Continuing the dialogue between corpus linguistics and grammaticalization theory: Three case studies

Abstract

The article shows that significant benefits can be gained from the integration of corpus linguistics and grammaticalization theory, two subfields which, despite sharing considerable common ground, tended to remain as separate areas of linguistic analysis until quite recently. Making use of diachronic and contemporary corpora of English, such as the Helsinki Corpus, ARCHER, and COCA, the article illustrates how standard corpus practices can indeed contribute to our understanding of grammaticalization and related processes of language change. The selected case studies deal with the origin of existential there, the development of like-parentheticals in contemporary American English, and the history of the marker of expository apposition namely.