Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > A diachronic corpus study of prenominal "zo'n" ...

Electronic data

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

A diachronic corpus study of prenominal "zo'n" 'so a' in Dutch: Pathways and (inter)subjectification

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>2/08/2019
<mark>Journal</mark>Functions of Language
Issue number2
Volume26
Number of pages32
Pages (from-to)216-247
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Like its English counterpart such, Dutch zo’n has identifying and intensifying uses. The established pathway from the former to the latter is found to constitute a proportional rather than a discrete shift here. The strong presence of intensifying uses from the start, as compared to the older Dutch marker zulk, is argued to be due to preexisting constructions that are alike formally and convey intensification. Zo’n is also found to have a recognitional and an approximating use. The case is made that the former has evolved out of the identifying use and that the latter is a development which is independent from the other uses functionally but has modeled itself on them formally. Finally, it is argued that the semantic shift from identification to intensification is best captured by the well-known pathway from textual to expressive, although the unidirectionality of this cline is uncertain, and that the change from identification to recognition supports a recent proposal to distinguish immediate and extended intersubjectivity.

Bibliographic note

This article has been accepted for publication in Functions of Language, Volume 26, Issue 2, 2019, pages: 217–248, © 2019 John Benjamins, the publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use the material in any form.