Syntagmatic analogy: from coherence function to mechanism of change

Our usage case-study on binominal quantifiers in Spanish illustrates the role of syntagmatic analogy in textual coherence (synchrony) and in constructional change (diachrony). Quantifying nouns (QN) display a quantifying potential next to the original lexical meaning, as they designate containers (brazada ‘armful’), configurations (racimo ‘bunch’) or collective entities (tropel ‘mob, heap’). When followed by a PP indicating the mass, the QNs can be considered binominal quantifiers (un montonN1 de genteN2 ‘a heap of people’). Syntagmatic analogy involves mutual accommodation (1) between the QN and the N2 and (2) between the binominal phrase and the wider discourse context. Synchronically, the QN functions as a coherence device: in line with its source semantics, it imposes a specific conceptual image on the N2 it quantifies (Verveckken 2012); e.g., un alud de gente ‘an avalanche of people’ profiles the N2 gente as a dynamic entity arriving suddenly and at once, while un tropel de gente ‘a mob...’ evokes some hierarchy and una pila de gente ‘a heap (lit. pile)...’ profiles a static ordered set. Minimally, N2 has to be compatible with the conceptual image the QN evokes (Bosque 2007), through its lexical meaning or via discourse integration; e.g., (the scenery evoked in the wider context of (1) enables the N2 paginas web to accommodate to the frame of aluvion de).