On the Dynamics of Constructional Idioms. A Micro-Diachronic Approach to the Entrenchment and Conventionalization of Lexico-Grammatical Patterns in German

Sören Stumpf

Abstract

Various studies have shown that lexico-grammatical patterns can emerge through creative modification of fully lexicalized multi-word expressions, especially through lexical substitution (e.g., X oder nicht X/Y, das ist hier die Frage [Engl. ‘To X, or not to X/Y, that is the question’]). Following the latest research, we ask how the development from lexically fixed idioms via modification to semi-schematic idioms (so-called constructional idioms), a process which happens over a shorter period, can be empirically determined, and theoretically explained. From a theoretical point of view, phraseological and constructionist concepts of linguistic creativity, approaches of Diachronic Construction Grammar to constructionalization, and Schmid’s (2020) Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization Model are considered. Methodologically, micro-diachronic corpus analyses (real-time data) and an online survey (apparent-time data) of German constructional idioms are combined. The method is illustrated by two case studies on the multi-word expressions [X du noch oder Y du schon?] [Engl. ‘Are you still X or do you already Y’] and [Nach X ist vor X/Y] [Engl. ‘After X is before X/Y’]. The case studies show, on the one hand, how the form and meaning of lexicalized multi-word expressions change over a few decades. On the other hand, they reveal that constructional idioms are stored very differently in the minds of individual speakers. Overall, the paper aims to provide an adequate account of the interplay between routine and creativity, variation and change, and entrenchment and conventionalization regarding the dynamics and emergence of constructional idioms in German.