Debonding of French [N + limite] compounds: a diachronic constructional account

Van Goethem, Kristel [UCL] Amiot, Dany [Université Lille 3, STL]

It has been observed in (anonymous references) that if the second noun of French binominal constructions (NN) has a qualifying value, it can often be inserted into adjectival constructions, which of course challenges the traditional compound analysis of these NN sequences. For instance, the noun clé does not only appear with its qualifying meaning 'important, crucial' in compound-like constructions such as mot-clé 'keyword' and secteur clé 'key sector', it also occurs in typical adjectival contexts (e.g. ce secteur est vraiment clé pour l'économie 'this sector is really key to the economy'). Other examples illustrating this phenomenon can easily be found: une année qui a été vraiment charnière 'a year that has been really pivotal (lit. hinge)'; un cas très limite 'a very borderline (lit. limit) case', etc. It is however surprising that limite did not only develop adjectival uses, but also adverbial ones: (1) Je trouve ça limite exhibitionniste. 'I find this almost exhibitionistic' http://glossa.fltr.ucl.ac.be/glossa_highlight-fre?rec=limite&adr=9505675 (29.01.2011) (2) C’est même limite provocation. 'It is even almost provocation' http://glossa.fltr.ucl.ac.be/glossa_highlight-fre?rec=limite&adr=9565692 (03.02.2011) (3) Ce que j’aurais aimé, c’est (...) qu’il me dise franco : Steph, t’es qu’un con. Limite, qu’il me mette une gifle, même. 'What I would have preferred, is that he frankly says to me: Steph, you're an idiot. At worst, that he even slaps me in the face.' http://glossa.fltr.ucl.ac.be/glossa_highlight-fre?rec=Limite&adr=10829205 (04.05.2011) On the one hand, limite seems to undergo, just like for instance clé and charnière, a gradual debonding process, which is a particular case of degrammaticalization (Norde 2009) characterized by severance, scope expansion and flexibilization (even if, in this evolution from noun to adjectival status, no grammatical categories are involved). On the other hand, its evolution towards adverbial status and even towards a kind of focus particle (3) complies with some typical parameters of grammaticalization, especially subjectification (Brinton & Traugott 2005 among others). Drawing on a large synchronic and diachronic corpus study, collected by means of GlossaNet and Frantext, we will argue that this paradox can be resolved within an extended view of grammaticalization, allowing scope expansion (Traugott 1998), combined with a constructional account in which grammaticalization is characterized as a process of context expansion (Himmelmann 2004; Traugott 2012). More particularly, it will be shown that the emergence of the adjectival and adverbial uses of limite are the result of a complex process of constructionalization caused by several factors such as constructional blending, entrenchment, reanalysis, analogy and coercion. References Brinton, L.J. & Traugott, E.C. 2005. Lexicalization and Language Change (Research Surveys in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. 2004. Lexicalization and grammaticalization: Opposite or orthogonal? In: W. Bisang et al. (eds), What makes grammaticalization. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 21-42. Norde, M. 2009. Degrammaticalization. Oxford: Oxford University press. Tabor, W. & Traugott, E.C. 1998. Structural scope expansion and grammaticalization. In: A. G. Ramat and P. Hopper, (eds), The Limits of Grammaticalization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 229-272. Traugott, E.C. 2012. Rethinking grammaticalization in the light of construction grammar. Paper presented at the International Conference on Grammaticalization: theory and data, Rouen, May 2012. Frantext: http://www.frantext.fr/ GlossaNet: http://glossa.fltr.ucl.ac.be/