Open AccessConstructional complexification
Author(s) -
Evie Coussé
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
taal en tongval
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2215-1214
pISSN - 0039-8691
DOI - 10.5117/tet2015.2.cous
Subject(s) - modal verb , modal , linguistics , construction grammar , complexification , perspective (graphical) , grammar , verb , point (geometry) , history , inflection , computer science , philosophy , mathematics , artificial intelligence , pure mathematics , geometry , chemistry , polymer chemistry
This articles investigates the rise of double modal constructions in Dutch. Double modal constructions combine two modal auxiliaries with one lexical verb (e.g. zal moeten gaan ‘shall have to go’). Little is known on why and how such complex verb constructions came into being. This article presents historical data for the earliest double modal constructions in Middle Dutch (13th century) drawing on both previous corpus studies and on new empirical observations. The historical data is then analyzed from a diachronic construction grammar perspective. The main theoretical point of this article is that the emergence of double modal constructions is a case of ‘constructional complexification’, i.e. the process in which constructions become increasingly larger in size.