32.2868, Diss: Cognitive Science; Historical Linguistics; Morphology; Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics: Anke Lensch: ''Onlookers, passers-by, sweeper-uppers, opt-outers and dumber-downerers. A corpus-based study of English -er nominalizations''

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LINGUIST List: Vol-32-2868. Thu Sep 09 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.2868, Diss: Cognitive Science; Historical Linguistics; Morphology; Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics: Anke Lensch: ''Onlookers, passers-by, sweeper-uppers, opt-outers and dumber-downerers. A corpus-based study of English -er nominalizations''

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Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2021 01:40:10
From: Anke Lensch [anlensch at uni-koblenz.de]
Subject: Onlookers, passers-by, sweeper-uppers, opt-outers and dumber-downerers. A corpus-based study of English -er nominalizations

 
Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz 
Program: Department for English and Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2020 

Author: Anke Lensch

Dissertation Title: Onlookers, passers-by, sweeper-uppers, opt-outers and
dumber-downerers. A corpus-based study of English -er
nominalizations. 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
                     Historical Linguistics
                     Morphology
                     Syntax
                     Text/Corpus Linguistics


Dissertation Director(s):
Prof. Britta Mondorf
Prof. Graeme Trousdale
Prof. Damaris Nübling
Prof. Susanne Wagner
Prof. Jörg Meibauer

Dissertation Abstract:

English -er nominalizations of particle verbs (VPARTs) and prepositional verbs
(VPREPs) are characterized by a high degree of formal and functional
variation. This study is able to capture the extent of this variation by
analysing more than 24.187 nominalizations that were extracted from diachronic
and synchronic British and American English corpora, which together amount to
roughly 3 billion tokens. Thus, the present analysis constitutes the most
extensive quantitative and qualitative empirical analysis of English
VPART/PREP -er nominalizations to date. 

Formally, VPART/PREP -er nominalizations vary in the succession of the
PART/PREP and the verb (V), the placement of the -er suffix and the number of
times the -er suffix attaches to the complex base. It is possible to 
distinguish five different patterns: 
 pattern 1: onlooker PART/PREP Ver 
 pattern 2: passer-by Ver PART/PREP 
 pattern 3: sweeper-upper Ver PART/PREPer 
 pattern 4: opt-outer V PARTer 
 pattern 5: dumber-downerer Ver PARTerer 

Each instantiation of pattern 2 breaches the Right-Hand Head Rule (cf.
Williams 1981). Yet, in the Present-day English data set, pattern 2 is the
most frequent and most productive of the five patterns. In addition, 
instantiations of pattern 3 and 5 violate the Horror Aequi Principle (cf.
Rohdenburg 2003) and thus they appear to be particularly unruly. However, upon
close examination, the derivatives in this study reveal that multiple 
marking with -er is quite systematic. What is more, derivatives featuring
multiple -er suffixes are too frequently attested to simply dismiss them as
mere outliers. In applying the framework of Construction Grammar, this study
for the first time proposes that optional two-fold and multiple attachment of
the -er suffix is based on an argument structure generalization. 

By testing how far differences in form entail differences in meaning, moreover
this study ascertains how far the five nominalization patterns can be regarded
variant forms of the same construction. Both onlooker
(pattern 1) and looker-on (pattern 2) denote a ‘spectator.’ Consequently, the
two derivatives are two variant forms of the same construction, which violates
Goldberg’s Synonymy Principle (cf. Goldberg 1995: 67). In 
contrast, comparing overtaker ‘someone outpacing someone else’ (pattern 1) and
taker-over ‘the seizing of control over e.g. a company’ (pattern 2) leads to
the conclusion that the two cannot be considered variants of 
one another, as the two forms do not share equivalent descriptive meaning. The
step-by-step analysis of more than 24.187 VPART/PREP -er nominalizations leads
to the conclusion that most of them inherit their respective base’s
descriptive meaning as well as the properties of the -er suffix construction.
Hence, the semantic multifariousness 
of VPART/PREPs can mostly be attributed to the notion of default inheritance.
While this study gauges statistical tendencies among the highly heterogenous
group of VPART/PREPs, importantly, the data analysis moreover unveils many
exceptions to general statistical trends. 

In one way or another, all VPART/PREP -er derivatives under scrutiny in this
study are connected, either by at least one aspect of their form or function.
In establishing the factors that govern the variation and by pointing out
ambiguities and exceptions, this study argues that VPART/PREP -er
nominalizations form a tightly knit and multi-facetted constructional cluster
of several closely related constructions.




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