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| Pathways of Lexicalization, Constructionlization, and Pathways of Lexicalization, Constructionlization, and Grammaticalization in Lexically Vogue Expressions: A Case Study of “（chelizi） iyou”， “fanersai wenxue” from Chinese， “（Kabe） don” from Japanese |
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Abstract “Innovative uses” in language, an important trigger for grammaticalization, is best seen in the vogue expressions of a language. The expressions could serve as a window to look for the pathways of change in the uses or grammaticalization. This change is generally taken to form a continuum (or a cline) with lexicalization, yet constructionalization, their recent relations, is still to define their relations. This paper is an attempt at an elucidation of the relations by examining the vogue expressions of “(chelizi) ziyou” ([cherry] freedom), “fanersai (wenxue)” (Versailles [literature]) from Chinese, “(Kabe) don” ([壁]ドン) from Japanese. It finds that constructionalization completely overlaps the process of lexicalization. The former makes salient the schematic aspect, the latter the structural. Grammaticalization occurs after the two changes. This finding offers a supplement to the argument posed by Brinton & Traugott which argues that “both lexicalization and grammaticalization are gradual processes” while the lexicalization of vogue expressions is usually abrupt.
The pathways of change of the three expressions are spelt out as follows: (1) “chelizi ziyou”: “caiwu” (finance)+“ziyou” (freedom) is metonymically constructionalized into a scheme—“the absence of restriction of things in amount”, and idiomatized; and then it is metonymically expanded to cherries, hence an expression further lexicalized, “chelizi ziyou” (cherry freedom); and “ziyou”, the internal element of the lexicalized expression, is being grammaticalized into an affix. (2) As to “fanersai (wenxue)”, the lexicalization of the internal element is followed by that of the expression as a whole, and finally the grammaticalization of the element. (3) 「壁ドン」 (Kabe don): Its lexicalization comes about through abbreviation, ellipsis, and reanalysis of 「手を壁にドンとつく」 (tewokabenidontotuku), and the internal element, 「ドン」 (don), of the lexicalized expression undergoes grammaticalization.
What the three cases have in common in terms of pathways of lexicalization, grammaticalization, and their interface, is the sequence of their lexicalization occurring before the grammaticalization, and the part of the internal elements only to be grammaticalized. The pathways of lexicalization in “(chelizi) ziyou” and 「（壁）ドン」 are largely different, yet the grammaticalizations of “~ziyou” and 「～ドン」 are fairly similar in that the grammaticalized is both the vogue part, which distinguishes them from “fanersai (wenxue)” with no such grammaticalization. When the sources of the three expressions are examined, it is found that their paths of lexicalization are typical: The two Chinese expressions are lexicalized from phrases while the Japanese expression from a clause. Thus it can be concluded that “(chelizi) ziyou” and 「（壁）ドン」 are of the same type of grammaticalization, and that the two Chinese vogue expressions of the same type of lexicalization. Their differences in the pathways of change are admittedly not surprising, but their sequence of “lexicalization>grammaticalization of internal elements of a construction” can be of some typological significance.
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Published: 05 September 2022
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