Constructional Competition – Preposition Stranding and Pied-Piping in World Englishes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Hoffmann
• Subject Area: Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461656077

Languages often possess two or more constructions that express a similar meaning. The choice between these competing constructions is frequently dependent on processing factors that interact in complex ways with stylistic as well as other linguistic variables. The present study now looks at one specific structural alternation, namely preposition placement in filler-gap constructions, and investigates it in various L1 and L2 Englishes: (1) a. This is a topic about which I want to know more! [pied-piping] b. This is a topic which I want to know more about! [stranding]As the examples in (1) show, Standard English has two competing placements of prepositions in relative constructions: in (1a) the preposition about is fronted to the initial position of the relative clause (it is “pied-piped”), while in (1b) it remains “stranded” (i.e. appears clause-internally without an adjacent NP complement;). The present study will analyze the competition between the two structures using a combination of Usage-based Construction Grammar and New Englishes approaches. Drawing on corpus as well as experimental data, the project will thus generate important insights into the constructional network as well as the evolution of New Englishes.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants