List Constructions: a semantic network
Résumé
This paper aims at introducing and analyzing the notion of "List Construction". We propose to use this label to refer to an abstract linguistic pattern that happens to be shared by a number of linguistic phenomena that are detectable at different levels of structure and that, consequently, are not normally studied together. In the paper we base our analysis on Italian data, but many generalizations can hold for other languages too. We can characterize a LC as the multiple realization of one and the same structural position. This general definition of LC can in principle be applied to different domains, namely morphology, lexicon, and syntax This kind of analysis is made theoretically possible by assuming an architecture of the grammar similar to the one proposed by Construction Grammar. In the article, we will prove that LCs are constructions in the technical sense of Construction Grammar. We provide a formal characterization of LCs. We will then see that LCs have a very general meaning of "relations among conjuncts" and that they may carry more specific meanings according to the exact way in which the formal pattern is instantiated. We then provide a formal and functional typology of what we will call "non-compositional" lists. Finally, we show that it is possible to define a unified inheritance network that contains the various types of lists. We conclude that LCs can be considered as a grammatical construction, i.e. as conventional associations of form and meaning that convey a grammatical meaning and are linked to one another within a constructional network.
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