Jacqueline Laws
Biographic Data
| ID | 6701273 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jacqueline Laws |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jacqueline |
| FAMILY NAME | Laws |
| SIGNATURE | LAWS J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Reading |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7275-116X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The role of coercion in the productivity and creativity of complex verb formation
A bstract This article examines the notions of productivity and creativity with respect to complex verbs in English. Verb-forming suffixation involves the attachment of the suffixes ‐ ize , ‐ify , - en and - ate to a base to form complex verbs such as hospitalize , densify , sharpen and hyphenate. Sampson (2016) describes productive processes that conform to existing patterns as F-creativity, or Fixed-creativity, and those that deviate from those…
Complex verbs in English
This paper relates two levels of constructional analysis in accounting for the functions of verb-forming suffixation in English: argument structure constructions and suffix schemas. The function of verbal-forming suffixation expressed by the four suffixes in English - ize , - ify , - en , and - ate , has been shown to exhibit a wide range of semantic categories that correspond to a number of argument structure constructions ( Laws 2023 ). The cur…
Unlearning the boundary-crossing constraint
This study explores the effects of instruction on the acquisition of motion event construal among learners of English as a second language. The challenge for learners with Verb-framed first languages is that they need to ‘unlearn’ the boundary-crossing constraint and conflate manner and motion in the main verb, as in she ran into the bank , however, there is little research on how this domain can be taught. We evaluate performance on story-tellin…
Who's afraid of phrasal verbs? The use of phrasal verbs in expert academic writing in the discipline of linguistics
This study investigates the hitherto understudied area of the use of phrasal verbs (PVs) in expert academic writing in the discipline of Linguistics. It uses a novel methodology combining the notion of grammatical collocation with the Quirkian approach to clause structure analysis and insights from Frame Semantics to identify the extent to which PVs are used in academic writing in comparison with other verb categories. Using a specifically design…
Profiling complex word usage in the speech of preschool children
This corpus-based study provides a baseline of complex word usage patterns in the spontaneous speech of English preschool children to ascertain the characteristics of their derivative vocabulary before literacy development affects language skills. Frequencies of suffixed derivatives produced by ( N = 243) children aged 2–5 and their caregivers were extracted for 58 suffix variants, yielding 558 types from the former and 1,364 from the latter. Bet…
Register variation in spoken British English
The aim of this paper is to identify the effect of register variation in spoken British English on the occurrence of the four principal verb-forming suffixes: ‐ ate , ‐ en , ‐ ify and ‐ ize , by building on the work of Biber et al. (1999) , Plag et al. (1999) and Schmid (2011) . Register variation effects were compared between the less formal Demographically-Sampled and the more formal Context-Governed components of the original 1994 version of t…
A diachronic corpus-based study into the effects of age and gender on the usage patterns of verb-forming suffixation in spoken British English
The aim of this paper is to ascertain the degree to which lexical diversity, density and creativity in everyday spoken British English have changed over a 20-year period, as a function of age and gender. Usage patterns of four verb-forming suffixes, - ate , - en , - ify and - ize , were compared in contemporary speech from the Spoken British National Corpus 2014 Sample (Spoken BNC2014S) with its 20-year old counterpart, the BNC1994’s demographica…
A Grand Tour of English Grammatical Constructions
This introductory text successfully achieves its ambitious goal of demonstrating how the Construction Grammar framework can be applied in a systematic fashion to a range of sub-disciplines within Linguistics. Construction Grammar (CG) is a unified theory of knowledge of language modelled on knowledge of constructions. Each chapter illustrates the application of CG to a different sub-discipline, from those that are more well-established in the lit…
Is the core-peripheral distinction for unaccusative verbs cross-linguistically consistent?
This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation into the characteristics of unaccusativity in Mandarin by building on the gradient approach to split intransitivity (Sorace, 2000) and previous analyses of Mandarin within that framework (Liu, 2007). The study explores the acceptability of unaccusative verbs in the verb-subject construction with respect to their core-peripheral features. The results clearly demonstrate support for the …
Register variation in spoken British English
The aim of this paper is to identify the effect of register variation in spoken British English on the occurrence of the four principal verb-forming suffixes: ‐ ate , ‐ en , ‐ ify and ‐ ize , by building on the work of Biber et al. (1999) , Plag et al. (1999) and Schmid (2011) . Register variation effects were compared between the less formal Demographically-Sampled and the more formal Context-Governed components of the original 1994 version of t…
Is the core-peripheral distinction for unaccusative verbs cross-linguistically consistent?
This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation into the characteristics of unaccusativity in Mandarin by building on the gradient approach to split intransitivity (Sorace, 2000) and previous analyses of Mandarin within that framework (Liu, 2007). The study explores the acceptability of unaccusative verbs in the verb-subject construction with respect to their core-peripheral features. The results clearly demonstrate support for the …
A Grand Tour of English Grammatical Constructions
This introductory text successfully achieves its ambitious goal of demonstrating how the Construction Grammar framework can be applied in a systematic fashion to a range of sub-disciplines within Linguistics. Construction Grammar (CG) is a unified theory of knowledge of language modelled on knowledge of constructions. Each chapter illustrates the application of CG to a different sub-discipline, from those that are more well-established in the lit…
A diachronic corpus-based study into the effects of age and gender on the usage patterns of verb-forming suffixation in spoken British English
The aim of this paper is to ascertain the degree to which lexical diversity, density and creativity in everyday spoken British English have changed over a 20-year period, as a function of age and gender. Usage patterns of four verb-forming suffixes, - ate , - en , - ify and - ize , were compared in contemporary speech from the Spoken British National Corpus 2014 Sample (Spoken BNC2014S) with its 20-year old counterpart, the BNC1994’s demographica…
Register variation in spoken British English
The aim of this paper is to identify the effect of register variation in spoken British English on the occurrence of the four principal verb-forming suffixes: ‐ ate , ‐ en , ‐ ify and ‐ ize , by building on the work of Biber et al. (1999) , Plag et al. (1999) and Schmid (2011) . Register variation effects were compared between the less formal Demographically-Sampled and the more formal Context-Governed components of the original 1994 version of t…
Profiling complex word usage in the speech of preschool children
This corpus-based study provides a baseline of complex word usage patterns in the spontaneous speech of English preschool children to ascertain the characteristics of their derivative vocabulary before literacy development affects language skills. Frequencies of suffixed derivatives produced by ( N = 243) children aged 2–5 and their caregivers were extracted for 58 suffix variants, yielding 558 types from the former and 1,364 from the latter. Bet…
Who's afraid of phrasal verbs? The use of phrasal verbs in expert academic writing in the discipline of linguistics
This study investigates the hitherto understudied area of the use of phrasal verbs (PVs) in expert academic writing in the discipline of Linguistics. It uses a novel methodology combining the notion of grammatical collocation with the Quirkian approach to clause structure analysis and insights from Frame Semantics to identify the extent to which PVs are used in academic writing in comparison with other verb categories. Using a specifically design…
Unlearning the boundary-crossing constraint
This study explores the effects of instruction on the acquisition of motion event construal among learners of English as a second language. The challenge for learners with Verb-framed first languages is that they need to ‘unlearn’ the boundary-crossing constraint and conflate manner and motion in the main verb, as in she ran into the bank , however, there is little research on how this domain can be taught. We evaluate performance on story-tellin…
The role of coercion in the productivity and creativity of complex verb formation
A bstract This article examines the notions of productivity and creativity with respect to complex verbs in English. Verb-forming suffixation involves the attachment of the suffixes ‐ ize , ‐ify , - en and - ate to a base to form complex verbs such as hospitalize , densify , sharpen and hyphenate. Sampson (2016) describes productive processes that conform to existing patterns as F-creativity, or Fixed-creativity, and those that deviate from those…
Complex verbs in English
This paper relates two levels of constructional analysis in accounting for the functions of verb-forming suffixation in English: argument structure constructions and suffix schemas. The function of verbal-forming suffixation expressed by the four suffixes in English - ize , - ify , - en , and - ate , has been shown to exhibit a wide range of semantic categories that correspond to a number of argument structure constructions ( Laws 2023 ). The cur…
Linguistics (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Verb (6 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (4 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (4 works) · History (3 works)