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Adjectives and usage-patterns in the [X enough to VERB]-construction

This study examines the [X enough to VERB] construction using corpus methods. It explores the semantic structure, PoS distribution, and propositional act functions of this construction.

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Adjectives and usage-patterns in the [X enough to VERB]-construction

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  1. Adjectives and usage-patterns in the [X enough to VERB]-construction ICLC-13 Thematic section: Cognitive-functional approaches to adjectives Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  2. Introduction Using corpus methods and data, we aim to answer these research questions: • Does [X enough to VERB] cover one adjectival construction or does it cover more constructions? • What is/are the function/s of [X enough to VERB]? Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  3. Introduction • Data and method • Schematic semantic and symbolic structure of [X enough to VERB] • PoS distribution • Propositional act functions Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  4. Data and method • Data: • 2012 section of COCA (Davies 2012) = 11,254,891 words • 939 instances of [X enough to VERB] • Method • Simple collexeme analysis (Stefanowitch & Gries 2003) and covarying collexeme analysis (Stefanowitch & Gries 2005) to address the semantics and schematic structure of the construction (in accordance with the principles of semantic compatibility [Stefanowitsch & Gries 2005:4] and semantic coherence [Stefanowitsch & Gries 2005:11]). • Multidimensional scaling to address the degrees of similarity among the items appearing in the X-position. Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  5. Schematic structure SCALE image schema (Johnson 1987: 122) ENABLEMENT image schema (Johnson 1987: 122) situation enablement lower threshold [ [ X enough ] [to VERB] ] Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  6. Schematic structure • This function is called SUFFICIENCY by Fortuin (2013), who defines it as follows: "the degree (quantity) of X is appropriate with respect to a contextually given norm Y (and does not need to be higher)" (Fortuin 2013: 36) • SUFFICIENCY is contrasted with EXCESS, defined by Fortuin (2013: 35) as follows: "such a degree (quantity) of X that it exceeds (is more than) the contextually given maximum (maximal appropriate degree) for Y" • "The mystery pinprick of light fading and reappearing was too dull to be another ship yet bright enough to make her wonder what the heck was out there." (COCA 2012 FIC Bk:RobertLudlumsThe) Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  7. Schematic structure • Simple collexeme analysis Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  8. Schematic structure • Covarying collexeme analysis More pairs: acidic-harm, complex-model, elasticity-stretch, loose-pluck, noteworthy-record, old-remember, old-understand, clever-figure out, thick-coat ... Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  9. PoS distribution • X2 = 848.5176, df = 2, p< 0.001 Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  10. PoS distribution • Examples: • ADJ: "Just zip off the vesti and zip in the waterproof door panel (included) when rain is unlikely or mileage high. Or turn the entrance into a full-blown front porch with the optional Trekking Pole Vestibule ($130, 1 lb.), which uses a staff to support the ceiling of a 24-square-foot vestibule that's big enough to seat four people or stash a pair of bikes (with front wheels removed)." (COCA 2012 MAG Backpacker) • N: "I told those ministry guys, I said,' When we all die and go to heaven and you guys find out that I had no knowledge of it, I was not there, I had no participation in it, I don't know who did it, I hope you guys will be gentlemen enough to come and find me in heaven and tell me you're sorry.'"(COCA 2012 SPOK NBC_Dateline) • ADV: "There are good cameos by other musicians. Aretha Franklin appears long enough to drop a five-gallon jug of pickled pigs feet on a hotel lobby floor while wearing a mink coat." (COCA 2012 NEWS NYTimes) Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  11. PoS distribution • Similarity of X-position items (i.e. similarities in their discursive behavior in the construction). • Multidimensional scaling: • Dimensions: • PoS of X-element (adjective, adverb, noun) • Syntactic function of instance of construction (subject complement, object complement, adverbial, postmodifier in NP, prepositional complement, direct object, real subject) • Aspect of to-infinitive clause (no aspect, perfective, progressive) • Diathesis of to-infinitive clause (active, be-passive, get-passive) • Genre/register in which instance occurs (academic, fiction, magazines, newspapers, spoken) Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  12. Propositional act functions [N enough to VERB]? Postmodifier [ADJ enough to VERB] Complement [ADJ enough to VERB] Adverbial [ADV enough to VERB] Croft (2001: 88) Halling (2015) Reference: "I don't have words enough to express the level of excitement and elation we feel here at SpaceX..." (COCA 2012 NEWS CSMonitor) Predication: "... I wasn't man enough to hold my liquor." (COCA 2012 FIC Bk:TexasPride) Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  13. Conclusions • There seem to be two constructions: • [ADV enough to V]: • Adverbial syntactic function • Propositional act function: modification of predicate • Attracts primarily items marked as adverbs in the corpus • [ADJ enough to V]: • Syntactic functions: • Subject and object complements • Propositional act function: predication • Postmodifier in NPs • Propositional act function: modification of referent • Attracts primarily scalar adjectives; nouns in the construction are sometimes coerced into having scalar-like, adjective-like functions. • Both have SUFFICIENCY as an underlying force-dynamic structure. Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  14. Conclusions • Other things that need to be investigated: • Participant roles in to-infinitive clause and intrasentential reference. • Aspect and voice realizations of to-infinitive clause. • Interaction between the construction(s) and register. • Polarity of clause in which the construction appears • Comparison with other constructions (e.g. EXCESS constructions) • More/better similarity measures (e.g. MDS or hierarchical cluster analysis) of X-items Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

  15. References • Croft, William A. (2001). Radical Construction Grammar: Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective. Oxford: Oxford Unversity Press. • Croft, William A. (2005). Logical and typological arguments for radical construction grammar. In J. Östman (Ed.), Construction grammars: Cognitive Grounding and Theoretical Extensions. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.273-314 • Davies, Mark (2012). Corpus of Contemporary American English. http://corpus2.byu.edu/coca • Fortuin, Egbert (2013). The construction of excess and sufficiency from a crosslinguistic perspective. Linguistic Typology, 17: 31-88. • Halling, Pernilla H. (2015). Prototypical adverbs: From comparative concept to typological prototype. Paper presented at Substance and Structure in Linguistics, Copenhagen University, February 27-28. • Johnson, Mark (1987). The Body in the Mind. Chicago, IL: Chiacago University Press. • Stefanowitsch, Anatol & Stefan Th. Gries. (2003) Collostructions: investigating the interaction between words and constructions. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 8(2): 209-243. • Stefanowitsch, Anatol & Stefan Th. Gries (2005). Covarying collexemes. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 1(1): 1-43. Kim Ebensgaard Jensen CGS, Aalborg University

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