English Comparative Correlatives
Diachronic and Synchronic Variation at the Lexicon-Syntax Interface

Explores how comparative correlative constructions behave in English and how these change over time and space.

Thomas Hoffmann (Author)

9781108477215, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 May 2019

276 pages
23.6 x 15.7 x 1.7 cm, 0.57 kg

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.

1. Introduction
2. Previous research
3. The diachronic evolution of English CCs: a constructionist account
4. Synchronic properties of the standard British and American English CC construction network
5. A contrastive view: German versus English comparative correlatives
6. Variation and mental grammars: the view from World Englishes
Conclusion: the role of constructional networks.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK], Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF], Linguistics [CF]