ERIC Number: EJ1135054
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 34
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2083-5205
EISSN: N/A
Affordances Perspective and Grammaticalization: Incorporation of Language, Environment and Users in the Model of Semantic Paths
Andrason, Alexander; Visser, Marianna
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, v5 n4 p663-696 2015
The present paper demonstrates that insights from the affordances perspective can contribute to developing a more comprehensive model of grammaticalization. The authors argue that the grammaticalization process is afforded differently depending on the values of three contributing parameters: the factor (schematized as a qualitative-quantitative map or a wave of a gram), environment (understood as the structure of the stream along which the gram travels), and actor (narrowed to certain cognitive-epistemological capacities of the users, in particular to the fact of being a native speaker). By relating grammaticalization to these three parameters and by connecting it to the theory of optimization, the proposed model offers a better approximation to realistic cases of grammaticalization: The actor and environment are overtly incorporated into the model and divergences from canonical grammaticalization paths are both tolerated and explicable.
Descriptors: Grammar, Semantics, Models, Epistemology, Linguistic Theory, Native Speakers, Second Language Learning, Cognitive Ability, Maps, Language Research, Diachronic Linguistics
Adam Mickiewicz University Department of English Studies. Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Ul. Nowy Swiat 28-30, 62-800 Kailsz, Poland. e-mail: ssllt@amu.edu.pll; Web site: http://ssllt.amu.edu.pl/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A