Degrees of adverbialization. A cross-linguistic corpus study of 'far from X' constructions

In language change, parallel source constructions can undergo cross-linguistically divergent developments. The focus of this paper is on one such case, the development of degree modifiers from markers of physical distance. Specifically, we will compare the semantic and syntactic properties of FAR FROM constructions in three Germanic languages and one Romance language: English [far from X], Dutch [ver(re) van X], Swedish [langt ifran X] and French [loin de X]. In all four languages, the spatial construction consists of an adjective or adverb and a preposition, followed by an NP. Further, in all four languages, the construction tends to develop adverbial degree modifying uses (as a downtoner), as illustrated for English in (1), and for Swedish in (2). Its X-slot then tends to open up to other phrase types (VP, AP, PP). (1) Nutty was far from sure, and Biddy looked doubtful. (BNC) (2) de langt ifran marginella forandringar landet genomgar. (SECOW2014) ‘the far from marginal changes the country is going through.’ However, the four languages differ in the extent to which their [FAR FROM X] construction has grammaticalized into a full-blown adverbial degree modifier. The central purpose of our study is to analyze the differences between the languages and to account for them. It is shown that, semantically, degree modifying senses develop from metaphorical extensions of spatial senses, as in (3-4). (3) Nous voila loin de la mondialisation heureuse! (FRCOW2011) ‘Here we are far from happy globalization!’ (4) men det ar sa langt ifran sanningen man kan komma. (SECOW2014) ’but it is as far from the truth as one can get’ The availability of the same metaphorical senses supports a gradient of meanings that continue to integrate degree modifying senses and spatial senses into a single semantic network. In French and English, this appears to hinder the development of full-blown adverbial uses. In French, loin de combines spatial, metaphorical and downtoner uses, but does not develop into an adverb. In English, it is found that new adverbial uses appear around the time metaphorical senses decline. In Swedish, by contrast, langt ifran is always adverbial (as evidenced by the adverbial suffix t in langt), but as in the other languages, it occurs in both spatial, metaphorical and downtoner constructions. Formally, variation is found to facilitate form-meaning realignment. In Dutch, the variation between ver van and verre van licensed functional specialization of ver van as a spatial expression and verre van as a degree modifying adverb (5). The fact that the -e ending in verre van is an opaque relic obscured its relation to the adjective/adverb ver and as such further disrupted form-meaning unity. (5) Dit was een verre van marginaal verschijnsel. (NLCOW2012) ‘This was a far from marginal phenomenon.’ The comparison of the respective fates of FAR FROM constructions in four different languages highlights the structural preconditions that favour or hinder syntactic change. Differences between the languages, then, are not explained by the random character of change, but by unevenly spread favouring conditions. Corpora BNC = British National Corpus: http://corpus2.byu.edu/bnc/ COW = Corpora from the Web: http://hpsg.fu-berlin.de/cow/colibri/ Cf. Schafer, R. & F. Bildhauer. (2012). Building large corpora from the web using a new efficient tool chain. N. Calzolari, K. Choukri, T. Declerck et al. (Eds), Proceedings of the Eight International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, Istanbul, 486-493.