Peter Petré
Biographic Data
| ID | 517768 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Peter Petré |
| GIVEN NAMES | Peter |
| FAMILY NAME | Petré |
| SIGNATURE | PETRÉ P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Antwerp |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6503-1380 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Sanz-Sánchez, Israel
Aspectual marking from a typologically uncommon origin
This article follows the early grammaticalization path of a durative adverb to an aspect marker for a range of aspectual uses including durative, focalized, and habitual. In a usage-based approach, we investigate the behavior of hamē(w) in a Middle Persian database with respect to several grammatical variables, and we check its developmental path against the model proposed for the Romance languages by Bertinetto, Ebert and de Groot, aiming to unc…
On the probability and direction of morphosyntactic lifespan change
The aim of this study is to further contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the nature of “morphosyntactic lifespan change,” defined here as observable shifts in the grammatical choices individuals make between competing morphosyntactic structures. Through a quantitative case study of competition between two types of ing- nominals in seventeenth-century English, in which we factor in the grammatical contexts in which the variant structures can…
Standing out with the progressive
In this paper we demonstrate on the basis of diachronic and synchronic data from a variety of languages that progressives are particularly liable to be used for the expression of extravagance. We define extravagant language use as a signaling mechanism that consists in the exploitation of an unconventional construction in a given context as a way for speakers to indicate that there is something non-canonical about the situation that they are repo…
Individuality in complex systems
For a long time, linguists more or less denied the existence of individual differences in grammatical knowledge. While recent years have seen an explosion of research on individual differences, most usage-based research has failed to address this issue and has remained reluctant to study the synergy between individual and community grammars. This paper focuses on individual differences in linguistic knowledge and processing, and examines how thes…
Grammaticalization and the linguistic individual
This paper reviews theoretical and methodological advances and issues in lifespan research and discusses how the issues at stake are addressed in an ongoing research project. Summarizing the state of the art, we conclude that next to nothing is known about lifespan changes affecting syntactic or grammaticalizing constructions that goes beyond exploratory or anecdotal evidence. The Mind-Bending Grammars project, which examines the adaptive powers …
The real-time dynamics of the individual and the community in grammaticalization
Grammaticalization research has led to important insights into the driving processes of innovation and propagation. Yet what has generally been lacking is a principled way of analyzing their interaction. Research into innovation focuses on the role of individual language users and tends to take a more qualitative approach, while propagation is typically studied in terms of the community grammar and tends to be more statistically driven. We propos…
Lexicalization and grammaticalization
In this article we show that verbo-nominal expressions be on the/one’s way/road emerged as lexical composite predicates in Old English. These templates came to be elaborated by directional adjuncts, adjuncts describing states or events, and purpose clauses. In Late Modern English, the structure with a to -infinitive was functionally reinterpreted as a secondary auxiliary + lexical head, whose core sense is imminential aspect. On the basis of this…
Why is there a Present-Day English absolute
This paper examines the divergent evolutions of the Absolute Construction (AC) in the history of the Germanic languages, with a focus on English and Dutch, and provides an explanation of why only the English AC retained its frequency and productivity rate. Three language-internal factors are appealed to in order to account for this divergence: (i) increased with-augmentation of ACs results in fuzzy boundaries with the more frequently used gerunds…
On ways of being on the way
This article presents a case study of a set of constructions containing the related way-nouns road , way , track and route , exemplified by (i) the farm road to the house , (ii) A senior Soviet official is on his way to the Iraqi capital , (iii) spies Burgess and Maclean escaped from Britain en route to Moscow , (iv) Queensland is on track to become the top bowling state in Australia. These distinct constructions are a case of layering (Hopper 19…
General productivity
This article provides an analysis—within the framework of Radical Construction Grammar—of how become developed into a copula ‘become’ out of an original sense ‘arrive’, and wax , originally ‘grow’, also came to be used as a copula ‘become’. Importantly, it explains why these verbs successfully became fully productive copulas in a very short period of time. It is argued that this happened after a pre-copular stage had reached a cognitive threshold…
Constructional change in Old and Middle English Copular Constructions and its impact on the lexicon
Applying the framework of Radical Construction Grammar to diachronic phenomena, the present paper examines Copular Constructions in Old and Middle English, with special attention to the loss of the Copula weorðan ‘become’. First we reconstruct the extension of the OE Verbs is, beon, weorðan and becuman to various types of Copular Constructions. We further argue that schematic Copular Constructions emerge in overlapping usage areas resulting from …
The real-time dynamics of the individual and the community in grammaticalization
Grammaticalization research has led to important insights into the driving processes of innovation and propagation. Yet what has generally been lacking is a principled way of analyzing their interaction. Research into innovation focuses on the role of individual language users and tends to take a more qualitative approach, while propagation is typically studied in terms of the community grammar and tends to be more statistically driven. We propos…
Individuality in complex systems
For a long time, linguists more or less denied the existence of individual differences in grammatical knowledge. While recent years have seen an explosion of research on individual differences, most usage-based research has failed to address this issue and has remained reluctant to study the synergy between individual and community grammars. This paper focuses on individual differences in linguistic knowledge and processing, and examines how thes…
Standing out with the progressive
In this paper we demonstrate on the basis of diachronic and synchronic data from a variety of languages that progressives are particularly liable to be used for the expression of extravagance. We define extravagant language use as a signaling mechanism that consists in the exploitation of an unconventional construction in a given context as a way for speakers to indicate that there is something non-canonical about the situation that they are repo…
General productivity
This article provides an analysis—within the framework of Radical Construction Grammar—of how become developed into a copula ‘become’ out of an original sense ‘arrive’, and wax , originally ‘grow’, also came to be used as a copula ‘become’. Importantly, it explains why these verbs successfully became fully productive copulas in a very short period of time. It is argued that this happened after a pre-copular stage had reached a cognitive threshold…
On the probability and direction of morphosyntactic lifespan change
The aim of this study is to further contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the nature of “morphosyntactic lifespan change,” defined here as observable shifts in the grammatical choices individuals make between competing morphosyntactic structures. Through a quantitative case study of competition between two types of ing- nominals in seventeenth-century English, in which we factor in the grammatical contexts in which the variant structures can…
Constructional change in Old and Middle English Copular Constructions and its impact on the lexicon
Applying the framework of Radical Construction Grammar to diachronic phenomena, the present paper examines Copular Constructions in Old and Middle English, with special attention to the loss of the Copula weorðan ‘become’. First we reconstruct the extension of the OE Verbs is, beon, weorðan and becuman to various types of Copular Constructions. We further argue that schematic Copular Constructions emerge in overlapping usage areas resulting from …
On ways of being on the way
This article presents a case study of a set of constructions containing the related way-nouns road , way , track and route , exemplified by (i) the farm road to the house , (ii) A senior Soviet official is on his way to the Iraqi capital , (iii) spies Burgess and Maclean escaped from Britain en route to Moscow , (iv) Queensland is on track to become the top bowling state in Australia. These distinct constructions are a case of layering (Hopper 19…
General productivity
This article provides an analysis—within the framework of Radical Construction Grammar—of how become developed into a copula ‘become’ out of an original sense ‘arrive’, and wax , originally ‘grow’, also came to be used as a copula ‘become’. Importantly, it explains why these verbs successfully became fully productive copulas in a very short period of time. It is argued that this happened after a pre-copular stage had reached a cognitive threshold…
Lexicalization and grammaticalization
In this article we show that verbo-nominal expressions be on the/one’s way/road emerged as lexical composite predicates in Old English. These templates came to be elaborated by directional adjuncts, adjuncts describing states or events, and purpose clauses. In Late Modern English, the structure with a to -infinitive was functionally reinterpreted as a secondary auxiliary + lexical head, whose core sense is imminential aspect. On the basis of this…
Why is there a Present-Day English absolute
This paper examines the divergent evolutions of the Absolute Construction (AC) in the history of the Germanic languages, with a focus on English and Dutch, and provides an explanation of why only the English AC retained its frequency and productivity rate. Three language-internal factors are appealed to in order to account for this divergence: (i) increased with-augmentation of ACs results in fuzzy boundaries with the more frequently used gerunds…
The real-time dynamics of the individual and the community in grammaticalization
Grammaticalization research has led to important insights into the driving processes of innovation and propagation. Yet what has generally been lacking is a principled way of analyzing their interaction. Research into innovation focuses on the role of individual language users and tends to take a more qualitative approach, while propagation is typically studied in terms of the community grammar and tends to be more statistically driven. We propos…
Grammaticalization and the linguistic individual
This paper reviews theoretical and methodological advances and issues in lifespan research and discusses how the issues at stake are addressed in an ongoing research project. Summarizing the state of the art, we conclude that next to nothing is known about lifespan changes affecting syntactic or grammaticalizing constructions that goes beyond exploratory or anecdotal evidence. The Mind-Bending Grammars project, which examines the adaptive powers …
Standing out with the progressive
In this paper we demonstrate on the basis of diachronic and synchronic data from a variety of languages that progressives are particularly liable to be used for the expression of extravagance. We define extravagant language use as a signaling mechanism that consists in the exploitation of an unconventional construction in a given context as a way for speakers to indicate that there is something non-canonical about the situation that they are repo…
Individuality in complex systems
For a long time, linguists more or less denied the existence of individual differences in grammatical knowledge. While recent years have seen an explosion of research on individual differences, most usage-based research has failed to address this issue and has remained reluctant to study the synergy between individual and community grammars. This paper focuses on individual differences in linguistic knowledge and processing, and examines how thes…
Aspectual marking from a typologically uncommon origin
This article follows the early grammaticalization path of a durative adverb to an aspect marker for a range of aspectual uses including durative, focalized, and habitual. In a usage-based approach, we investigate the behavior of hamē(w) in a Middle Persian database with respect to several grammatical variables, and we check its developmental path against the model proposed for the Romance languages by Bertinetto, Ebert and de Groot, aiming to unc…
On the probability and direction of morphosyntactic lifespan change
The aim of this study is to further contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the nature of “morphosyntactic lifespan change,” defined here as observable shifts in the grammatical choices individuals make between competing morphosyntactic structures. Through a quantitative case study of competition between two types of ing- nominals in seventeenth-century English, in which we factor in the grammatical contexts in which the variant structures can…
Sanz-Sánchez, Israel
Linguistic Variation and Morphology (10 works) · Linguistics (10 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (10 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · History (7 works) · Grammaticalization (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Mathematics (4 works)