Grammaticalité et changement d’acceptabilité : le cas de help
This paper aims at establishing the role of processing factors on the evolution of acceptability in two case studies: the infinitival complementation of the verb help (with or without to) and the distribution of the construction [capacity + help]. The corpora chosen for this study, in particular COH...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires du Midi
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Anglophonia |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/1175 |
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| author | Mathilde Pinson |
| author_facet | Mathilde Pinson |
| author_sort | Mathilde Pinson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper aims at establishing the role of processing factors on the evolution of acceptability in two case studies: the infinitival complementation of the verb help (with or without to) and the distribution of the construction [capacity + help]. The corpora chosen for this study, in particular COHA and the Old Bailey Proceedings, reveal that these factors do not simply help to explain the low frequency of dispreferred structures, but can even be considered the main factor triggering language change, in line with Rohdenburg’s prediction (2003: 243). The principle of horror aequi (Brugmann 1909) turns out to be the initial impetus leading to the current disappearance of to after help and questions of processing are shown to have engendered the obsolescence of the [capacity + help]NPI construction. As these processing factors limit the frequency of dispreferred structures, they contribute to diminishing speakers / hearers’ familiarity with these structures, which gradually alters their acceptability judgements, and, in turn, the grammar of English. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2a4f85f58c514d1f89f3522a0569a43b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1278-3331 2427-0466 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires du Midi |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Anglophonia |
| spelling | doaj-art-2a4f85f58c514d1f89f3522a0569a43b2025-01-30T12:33:14ZengPresses Universitaires du MidiAnglophonia1278-33312427-04662018-07-012310.4000/anglophonia.1175Grammaticalité et changement d’acceptabilité : le cas de helpMathilde PinsonThis paper aims at establishing the role of processing factors on the evolution of acceptability in two case studies: the infinitival complementation of the verb help (with or without to) and the distribution of the construction [capacity + help]. The corpora chosen for this study, in particular COHA and the Old Bailey Proceedings, reveal that these factors do not simply help to explain the low frequency of dispreferred structures, but can even be considered the main factor triggering language change, in line with Rohdenburg’s prediction (2003: 243). The principle of horror aequi (Brugmann 1909) turns out to be the initial impetus leading to the current disappearance of to after help and questions of processing are shown to have engendered the obsolescence of the [capacity + help]NPI construction. As these processing factors limit the frequency of dispreferred structures, they contribute to diminishing speakers / hearers’ familiarity with these structures, which gradually alters their acceptability judgements, and, in turn, the grammar of English.https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/1175grammaticalityacceptabilityinfinitive(de)constructionalisationnegative polarity item |
| spellingShingle | Mathilde Pinson Grammaticalité et changement d’acceptabilité : le cas de help Anglophonia grammaticality acceptability infinitive (de)constructionalisation negative polarity item |
| title | Grammaticalité et changement d’acceptabilité : le cas de help |
| title_full | Grammaticalité et changement d’acceptabilité : le cas de help |
| title_fullStr | Grammaticalité et changement d’acceptabilité : le cas de help |
| title_full_unstemmed | Grammaticalité et changement d’acceptabilité : le cas de help |
| title_short | Grammaticalité et changement d’acceptabilité : le cas de help |
| title_sort | grammaticalite et changement d acceptabilite le cas de help |
| topic | grammaticality acceptability infinitive (de)constructionalisation negative polarity item |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/1175 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mathildepinson grammaticaliteetchangementdacceptabilitelecasdehelp |