Table Of ContentLobke Ghesquie`re
The Directionality of (Inter)subjectification in the English Noun Phrase
Trends in Linguistics
Studies and Monographs 267
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Editor responsible for this volume
Heiko Narrog
De Gruyter Mouton
The Directionality
of (Inter)subjectification
in the English Noun Phrase
Pathways of Change
by
Lobke Ghesquie`re
De Gruyter Mouton
ISBN 978-3-11-031857-9
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Acknowledgements
During my years as a doctoral and postdoctoral researcher at the KU Leu-
ven I have been very fortunate to have been surrounded by a number of
people who have all in some way contributed to this book. It is those peo-
ple I wish to thank now for their support, help and simply for being there.
First, I want to express my deep gratitude to Kristin Davidse who super-
vised my research. Her enthusiasm for the English noun phrase and its in-
tricacies quickly proved catching and when I was offered the opportunity to
prepare a dissertation on processes of change affecting the NP I eagerly
accepted it. I feel privileged to have been one of Kristin’s students and
greatly appreciate how she has always managed to be both an inspiring and
encouraging supervisor and a caring, warm-hearted colleague. I also deeply
thank my co-supervisor Hendrik De Smet for his ever precise and careful
comments on my writings as well as for being a great colleague and office
mate. I sincerely thank the other members of my doctoral examination
board Tine Breban, Victorina González-Díaz and Heiko Narrog for their
detailed and very useful comments and suggestions. My colleagues at the
linguistics department I warmly thank for their encouragement, chats and
friendship. For financial support, I thank the Interuniversity Attraction
Poles Programme (Belgian State – Belgian Science Policy), project P6/44
Grammaticalization and (inter)subjectification, coordinated by Johan van
der Auwera and the Research Fund Flanders. My research was further sup-
ported by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation (grant no.
HUM2007-60706/FILO) and the European Regional Development Fund,
coordinated by Teresa Fanego.
Finally, I thank the people dearest to me. Alwin, you have been there for
me every minute of every day for the last 15 years. Thank you for your
love, care and your ability to make me laugh at your silly jokes no matter
what state of mind I am in. I can only hope our son and daughter will be-
come as loving and caring as you are and that one day they will make
someone as happy as you have made me. Aike, my sweet, darling little
devil, your smile was all I needed to get me through another day of writing.
This book is dedicated to you.
Contents
Acknowledgements v
Tables xii
Figures xiv
Introduction 1
Part I: Synchrony
Chapter 1
A functional-cognitive model of the English NP 13
1.1. The functional make-up of the English NP 15
1.1.1. Halliday’s structural-functional account 15
1.1.2. Bache’s functional zone model 18
1.1.3. Langacker’s cognitive-functional account 21
1.1.4. A functional-cognitive model of the English NP 23
1.2. Categorization 25
1.2.1. The head of the NP 26
1.2.2. Subcategorization 27
1.3. Modification 28
1.3.1. Descriptive modification 29
1.3.1.1. Objective and subjective descriptive modifiers 30
1.3.1.2. Bounded, unbounded and extreme descriptive
modifiers 33
1.3.2. Degree modification 34
1.3.2.1. Adjective-intensification 35
1.3.2.2. Noun-intensification 36
1.3.2.3. Structural-semantic types of degree
modification 38
1.3.2.4. Degree modification and subjectivity 41
1.4. Determination 44
1.4.1. Primary determination 46
1.4.2. Secondary determination 47
viii Contents
Chapter 2
The English NP: Structure, order and the role of
(inter)subjectvity 51
2.1. The English NP: A mere modifier-head structure? 52
2.2. A semantic, linear subjective-objective model? 55
2.2.1. Langackerian subjectivity 56
2.2.2. Intersubjectivity in Cogitive Grammar 57
2.2.3. Traugottian subjectivity and beyond 59
2.2.4. Traugottian intersubjectivity and beyond 62
2.2.5. Textual meanings and (inter)subjectivity 64
2.2.6. Subjectivity and intersubjectivity: Disentangling the
web 69
2.2.7. Challenging the linear subjective-objective model 71
2.3. A prosodic, field-like model 73
Part II: Diachrony
Chapter 3
(Inter)subjectification and grammaticalization:
Pathways of change in the English NP 81
3.1. Subjectification and intersubjectification 81
3.2. Grammaticalization 86
3.2.1.Onset contexts of grammaticalization 90
3.2.1.1. Ambiguity 90
3.2.1.2. Specialized contexts: Dialogicity and
collocation 92
3.3. The directionality of (inter)subjectification and
grammaticalization 96
3.4. (Inter)subjectification and grammaticalization in the
English NP 98
3.4.1. From description to secondary determination 98
3.4.2. Pathways to noun-intensification 101
3.4.2.1. Pathway 1: From description to noun-
intensification 101
3.4.2.2. Pathway 2: From identification to noun-
intensification 103
3.4.3. Adamson’s lefward and rightward movement
hypotheses 106
3.5. Conclusions 107
Contents ix
Part III: The case studies
Chapter 4
Data and Methods 113
4.1. Selection of the data 113
4.2. Corpora 115
4.2.1. Old English 116
4.2.2. Middle English 116
4.2.3. Modern English 116
4.2.4. Present Day English 117
4.3. Methodology 119
Chapter 5
The completeness adjectives 123
5.1. Complete 125
5.1.1. Descriptive modifier uses of complete 125
5.1.1.1. Bounded descriptive modifier uses of complete 125
5.1.1.2. Descriptive modifier uses of complete, vague
between bounded and unbounded construal 128
5.1.2. Identifying uses of complete 130
5.1.3. Noun-intensifying uses of complete 135
5.1.3.1. Closed scale noun-intensifying uses 135
5.1.3.2. Noun-intensifying uses hovering between an
open scale and a closed scale reading 139
5.1.4. Adjective-intensifying uses of complete 141
5.1.5. From description to identification and noun-
intensification 142
5.2. Total 145
5.2.1. Bounded descriptive modifier uses of total 146
5.2.2. Identifying uses of total 148
5.2.3. Noun-intensifying uses of total 151
5.2.4. Adjective-intensifying uses of total 156
5.2.5. Classifying uses of total 156
5.2.6. From description to identification and noun-
intensification 157
5.3. Whole 159
5.3.1. Descriptive modifier uses of whole 160
5.3.1.1. Bounded descriptive modifier uses of whole 160
5.3.1.2. Bounded/unbounded descriptive modifier uses
of whole 162
