Open AccessA Corpus Analysis of Sentence-Initial "Lo que". A Constructionist Approach
Author(s) -
Anja Hennemann
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
epic series in language and linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
ISSN - 2398-5283
DOI - 10.29007/htvk
Subject(s) - strict constructionism , sentence , focus (optics) , meaning (existential) , computer science , function (biology) , component (thermodynamics) , construction grammar , linguistics , natural language processing , epistemology , philosophy , physics , evolutionary biology , optics , biology , thermodynamics
The present paper is concerned with sentence-initial Lo que ‘What’ – a so-called “copulativa enfática de relativo” (NGLE 2009: 3024). The focus marker Lo que is considered a construction because its form, function and even meaning are not strictly predictable from its component parts. The work with the CREA and CORDE shows that the construction’s frequency has increased over time so that the construction can nowadays be said to occur “with sufficient frequency” (Goldberg 2006: 5; cf. also Hilpert’s concept of constructional change, 2013).