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Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Miinchen
Fakultat fur Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften
The historical development of shell nouns
A diachronic study of abstract noun constructions in English
Inaugural-Dissertation
zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie
an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Miinchen
vorgelegt von
Annette Mantlik MA.
aus Memmingen
Miinchen, Dezember 2011
http://d-nb.info/1054305404
Table of contents
1. Introduction
4
2. Framework
10
2.1. Aims, research questions and hypotheses
10
2.2 Dictionary-as-corpus study: using the OED Online for historical investigations of
language change
14
2.2.1 Previous linguistic studies using the OED
17
2.2.2 The Oxford English Dictionary: history, contents and structure
24
2.2.2.1 The Oxford English Dictionary - an overview
24
2.2.2.2 The history of the Oxford English Dictionary — a brief outline
25
2.2.2.3 The quotation database in the OED Online - a brief history
26
2.2.2.4 Structure and contents of the OED Online relevant for the present study
28
2.2.2.5 Critical aspects
32
2.3 Shell noun theory and literature review
36
2.3.1 A brief summary of shell noun theory (Schmid 2000)
36
2.3.2 Schmid's definition of shell nouns
38
2.3.3 Schmid's (2000) corpus
41
2.3.4 The link between shell noun and shell content
42
2.3.5 A list of shell nouns
44
2.3.6 Degrees of typicality
45
2.3.7 Functions of shell nouns
48
2.3.7.1 Semantic function: characterizing
50
2.3.7.2 Pragmatic, rhetorical and textual functions of shell nouns
52
2.3.7.3 Cognitive functions of shell nouns
55
2.4 Shell nouns: literature review - previous research on shell nouns
59
2.4.1 Linguistic applications and adaptations of shell noun theory
60
2.4.2 Shell noun theory in applied linguistics
68
2.4.3 Shell nouns in discourse studies
71
2.4.4 Reviews of English Abstract Nouns as Conceptual Shells. From Corpus to
Cognition (Schmid 2000)
3. Shell nouns in a Construction Grammar framework
75
.*.
78
3.1. Construction grammar
78
3.2. Grammaticalization
83
3.3. Grammaticalization theory and construction grammar
84
3.4. Shell nouns as abstract noun constructions
86
4. Nouns: Investigating the entry sections of the OED Online
93
4.1. Aims, research questions and hypotheses
93
4.2. Methodology - general remarks
94
4.3. First attestations of the 670 nouns: methodology and results
95
4.4. Origins and etymology of the 670 nouns: methodology and results
98
4.5. Temporal and derivational relation between nouns and verbs: methodology and
results
104
4.6. Occurrence of the 670 nouns in the construction types: methodology and results...109
4.7. Summary discussion
Ill
5. Constructions I: Studies in the entry sections of the OED Online
115
5.1. Aims, research questions and hypotheses
115
5.2. Methodology
117
5.2.1 Selection of nouns: four groups
117
5.2.2 Further methodological issues
119
5.3. Origins and etymology of the forty nouns
121
5.4. First attestations of the forty nouns
121
5.5. First attestations of the verbs and relation between nouns and verbs
123
5.6. Occurrence in construction types synchronically
125
5.7. Attestations of shell-noun-constructions in the OED Online entry sections
125
5.8. Summary discussion
133
5.9. Excursus: Functions of shell nouns historically. A case study of the noun fact
138
6. Constructions II: Studies in the quotation sections of the OED Online
144
6.1. Aims, research questions and hypotheses
144
6.2. Methodology
145
6.2.1 Selection of the nouns
145
6.2.2 Data base
149
6.2.3 Data retrieval
150
6.2.4 Variant spellings of the nouns
151
6.2.5 Amount of data dealt with
156
6.2.6 'Intervening material'
•.
157
6.2.7 Further processing the data from the OED Online
158
6.2.8 Finding the first attestations
161
6.3. Findings
162
6.3.1 Origin and etymology of the nouns
162
6.3.2 First attestations of the nouns in the OED Online
163
6.3.3 First attestations of the verbs - relation noun/ verb
163
6.3.4 Attestation of the construction types synchronically
165
6.3.5 First attestations of the shell-noun-constructions in the OED Online quotations...165
6.3.6 First attestations of the individual constructions per noun
168
6.3.7 Attestations of the construction types synchronically and diachronically
168
6.4. Summary discussion
169
7. Constructions III: Shell-noun-constructions cross-linguistically. A case study of
Boethius' Consolatio Philosophiae
173
7.1. Aims, research questions and hypotheses
173
7.2. Methodology
175
7.2.1 General remarks
175
7.2.2 Textual material - choosing the translations
176
7.3. Cross-linguistic comparison of English, French and Latin
180
7.4. Discussion of the results and conclusions
191
7.5. Limitations and further research
192
7.6. Summary discussion
194
8. Summary of the results, conclusions and outlook
Bibliography
9. Appendix
196
201
216
9.1. Table: First attestations of the 670 nouns
219
9.2. Table: Noun-verb-pairings: first attestations
238
9.3. Table: Origin and etymology of the 670 nouns
249
9.4. Table: Attestations of shell-noun-constructions - entry sections
275
9.5. Table: First attestations of shell-noun-constructions - quotation database
285
9.6. Table: Shell-noun-constructions in Boethius' Consolatio Philosophiae comparison
296