Historical shifts with the - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Historical shifts with the “into causative” constructionin American English

Mark Davies

Brigham Young University

ICEHL 2014, Leuven

Slide2

IntroductionVerbs of force, deception, persuasion (and more)X causes

Y

to do

Z

, with “

-

ing

clause”

They

(X)

would

 

beguile

 us 

(Y)

into

 

believing

 

(Z)

that

we are to fall down and worship the image (COHA NF 1847)

I don't see why you should

fool

yourself into

thinking

you're

sorry (COHA FIC 1922)

we

almost 

embarrass

 him into 

going

 along if we have to (COHA NEWS 1986

)

Interesting because of the relationship between meaning (of matrix verb) and syntax

Slide3

Previous studies: historicalRudanko, Juhani.1991. On verbs governing in -ing

in present-day English.

English studies

72.1:55-72.

Rudanko,

Juhani

. 2000.

Corpora and Complementation: Tracing Sentential Complementation Patterns of Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs Over the Last Three Centuries.

Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

Rudanko,

Juhani

. 2002.

Complements and constructions

. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

Rudanko,

Juhani

. 2005.

Lexico

- Grammatical Innovation in Current British and American English: A Case Study on the Transitive

into -

ing

Pattern with Evidence from the Bank of English Corpus.

Studia

Neophilologica

77: 171-87.

Rudanko,

Juhani

. 2006. Emergent Alternation in Complement Selection: The spread of the Transitive

into -

ing

Construction in British and American English.

English Linguistics

34.4: 312-331.

Rudanko,

Juhani

. 2011.

Changes in Complementation in British and American English

. London: Palgrave / Macmillan

.

Need lots of data. 10-20 million word corpora probably

not enough.

Slide4

Corpora (corpus.byu.edu)

Corpus

Tokens

Corpus size

Texts

Period

Corpus of Historical American English (COHA)

3,874400 million 100,000+1810-2009TIME Magazine Corpus of American English1,718100 million 275,000+1926-2006Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)5,848450 million190,000+1990-2012GloWbE-US6,735385 million275,500+Web ~2013GloWbE-UK6,416385 million381,000+Web ~2013TOTAL24,9511.7 billion565,000+ 

4m word corpus = just ~40 tokens

Slide5

Composition of COHA

DECADE

FICTION

POPULAR

MAGAZINES

NEWSPAPERS

NON-FICTION

BOOKSTOTAL% FICTION1810s550,00050,000 450,0001,050,0000.521820s3,525,0001,715,000 1,500,0006,740,0000.521830s6,900,0003,200,000 3,100,00013,200,0000.521840s8,000,0003,600,000 3,700,00015,300,0000.521850s8,400,0004,250,000 3,150,00015,800,0000.521860s8,600,0004,500,000300,0003,050,00016,450,0000.521870s9,600,0004,500,000

1,400,000

2,900,000

18,400,000

0.52

1880s

10,050,000

4,650,000

1,400,000

3,450,000

19,550,000

0.51

1890s

10,075,000

4,700,000

1,400,000

3,450,000

19,625,000

0.51

1900s

10,500,000

5,100,000

1,400,000

3,500,000

20,500,000

0.51

1910s

11,500,000

5,900,000

1,500,000

3,500,000

22,400,000

0.51

1920s

13,700,000

6,100,000

3,500,000

3,500,000

26,800,000

0.51

1930s

11,700,000

6,100,000

3,500,000

3,050,000

24,350,000

0.48

1940s

11,700,000

6,100,000

3,500,000

3,100,000

24,400,000

0.48

1950s

11,700,000

6,100,000

3,500,000

3,100,000

24,400,000

0.48

1960s

11,550,000

6,100,000

3,300,000

3,120,000

24,070,000

0.48

1970s

11,450,000

6,100,000

3,300,000

3,000,000

23,850,000

0.48

1980s

12,200,000

6,100,000

4,000,000

3,140,000

25,440,000

0.48

1990s

14,050,000

7,500,000

4,000,000

3,120,000

28,670,000

0.49

2000s

14,250,000

7,635,000

4,000,000

3,120,000

29,005,000

0.49

TOTAL

200,000,000

100,000,000

40,000,000

60,000,000

400,000,000

0.50

Slide6

Overall increase in frequency

More than

800

different matrix verbs (

force, deceive, persuade

,

etc

)

Slide7

New verbs: COHA: by decade

Period

Freq

f

≥1

f

≥2

New verbs (frequency ≥ 2)1810s-1830s1.87185call 11, bring 5, coax 2, resolve 2, take 21840s-1860s4.136725frighten 10, deceive 5, persuade 5, force 5, cheat 4, delude 3, inveigle 3, irritate 3, seduce 3, shame 3, startle 3, surprise 3, talk 3, trick 3, provoke 2, quicken 2, tease 2, terrify 2, lure 2, draw 2, entice 2, flog 2, construe 2, bully 2, cajole 21870s-1890s6.545616coerce 9, flatter 4, trap 4, fool 4, rouse 3, spur 2, stimulate 2, train 2, transform 2, gull 2, hoodwink 2, whip 2, worry 2, cow 2, crush 2, argue 21900s-1920s9.019220bluff 8, hypnotize 7, kid 5, nag 4, throw 4, shock 3, bamboozle 3, starve 3, stampede 2, trip 2, push 2, anger 2, astonish 2, jar 2, jeer 2, jolly 2, browbeat 2, conjure 2, dupe 2, enchant 21930s-1950s11.4999

22

pressure

9,

prod

7, maneuver 6, rush 5, threaten 3, needle 3, josh 3, spur 3, squeeze 2, steer 2, surprise 2, rationalize 2, panic 2, plunge 2, blackjack 2, con 2, corner 2, cow 2, interest 2, jockey 2, shake 2

1960s-1980s

12.28

11913embarrass 4, guide 3, kick 3, lock 2, nudge 2, sucker 2, taunt 2, terrorize 2, trigger 2, harry 2, change 2, co-opt 2, drag 21990s-2000s14.999315throw 7, draft 3, move 3, whip 3, will 2, transform 2, chase 2, hook 2, invest 2, jolt 2, nurture 2, sink 2, steer 2, stun 2, sway 2

Slide8

Interesting new verbs (decade): COHA

Slide9

Interesting new verbs (by decade): TIME

Slide10

GloWbE-US data (385m words)How did you all even managed to carve yourselves into thinking that it's a right thing to do?

No

, it is easier to

complain

your way into getting what you want

and

maybe I can

deflect them into being impressed with thatI think Burger King is trying to depress me into getting fatand the people of Bethlehem saw a good match for Ruth and edged her into meeting BoazScott is after a royal title and has Googled his way into getting oneI've been lumbered into enjoying this!but rather my perspective slanted me into believing that oneOf course Verizon is trying to squirrel me into upgrading

Slide11

GloWbE-UK data (385m words)And well done Auntie to blag your way into getting some funding from overseas

to

cloud

and deceive us into believing that all hope is lost

He'd

been

cuddled

into doing some work experience by a social workerMicrosoft is forced to hack Windows into behaving more like a multi-user systema hero that the world has been magicked into forgettingWhen science is muddied into being seen as an act of writingHe was told that this blood had been randomised into having a HIV testhe teaches some tips for styling fine hair into looking like it has some major volumehow far Labour has tugged the Tories into engaging with the detailsCf. Hunston and Francis (2000): virtually no limits on lexical creativity, as long as there’s force, coercion, persuasion, etc

Slide12

Semantic classes

persuasion (coax), emotional (frighten), deceive (beguile), force (drive), neutral (lead)

Slide13

Semantic classesWulff, S., A. Stefanowitsch and S. Gries. 2007. “Brutal Brits and persuasive Americans: Variety-

specifc

meaning construction in the into-causative.”

1930s-1950s there are more verbs of

persuasion

1960s

-1980s and 1990s-2000s there may be more verbs of force

But categorization: prod, goad, provoke

Slide14

Increase (?) in neutral verbs

influence, impel, induce, lead, motivate, prompt, and stimulate

this led/motivated/prompted him to reconsider his attitude

Cf. Rudanko (2005), based on recent texts (but no COHA

etc

then)

Slide15

Increase (?) in neutral verbs

Slide16

Increase in positive verbs

charm, jolly, enchant, urge, ease, motivate, romance

Slide17

Increase in positive verbs

COCA

COHA

Slide18

Increase in “indirect causation”(Not until about the 1980s)

It

(X) has helped to

build

America (Y) into

exploring

new frontiers (Z) (COCA SPOK 1994)

My gators start, like seeds, small, but you (X) feed them (Y) into becoming attractions (Z) (COCA FIC 2004)Fran also organized Kathy into buying some smart cotton dresses (COCA FIC 1997)I guess I (X) finally molded him (Y) into taking responsibility for his life (Z) (COCA MAG 1994)I feel like I was nurtured into wanting to be somebody special (COCA MAG 1998)when his wife (X) educates him (Y) into believing that her staying home is a feminist statement (COCA MAG 1998)

Slide19

to V >> into V-ing(cf. Rohdenburg, Rudanko, de Smet

: “Great Complement Shift”)

the

government had 

induced

 the defendant 

into

 buying material that he would not have bought on his own (NEWS, 2002)that prompted the subconscious into serving up its first true memory of him (FIC, 2007)c. What possessed you into executing your revenge in such a manner? (FIC, 2007)who will not try to push, cajole, threaten, even beg me into accepting my " proper " role (MAG, 1990)[he] played a prominent role in motivating the Kenyan cell into organizing for violent action (NEWS, 2000)she offered her arm to the guard … [to]  dare him into escorting her from the chamber (FIC, 2006)

Slide20

Hybrid construction with “way” construction(Not until about the 1980s)

X

causes Y to do

Z

Bill (X) talked

Sue (Y)

into coming over (Z)

3a. [they] shouldered their way into controlling the fabulously wealthy gold mines (COCA, MAG, 1999)3b. Boston's "shortstop of the future" has belted his way into being a star of the present (COCA, MAG, 1998) 4a. “I had to imagine my way into being a good mother ,” she said. (COCA, 2009, NEWS)4b. and now I have lied my way into having to leave the house altogether (COCA FIC 1996)4c. he had stammered his way into asking Lois to dance with him (GloWbE-US)cf. he stammered himself into asking Lois

Slide21

Origin: Reanalysis (1)(

unambiguously

N) he

brought them

into

bondage

(no *ing)(probably N) he brought/called it into BeingIII. (ambiguous N/V) it leads mankind into quarrelling and fighting(unambiguously V) they coaxed us into staying a whileEEBO Corpus (400 million words, 1500s-1600s)cut of(f) his nose and cast him into prison (1575)and brings nothing into being before hee hath a proper end (1638)that he do not bring himself into suffering, but yet as innocent as a Dove (1665)NONE

Slide22

Origin: Reanalysis (2)

(unambiguously N) he brought them

into

bondage

(no *

ing

)(probably N) he brought it into BeingIII. (ambiguous N/V) it leads mankind into quarrelling and fighting(unambiguously V) they coaxed us into staying a whileto bring / call it into beingWhy had she let Mrs. Logan talk her into being prompter? (COCA, 2003, MAG)

Slide23

SummaryBy far, largest corpus-based study of “into causative” – tens of thousands of tokens

Incredible lexical diversity: more than 800 different verbs

By mid-1800s: force, persuasion, emotional, deception

Neutral (e.g.

lead

) not recent: already in mid-1800s

Positive (e.g.

she loved me into buying her the house) is recentIndirect is recent: build America into exploring new frontiersHybrid into/way construction is new: lied their way into earning moreMore evidence for [to V] >> [V-ing]: she dared him into escorting herOrigin: derives from nouns (cast him into prison) via ambiguous cases (e.g. it leads mankind into quarrelling and fighting). Role of being, especially in cases like “bring it into being”.Importance of corpus size (COHA: 400 million words). Virtually none of this would be possible with a tiny 1-2 million (or even 10-20 million) word corpus.