List Constructions

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. *

This paper provides the first cross-linguistic study on non-exhaustive connectives. After defining non-exhaustivity and briefly exploring the range of linguistic strategies encoding it across languages, the methodology underlying the study will be discussed. Based on the analysis of 35 languages, for which at least one non-exhaustive connective was found, it will be argued that non-exhaustive connectives exhibit quite homogenous distributional properties and derive from a restricted set of recurrent diachronic sources. Speakers are indeed likely to mobilizei) elements already encoding or implying non-exhaustivity,ii) elements expressing an epistemic condition of uncertainty, oriii) elements expressing exemplification.

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. *

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. *

This paper contributes to the research on the morphological expression of approximation by analysing the discontinuous reduplication pattern N-non-N in Italian, giving rise to complex nominals (e.g. sapone non sapone lit. soap neg soap ‘non-soap/soap-free cleanser’). The analysis is based on a dataset of 4609 tokens and 692 types extracted from corpora and annotated for orthographical, phonological and categorical parameters. Given its unpredictable formal and semantic properties, N-non-N is analysed as a semi-schematic and productive construction, which is hypothesized to have emerged microdiachronically from the entrenchment and reanalysis of the expression tessuto non tessuto ‘nonwoven fabric’. We claim that the N-non-N construction bears a general function of ‘non-prototypicality’ and produces expressions with complex and specific meanings that are generated in context, by deviating from the ‘prototypical’ N concept in various ways. Despite its productivity, very few N-non-N exp...

This paper provides the first cross-linguistic study on non-exhaustive connectives. After defining non-exhaustivity and briefly exploring the range of linguistic strategies encoding it across languages, the methodology underlying the study will be discussed. Based on the analysis of 35 languages, for which at least one non-exhaustive connective was found, it will be argued that non-exhaustive connectives exhibit quite homogenous distributional properties and derive from a restricted set of recurrent diachronic sources. Speakers are indeed likely to mobilize i) elements already encoding or implying non-exhaustivity, ii) elements expressing an epistemic condition of uncertainty, or iii) elements expressing exemplification.

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.

The study aimed to investigate the effects of centrifugation of stallion semen on progressive sperm motility over a 72-hour period; and determine if the protein marker, precursor of A-kinase anchor protein 4 (pro-AKAP4), may be maintained at a higher level over time when compared to non-centrifuged samples. Pro-AKAP4 has been studied for its function in stabilizing the structure of spermatozoa and its use as a marker for fertilizing capacity of spermatozoa. Semen collections were obtained from four fertile, commercially used Standardbred stallions collected three times each. Semen samples were diluted to a final concentration of 50 million total cells per milliliter. One extended aliquot of semen from each collection was used for the non-centrifuged treatment, and one extended aliquot of semen was centrifuged at 750×g for 10 min. The supernatant from the centrifuged sample was then removed with a 10 mL plastic transfer pipette, and the spermatozoa cell pellet was suspended in fresh extender to a final concentration of 50 million total cells per milliliter. Both centrifuged and non-centrifuged samples from each collection were stored in Equine Express II stallion semen shipping containers for 72 h and fresh ice packs were added to each container every 24 h. Both progressive sperm motility and levels of pro-AKAP4 were determined at times 0, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h after collection. Differences were found between stallions, times and treatments with the main finding being that pro-AKAP4 concentration in centrifuged samples was maintained at a much higher level over the 72-hour period studied.

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.

The aim of this paper is to analyze how speakers refer to non-exhaustive sets in spoken discourse, by means of open lists. We will propose an analysis of non-exhaustivity in terms of indexicality and we will therefore consider open lists as having an inherently pragmatic component. Based on corpus data of spoken Italian, we will identify three main types of non-exhaustive lists, showing different structural properties and non-compositional semantics. In order to account for the observed variation, we will take a construction grammatical perspective, arguing that what may appear as a heterogeneous set of strategies is instead an inheritance-based network of constructions sharing a schematic core (cf. Goldberg 1995). We will elaborate on the most recent approaches to list constructions, along the lines proposed by Masini, Mauri & Pietrandrea (2018), and will identify three types of non-exhaustive list constructions, which inherit the core properties from the upper-level list construction, but show more specific features and constraints.

The aim of this paper is to provide the first cross-linguistic study on non-exhaustive connectives. After providing a definition of non-exhaustivity and briefly exploring the range of linguistic strategies encoding it across languages, we will identify the semantic and distributional properties of nonexhaustive connectives. The methodological choices underlying the analysis will be the object of a detailed discussion, followed by the description of the synchronic and diachronic patterns attested in 35 languages having at least one non-exhaustive connective. It will be argued that this phenomenon shows a scattered distribution across families and areas of the world. It will be further shown that non-exhaustive connectives exhibit quite homogenous distributional properties and derive from a restricted set of recurrent diachronic sources, for which a common underlying process of reanalysis can be identified. The diachronic typology of non-exhaustive connectives shows that speakers are likely to mobilize i) elements already encoding or implying non-exhaustivity, ii) elements expressing the discourse motivations underlying non-exhaustivity, typically an epistemic condition of uncertainty, or iii) elements expressing the mechanism through which non-exhaustivity can be processed and interpreted, namely exemplification. These findings point to the need for further studies on the pervasiveness of non-exhaustivity in discourse and in grammar.

The aim of this paper is to describe and explain the role that linguistic interaction plays in category construction and communication, by looking at naturally occurring data of spoken language. First, it will be argued that there is a way of building categories that is inherently interactional and indexical, namely ad hoc categorization. Ad hoc categorization will be defined as a bottom-up exemplar driven process, that is dependent on context for both its construction and its interpretation, and crucially relies on non-exhaustivity and exemplification. After a brief overview of the linguistic strategies that may encode ad hoc categorization, we will concentrate on linguistic interaction, taking the perspective of so-called languaging. It will be shown that categorization is frequently instrumental to intersubjective aims, such mutual agreement, negotiation, and the general management of the speakers' positioning. In turn, it is collaboration between the interlocutors that allows to fine-tune categorization and achieve mutual understanding. Finally, we will focus on the incrementality of ad hoc categorization in interaction along two dimensions, namely, the identification of the category borders and the progressive anchoring of the category to the interlocutors' experience.

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.

DESCRIPTION Paper delivered long time ago at Grammars in Construction(s) – 3rd International AFLiCo Conference University Paris Ouest – Nanterre – La Défense – May 27-29, 2009. A written version has been under preparation for years, it will be finished one day.

Sr. Editor. El artículo original titulado A qualitative study of consumer perceptions and use of traffic light food labelling in Ecuador de Freire et al. (1) (Artículo A), es un estudio cualitativo acerca de la percepción de los consumidores ecuatorianos sobre el etiquetado semáforo en diversos alimentos procesados. Dicho artículo, fue publicado en idioma inglés por la revista Public Health Nutrition. No obstante, hemos verificado que el objetivo, metodología, población, resultados y referencias bibliográficas son similares a un artículo publicado en la Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública (2) (Artículo B). Al revisar detenidamente los artículos se pueden observar varias similitudes, las cuales, se presentan en la Tabla 1.

This paper explores the role of prosody in list constructions in spoken Italian, with a view of integrating suprasegmental traits in their formalization. We build on previous constructionist work on lists (intended as the "syntagmatic concatenation of two or more units of the same type […] that are on a par with each other, thus filling one and the same slot within the larger construction they are part of", Masini et al. 2018:50), which managed to identify some properties typically associated with certain types of lists, however neglecting prosodic features. The latter are however particularly relevant, given the pervasiveness of lists in spoken language. The role of prosody in lists has been investigated before (e.g., Jefferson 1990, Selting 2007, Matalon 2017), although not specifically in a constructionist perspective. Our goal is to determine whether prosodic features may be considered defining tools for the identification and interpretation of list constructions. The analysis will be conducted on two corpora of spoken Italian from radio and podcasts, namely LIR (Maraschio et al. 1997, Biffi & Setti 2008) and Radiocast-it (Masini et al. 2020). Radiophonic corpora are particularly fit for our purposes because (i) the audio quality is good enough to perform prosodic analyses; and (ii) the communicative situation emphasizes the role of prosody: since other multimodal variables (gestures, gaze, etc.) are neutralized, it becomes possible to 'isolate' relevant prosodic features. A double-blind approach consisting in two steps is pursued (Savy & Voghera 2010). First, based on the sole trascriptions, a dataset of 100 lists with similar morpho-syntactic properties is collected from the corpora. Lists are selected that are made of 3+ nominal conjuncts, like (1)-(2), which potentially convey different functions. These lists are then annotated following the criteria in Masini et al. (2018).

The present study aims to examine the uses of the Hebrew general extenders ve ze (lit.) ‘and this’ and o mashehu ‘or something’ in spoken Israeli Hebrew. Based on data from the Corpus of Spoken Israeli Hebrew (CoSIH), I will discuss their roles in Hebrew discourse, their grammatical status, as well as the cognitive, social and cultural aspects of their use. I will show that these expressions have various roles in Hebrew conversations, both on the propositional and interpersonal levels. By the use of ve ze and o mashehu speaker instructs the interlocutor to interpret the previous element as an example of a more general (ad hoc) category that the speaker evokes in discourse for a particular communication purpose. The expression ve ze signals that the speaker did not present all the information, while the expression o mashehu signals that the information provided may not have a truth value. On an interpersonal level, ve ze and o mashehu may express solidarity, mitigate the message, and they are used as a politeness strategy. Moreover, I would argue that the use of these expressions demonstrates the way in which the culture of speakers is reflected in language.

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.

This paper identifies an abstract linguistic pattern named ‘list’ and discusses its theoretical status and manifestations. The object ‘list’ is defined as a syntagmatic concatenation of two or more units of the same type (i.e. potentially paradigmatically connected) that are on a par with each other, thus filling one and the same slot within the larger construction they are part of. This highly abstract pattern is claimed to be responsible for a number of linguistic phenomena (endowed with different degrees of complexity, cohesion and conventionalization) that are normally ascribed to different levels of analysis, from morphology to syntax and discourse. We put forward a macro-distinction between denotation lists and formulation lists, pertaining to the conceptual and the metalinguistic level, respectively. More importantly, we show that certain formal features of denotation lists are conventionally associated with certain types of (non-compositional) meanings. We analyze the denotation lists characterized by this form-function match as ‘constructions’ in the Construction Grammar sense and we claim that these are instantiations of a maximally abstract List Construction. Finally, we discuss the status of formulation lists and the advantages of a constructional approach to do justice to both the diversity and the unity of lists.

The goal of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, we advocate the view that ‘listing’ (Masini, Mauri & Pietrandrea 2018) is a cross-level mechanism with cognitive grounding that manifests itself in various ways along the lexicon-syntax continuum. Indeed, we claim that some linguistic objects pertaining to the morphological and lexical level (as e.g. coordinating compounds, reduplications, (ir)reversible binomials) are structurally and functionally similar to freely created syntactic lists. On the other hand, we analyze a so far underdescribed type of lists in-between lexicon and syntax. Lists are often seen as instances of “natural coordination” (Wälchli 2005) where the conjuncts are lexico-semantically related; however, there are lists where the conjuncts are, rather, frame-related, i.e., by virtue of occurring in a list, they either evoke or build a frame, which may be either established or context-dependent. In this respect, we present two corpus-based case-studies from Italian concerning the V1+and+V2 construction (e.g. gratta e sosta ‘scratch and park ticket’, lit. ‘scratch and park’) and the all+list construction (e.g. tutto casa e chiesa ‘pious, churchy’, lit. ‘all home and church’). We discuss and analyze our data with the tools of Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 2006) and Construction Morphology (Booij 2010).
Constructions, lists, frames, coordination, naming strategies, binomials, compounding, reduplication.

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.

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the underpinnings of cognitive morphology approach such as categorization, configuration and conceptualization with the aim of clarifying the relations of compounding as a morphological process encoded within morphological awareness and reading comprehension of authentic texts answered by non-native speakers of English. The present analysis explicates that the two cognitive operations of categorization and configuration are utilized to construe the morphological patterns, facets and domains of irreversible binomials in IELTS academic reading. Nonetheless, the third cognitive operation did not appear in the data collected and scrutinized.  The study concludes that the linguistic phenomenon of irreversible binomials is not an integral part of Morphological Awareness (MA) while reading academic texts.