Projects
The development of the conditional use of modal verbs in the West-Germanic Ghent University
The project traces the historical development of the ‘conditional’ use of modal verbs in West Germanic, testing the hypothesis that semantic change correlates with syntactic change, as different structural positions appear to correlate with different modal meanings on the grammaticalisation cline. This comparative project is based on a large-scale corpus study of historical Dutch, English, Frisian, High and Low German.
A contrastive study of evidential verbs of appearance in English and Dutch: Probing the syntax-semantics interface by means of a corpus-based investigation of SEEM/APPEAR/TURN OUT and LIJKEN/SCHIJNEN/BLIJKEN-constructions Ghent University
This project consists in a contrastive study of English and Dutch verbs of appearance, which may serve an evidential function. Adopting a Construction Grammar and grammaticalization theory approach, the project seeks to explore the syntax-semantics interface and to position the constructions on a cline from lexical to grammatical. The constructions’ functions will be characterized in terms of epistemic modality, evidentiality and ...
Processes of change in modal collocation. University of Antwerp
This grant is to support the work conducted by Stein Aerts on project learning regulatory codes from single-cell multi-ome atlases (D12) to predict, model, and compare gene regulatory networks and enhancer logic in brain and cancer cell types, by re-using Flanders Institute for Biotechnology
English phrases, French verbs: Causes and consequences of loan word accommodation biases KU Leuven
When loan words enter their recipient language, they accommodate to the structure and paradigms of that language. The most common accommodation strategy cross‑linguistically is ‘direct insertion’, where recipient‑language inflections can be added directly to the loan verb stem. However, this PhD project has shown that – even under direct insertion – loan words can be biased towards specific inflectional and grammatical categories, and we have ...
Dimensions of Early English do-support (DEEDS). University of Antwerp
How extension works: Determinants of the extension of grammatical and lexical items in English and Dutch. KU Leuven
Extension is the process whereby a linguistic item spreads to new lexical or grammatical environments. This research plan lays out a model of extension, explaining why an item can extend to a given environment at a given time. It formulates three interrelated hypotheses on the starting point, course and end point of extension. The hypotheses are tested on four corpus−based case studies covering different domains of grammar. The focus is on ...
Incidental collocation learning from different modes of input and factors that affect learning KU Leuven
Collocations, i.e., words that habitually co-occur in texts (e.g., strong coffee, heavy smoker), are ubiquitous in language and thus crucial for second/foreign language (L2) learners to master. However, previous research shows that L2 learners tend to have limited knowledge of collocations and underuse or misuse them. Given the limited classroom time for deliberately teaching all L2 collocations, incidental learning, i.e., learning ...
Performative patterns in the history of Greek (500 BCE – 600 CE) Ghent University
In modern languages, polite formulaic phrases often trace back to performative verbs (e.g. performative verbs of asking such as parakaló in Modern Greek, bitte in German or prego in Italian). Despite the communicative significance of these patterns nowadays, remarkably few researchers have investigated the significance of performatives in ancient languages such as Ancient Greek, even though they provide direct evidence of ancient ...