| Popis: |
Grammaticalisation research has identified the tight integration of structures into paradigms as the final state of many grammaticalisation processes. Construction grammar approaches are particularly suitable for modelling such cases of paradigmaticisation since they invite researchers to study constructions not in isolation but in a wider network context. Drawing on this theoretical perspective, this paper investigates the grammaticalisation of a whole family of constructions. Based on synchronic and diachronic corpus studies, it presents quantitative analyses on the interrelated German constructions [ein wenig X] (‘a little’), [ein bisschen X] (‘a bit’), [ein Quäntchen X] (lit. ‘a quantum’), [ein Tick X] (lit. ‘a tick’) and [eine Idee X] (lit. ‘an idea’). The paper discusses to what extent their individual and shared develop- ments can be understood in terms of paradigm formation, concluding that early paradigmaticisation involves emergent paradigms of multiple orders in the sense of constructions at different levels of schematicity. Change appears to be guided mainly by associations to micro-constructions and lower-level meso-constructions (e.g. Traugott 2007). Only in advanced stages of grammaticalisation, when micro-constructions become sufficiently homogeneous, do high-level abstractions – i.e. paradigms in the traditional understanding of the term – act as decisive organisational forces. The key forces at the domain-general cognitive level are argued to be efficiency-driven automation and analogy. |
