List Constructions: a semantic network

A Crosslinguistic Perspective on Clear and Approximate Categorization, 2022

Caterina Mauri, Ilaria Fiorentini & Eugenio Goria (eds), "Building Categories in Interaction: Linguistic resources at work", 2021

Lists are one of the most common devices that are used in interaction to refer to a category. Yet, there are only few studies that analyze the relationship between lists and categorization. Our paper aims at advancing our knowledge of this relationship, and of lists in general. From a theoretical point of view, we discuss the benefits of integrating the Construction Grammar approach to lists adopted in Masini et al. (2018) with some of the basic assumptions of Interactional Linguistics. From an empirical point of view, we offer a qualitative analysis of lists based on data from two corpora of spoken Italian: the LIP corpus (De Mauro et al., 1993) and the KIParla corpus (Mauri et al., 2019a). In particular, we discuss a case study on the use of the Italian discourse marker "insomma" within list constructions: while it serves as a reformulation marker in most of its uses, insomma also proves to be used (more marginally) as a category introducer within category-building lists. Our findings provide useful insight to ultimately bridge the gap between denotation lists as a reference-oriented phenomenon and other types of mechanisms that are relevant at the discourse level, including conversational repair.

Italian Journal of Linguistics, 2018

According to Umberto Eco, lists respond to two primitive needs of human beings: liberating themselves from the limits of finitude so as to both embrace infinity conceptually, and express it semiotically. One might infer that, given their fundamental cognitive and semiotic function, lists play a major role in language, which is indeed the case. Unfortunately, such a primordial role of lists in language is not sufficiently mirrored by an adequate description and theorization of lists in linguistics. The papers gathered in this Special Issue of the "Italian Journal of Linguistics" (30.1, 2018) show that lists allow to fill gaps: in categorization, in lexical fields, in lexical knowledge, in lexical acquisition, in lexical production. As such, lists can be regarded as a device operating at the intersection between system and discourse, which allows for embedding the infinity of cognitive and semiotic potential in the finitude of linguistic production. This crucial cognitive and semiotic role is mirrored by a relatively stable – albeit flexible – formal structure that allows a list to be recognized as such, independently of its manifestation at the morphological, syntactic or discourse level.

Italian Journal of Linguistics. https://www.italian-journal-linguistics.com/app/uploads/2021/05/5_Barotto.pdf, 2018

The aim of this paper is to analyze list constructions as linguistic tools to build categories in discourse, identifying the inferential processes leading from list constructions to categorization and examining the semantic and morphosyntactic elements that activate abstractive reasoning within lists. Based on real occurrences of lists in written and spoken Italian, we will first of all propose a crucial distinction between exhaustive and non-exhaustive lists, arguing that (non-)exhaustivity determines the layer at which the construction of a category occurs, namely the layer of presupposition or the 'what-is-said' part of the utterance. We will then focus on non-exhaustive lists, arguing that they directly communicate a bottom-up, exemplar-driven abstraction, characterized by the presence of an inherently indexical reference (i.e. reference to further Xs characterized by some underlying Property P), which will lead us to call it 'indexical categorization'. The linguistic analysis of how indexical categorization is expressed in discourse will show a major distinction between i) elements characterized by an indexical semantics, which trigger the abstraction process, and ii) elements providing semantic clues towards the correct construction of the indexical category. We will conclude by taking a broader perspective and by explaining the patterns observed for indexical categorization in the light of the wider process of online reference construction.

Italian Journal of Linguistics, 2018

Lists are a cognitive resource for speakers and have a wide range of semantic and pragmatic functions. One of the main objectives of this paper is to further clarify the links between lists and language proficiency. To do so, we focused on lists produced by native and non-native Italian speakers during a lexical search in the context of spontaneous spoken language. The study presented here is based on a corpus of oral productions elicited through a task. As the paper will show, some elements usually considered in the literature as completely disparate can be considered together within the framework of lists. Furthermore, it will show the gradual emergence as construction of a particular subset of lists of lexical searches. *

2020

The primary concern of this study is to examine list constructions in spoken Hebrew, from two perspectives: an intentional perspective setting out the properties that a linguistic expression needs in order to be considered a list construction (the concept) and an extensional perspective specifying the objects that fall under this construction (typology). The study reviews the nature of list constructions in general, with the grammatical, lexical, semantic, and prosodic features of such constructions analyzed in relation to their discourse functions in everyday spoken Hebrew. The description of list constructions is based on examples from the CoSIH database of conversational interactions recorded during 2001 and 2002.

De Gruyter eBooks, 2023

Abstract This paper provides a study on the network of the non-nominal head constructions (TNCxs[-N]) developed by the Italian taxonomic nouns (TNs) specie, genere, sorta and tipo (SGST). The analysis is focused on the relationship between the semantic development of SGST and their diffusion in various types of text, as well as the frequency and productivity of the TNCxs[-N]. In order to assess whether and how their distribution in different texts has affected the course of their development, data derived from diachronic and synchronic Italian corpora will be analysed. The corpus-based analysis demonstrates that TNs have developed different types and numbers of Cxs[-N] due to a strong interrelationship between lexical, constructional and textual factors. Firstly, the increase in frequency of the abstract taxonomic meaning of the nouns was the first step towards a possible determinologization of the TNs in specific constructional contexts. Secondly, the differing nature of the lexical sources resulted in partially different semantic operations for the various TNCxs[-N], such as categorization and analogical comparison, approximation, exemplification and focusing. This process favoured some constructions, which spread and in turn occupied syntactic spaces of different mobility. If we rank the TNs according to the number and variety of Cxs[-N], tipo occupies the first position, followed by genere, sorta and specie. It seems possible to attribute these differences to constructional factors, i.e. to the greater flexibility of the TipoCxs[-N] at both a formal and semantic level. As a final point, the relationship between the formation of new functions and their use in new contexts is very close and they are mutually reinforcing. This encourages the diachronic study of textual pathways as a source of new knowledge. Keywords: type nouns, type noun constructions, type noun lexical development, genere, specie, sorta, tipo, Italian.

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