties around the world, it shows how input frequency and domain-general cognitive principles affect the complex mental network of constructions that underlies speakers' linguistic behaviour. This pioneering and original study will be of interest to scholars and students of English syntax and English historical linguistics.

Reviews

‘For any reader who wants the full treatment of the CC, it is all here, and served up in a most palatable form. Hoffmann’s prose is clear and straightforward, a quality which cannot be praised enough in linguistic treatises. The separate chapters can be read as stand-alone units for those who may only be interested in one aspect of the CC and may already have some familiarity with the construction. For those who are not already familiar and require some introduction, the preliminary chapters of the book give an admirable foundation.’

Sheila Dooley Source: Constructions and Frames

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