Projects
The development of small clauses in English: constructional growth and decline KU Leuven
This study investigates the development of the English Secondary Predicate Construction, against the background of current views on language change. A Secondary Predicate Construction, or SPC, consists of a verb, a noun phrase (NP), and an Xphrase (XP). The NP and XP are in a predicative relation, similar to a subject-predicate relation in a copular clause. In (1a) for instance, consider him handsome involves a verb ...
Towards a diachronic typology of the middle voice KU Leuven
The middle voice is a complex linguistic domain, as it lies at the interface between morphosyntax and the structure of the lexicon. A typical example of a middle marking language is Dutch, in which the ‘reflexive’ pronoun zich in fact behaves as a middle marker, as it is used either lexically with verbs that only occur with the reflexive, e.g. zich vergissen ‘be mistaken’, or to derive reflexives from transitive verbs, e.g. zich(zelf) slaan ...
The factive-reported distinction in English. Representational and interpersonal semantics. KU Leuven
Ever since Kiparsky & Kiparsky's (1970) seminal paper, it has been recognized that the English complementation system makes a distinction between factive complements (e.g. He doesn't like John's nomination for the award/that John was nominated for the award.) and reported complements (e.g. He said ?John's nomination for the award/He said that John was nominated for the award.) However, the semantico-functional motivation for this ...
The complex image of a God fighting for his people. A cognate-linguistic and theological-ethical study of the war narratives of het book Joshua. KU Leuven
Recent research on biblical historiography shows a growing interest in the ideological nature of history writing. Influenced by the ‘linguistic turn’ in the philosophy of history, biblical scholars started to integrate a number of critical approaches to biblical historiography to explain the relation between ideology and history in a more adequate way. The relation between ideology and language however, has not been studied systematically. ...
The absolute construction in 15th to 18th century Spanish and Dutch translations from Latin. On Latin influence and natural language change KU Leuven
The aim of this project is to accurately describe the development of the (pre)classical Spanish (Desaparecidas las joyas, llamaron a la policÃa) and Dutch (Wij zijn, alle factoren in aanmerking genomen, zeer tevreden) absolute construction (AC) on the basis of an exhaustive, corpus-based study. Previous research explained its origin either as an innovation ex novo, namely a case of Latin loan syntax in 15th-16th century erudite Renaissance ...
Contrastive linguistics: applied and theoretical (CLAT). KU Leuven
Function and form of the Spanish nominal vocative: between production, cognition and personality. Ghent University
Variation in Chinese analytic causative constructions: A multidimensional study KU Leuven
Cognitive Sociolinguistics, an enterprise that integrates Cognitive Linguistics and Sociolinguistics, aims to take account of formal, conceptual and lectal dimensions for a more realistic model of language variation. In line with recent development in Cognitive Sociolinguistics, this project aims to provide a multidimensional investigation of Chinese analytic causative constructions from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives. This ...
Function and form of the Spanish nominal vocative: between production, cognition and personality Ghent University
This project aims to provide a multivariate analysis of the nominal vocative in contemporary Madrilenian Spanish (e.g. Hola, tÃo ‘Hey, dude’) from a cognitive-functional, usage-based perspective. The formal and functional productivity of the Spanish nominal vocative expressions will be scrutinized in light of (socio)linguistic, situational variables, and personality determinants of the speakers, by means of both corpus and experimental ...