Abstract
In this paper I consider the idiosyncratic development of the adverb long in such English idioms as I won’t be/take long. Various word classes have been proposed, including noun and preposition. I review examples from the OED and the Penn parsed corpora. Although adverb fits most of the contentious data best, the choice between adjective and adverb can be unclear.
We need not assume that every word in every grammatical sentence must belong to one and only one word class (Denison 2013). I suggest that in certain usages long exhibits adjective ~ adverb underspecification, and that such behaviour can be demonstrated in Old and Middle English. Other examples are offered of adjective ~ adverb underspecification. While long itself can be underspecified for class or can behave as a semi-grammatical, decategorialised word, at the phrasal level its distribution is less anomalous; furthermore, certain semantic and pragmatic features correlate with these usages. Accordingly, it is sensible to describe the history of such usages in Construction Grammar terms. Evidence from current Danish lends support to the scenario proposed, as well as providing useful morphological evidence of word class status.
We need not assume that every word in every grammatical sentence must belong to one and only one word class (Denison 2013). I suggest that in certain usages long exhibits adjective ~ adverb underspecification, and that such behaviour can be demonstrated in Old and Middle English. Other examples are offered of adjective ~ adverb underspecification. While long itself can be underspecified for class or can behave as a semi-grammatical, decategorialised word, at the phrasal level its distribution is less anomalous; furthermore, certain semantic and pragmatic features correlate with these usages. Accordingly, it is sensible to describe the history of such usages in Construction Grammar terms. Evidence from current Danish lends support to the scenario proposed, as well as providing useful morphological evidence of word class status.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Category change from a constructional perspective |
| Editors | Kristel Van Goethem, Muriel Norde, Evie Coussé, Gudrun Vanderbauwhede |
| Place of Publication | Amsterdam |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company |
| Chapter | 5 |
| Pages | 119-148 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978 90 272 6435 0 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978 90 272 0041 9 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Publication series
| Name | Constructional Approaches to Language |
|---|---|
| Publisher | John Benjamins |
| ISSN (Print) | 1573-594X |
Keywords
- Construction grammar
- category change
- Conversion