Causation and Reasoning Constructions

210 Pages·2019·1.602 MB·English

by  Masaru Kanetani

Constructional Approaches
to Language 25
Causation
and Reasoning
Constructions
Masaru Kanetani
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Causation and Reasoning Constructions
Constructional Approaches to Language
issn 1573-594X
The series brings together research conducted within different constructional models and
makes them available to scholars and students working in this and other related fields.
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theoretical issues concerning language acquisition, language change, and language use.
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Grammar (including Frame Semantics). The book series publishes studies in which this model
is developed in new directions and extended through alternative approaches. Such approaches
include cognitive linguistics, conceptual semantics, interaction and discourse, as well as
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Editors
Jan-Ola Östman Kyoko Ohara
University of Helsinki, Keio University, Japan
Finland
Advisory Board
Peter Auer Mirjam Fried Paul Kay
University of Freiburg, Germany Charles University, Prague, University of California, Berkeley,
Czech Republic USA
Hans C. Boas
University of Texas at Austin, USA Adele E. Goldberg Knud Lambrecht
Princeton University, USA University of Texas at Austin, USA
William Croft
University of New Mexico, USA Martin Hilpert Michael Tomasello
University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland Duke University, USA
Charles J. Fillmore†
International Computer Science Seizi Iwata Arnold M. Zwicky
Institute, Berkeley, USA Kansai University, Japan Stanford University, USA
Volume 25
Causation and Reasoning Constructions
by Masaru Kanetani
Causation and Reasoning
Constructions
Masaru Kanetani
University of Tsukuba, Japan
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
doi 10.1075/cal.25
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress:
lccn 2018053678 (print) / 2018055835 (e-book)
isbn 978 90 272 0246 8 (Hb)
isbn 978 90 272 6271 4 (e-book)
© 2019 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Company · https://benjamins.com
Table of contents
Acknowledgments vii
List of abbreviations ix
chapter 1
Introduction 1
1.1 Causation, reasoning, and construction grammar 1
1.2 Organization 5
chapter 2
Previous studies: From gestalt to construction 9
2.1 Introduction 9
2.2 Subordinate clauses as ground 10
2.3 Clause positions and boundedness 14
2.4 Domains of use 18
2.5 Propositional vs. modality subordinate-clauses 22
2.6 Subjectivity of causal relations 26
2.7 Constructional approaches 30
2.8 Constructions and their networks 35
2.8.1 Constructions in construction grammar 35
2.8.2 Constructional networks: Inheritance Links 36
chapter 3
Constructions of causation and reasoning 39
3.1 Introduction 39
3.2 Causal relations and reasoning processes 40
3.3 causal construction 44
3.4 reasoning constructions 48
3.4.1 reasoning because construction 54
3.4.2 reasoning since/for constructions 56
3.4.2.1 Similarities 57
3 .4.2.2 Dissimilarity 58
3.5 Status of the conjunctions 59
3.6 Form-meaning mismatches and coercion 60
3.7 Further issues 62
vi Causation and Reasoning Constructions
3.7.1 Since as a reasoning subordinator 63
3.7.2 Nominalization of because- and since-clauses 64
3.7.3 On clefting 66
3.8 Relations among constructions 67
chapter 4
Focalizations of because- and since-clauses 71
4.1 Introduction 71
4.2 Against information-structural accounts 72
4.3 causal construction vs. reasoning construction 73
4.4 Two types of focusing adverbs: Exclusives and Particularizers 78
4.5 Analysis 80
4.6 Summary 85
chapter 5
Causal construction and reasoning construction in Japanese 87
5.1 Introduction: Cross-linguistic validity 87
5.2 Because constructions in English 88
5.3 Kara constructions in Japanese 90
5.4 Comparison 104
chapter 6
Constructions of metalinguistic reasons 109
6.1 Introduction 109
6.2 Facts 110
6.3 On clefting 114
6.4 On performative because-clauses 115
6.4.1 Earlier analyses 115
6.4.2 Alternative analysis 120
6.5 Interim summary 122
6.6 Functional restriction on E-because construction 123
6.7 Periphrastic metalinguistic reason sentences 124
6.8 Summary 127
chapter 7
Analogy in construction grammar: The case of just because of
X doesn’t mean Y 131
7.1 Introduction 131
7.2 Matsuyama (2001): *JBo-X DM-Y 132
7.3 Hirose (1999) 133
Table of contents vii
7.3.1 Inheritance relations 133
7.3.2 Problem 136
7.4 Revised inheritance model 138
7.5 The JBo-X DM-Y construction as an analogical construction 140
7.6 Instability of the JBo-X DM-Y construction 144
7.7 Summary 145
chapter 8
Innovative use of because 147
8.1 Introduction 147
8.2 Grammar of the new usage 148
8.3 Inheritance relations 152
8.3.1 Causal because-clauses as instances of because X 153
8.3.2 Because X as a proper subpart of causal because-clauses 154
8.4 Reconstruction of the message as the hearer’s business 155
8.5 The X-Element as the speaker’s thought-expression 156
8.5.1 Interjections 158
8.5.2 Nouns and adjectives 158
8.5.3 Agreement words 160
8.5.4 Reduced clauses 161
8.6 subject because X construction 162
8.7 Toward constructionalization 164
8.7.1 Constructionalization and constructional changes 164
8.7.2 Meaning pole revisited 166
8.7.3 Step-by-step changes 167
8.8 Summary 171
chapter 9
Conclusion 173
References 183
Construction index 193
Subject index 195

Acknowledgments
This monograph has grown out of my doctoral dissertation submitted to the Uni-
versity of Tsukuba in 2008, entitled Causation and Reasoning: A Construction
Grammar Approach to Conjunctions of Reason. While the basic ideas laid out in
this book remain the same, substantial modifications and new insights have been
added during the last decade after the defense. Even the concepts and terminolo-
gies used in the main claim are not entirely the same. I am deeply indebted to
many people for their support and encouragement.
First and foremost, I thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments,
which have always been detailed and accurate. I have learned a lot from their com-
ments while writing the book and owe so much to the reviewers for the substantial
improvement from the original version. My thanks also go to the series editors,
Kyoko Hirose Ohara and Jan-Ola Östman, who read the entire drafts of earlier
versions and suggested detailed revisions to improve earlier versions. I appreciate
their constant support.
My thanks also naturally go to my dissertation committee for the original
development of the arguments: Yukio Hirose, Nobuhiro Kaga, Toshiaki Oya,
Masaharu Shimada, and Naoaki Wada. The invaluable pieces of advice I received
from them while writing the dissertation are the foundation of the arguments
in the present book. I have myself been a faculty member at the University of
Tsukuba since 2012, and I have here benefitted from continuous advice from my
former dissertation committee members, who are now my colleagues. In particu-
lar, Yukio Hirose, whose constructional analyses of the just because X doesn’t mean
Y construction are also the foundation of this book, has always given me very
valuable advice. He has recently developed the Three-Tier Model of Language Use,
which also has a great impact on the present discussion, especially in advancing
the argument in the present volume.
I have also profited greatly from discussions with other colleagues inside and
outside the university. Among them is Seizi Iwata; the advice he gives me when-
ever I meet him has been both helpful and encouraging. I also thank Hans C.
Boas for encouraging me to write this book. The interactions with Yoko Hasegawa
(Berkeley), Bert Cappelle (Lille), and Robert Levine (Ohio State) during their stays
at Tsukuba have been especially inspiring.
I also thank Esther Roth at John Benjamins Publishing Company for her fine
editorial work at the final stage.