Binominal Quantifiers in Spanish: Conceptually-driven Analogy in Diachrony and Synchrony (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie Book 391)

Quantification is central to human experience (cf. Aristotle’s Organon): the most basic aspects of human life and reasoning involve quantity assessment. This study sheds lights on a highly frequent way to express quantification in Spanish, viz. the binominal quantifier (e.g. un aluviónN1 de llamadasN2 ‘a flood of calls’) which assesses the quantity of N2 in terms of N1. This volume offers a corpus-based, cognitive-functional analysis of binominal quantifiers (BQ) in Spanish. The first part is dedicated to the development of BQs and starts from the assumption that BQs are cross-linguistically involved in grammaticalization. This monograph frames the history of BQs in Spanish in terms of constructional levels of change and highlights the complex interplay between analogical thinking and conceptual persistence. The second part motivates both the ample variation in the paradigm of quantifying nouns and their combinatorial pattern by the very same mechanism of conceptually-driven analogy. The study thus yields an innovative functional model of BQs in Spanish, in synchrony and in diachrony, with major implications for reference grammars and theory building. Die Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie zählen zu den renommiertesten Fachpublikationen der Romanistik. Sie pflegen ein gesamtromanisches Profil, das neben den Nationalsprachen auch die weniger im Fokus stehenden romanischen Sprachen mit einschließt. In der Reihe erscheinen ausgewählte Monographien und Sammelbände zur Sprachwissenschaft in ihrer ganzen Breite, zur mediävistischen Literaturwissenschaft und zur Editionsphilologie This volume presents a cognitive-functional analysis of binominal quantifiers in Spanish. The leitmotiv underlying the case studies is the iconicity principle, i.e. the motivated, non-arbitrary nature of syntax. Conceptually-driven analogy is shown to be, diachronically, the triggering mechanism in the development of the construction and, synchronically, the guiding principle in its combinatorial pattern Triggering mechanism in the development of the construction and, synchronically, the guiding principle in its combinatorial pattern, this book presents a cognitive-functional analysis of binominal quantifiers in Spanish. Katrien Dora Verveckken. Dissertation. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 503-516).