Category membership and category potential: The case of vague because
I analyse the English causal connector because as used in the so-called because X constructions in terms of its word class membership. I show that three types of because can be distinguished based on syntactic criteria. Depending on the complement of the connector, because can be used as a conjuncti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Lexis: Journal in English Lexicology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/lexis/7418 |
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| _version_ | 1850266603968528384 |
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| author | Martin Konvička |
| author_facet | Martin Konvička |
| author_sort | Martin Konvička |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | I analyse the English causal connector because as used in the so-called because X constructions in terms of its word class membership. I show that three types of because can be distinguished based on syntactic criteria. Depending on the complement of the connector, because can be used as a conjunction, as a preposition, and as a member of a third category. I also show that prior to use, we can only talk about an abstract category potential of the connector, but not about its concrete category membership. It is only through the context of use that becomes category membership apparent. On a more general note, this means that linguistic categories should be understood as being emergent from language use, not essentialistically as existing before and being independent of language use. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4a683fc5fb0f425e95cab9974f9cffd0 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1951-6215 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Lexis: Journal in English Lexicology |
| spelling | doaj-art-4a683fc5fb0f425e95cab9974f9cffd02025-08-20T01:54:07ZengUniversité Jean Moulin - Lyon 3Lexis: Journal in English Lexicology1951-62152023-12-012210.4000/lexis.7418Category membership and category potential: The case of vague becauseMartin KonvičkaI analyse the English causal connector because as used in the so-called because X constructions in terms of its word class membership. I show that three types of because can be distinguished based on syntactic criteria. Depending on the complement of the connector, because can be used as a conjunction, as a preposition, and as a member of a third category. I also show that prior to use, we can only talk about an abstract category potential of the connector, but not about its concrete category membership. It is only through the context of use that becomes category membership apparent. On a more general note, this means that linguistic categories should be understood as being emergent from language use, not essentialistically as existing before and being independent of language use.https://journals.openedition.org/lexis/7418Englishpart of speechword classcategoryvaguenessbecause |
| spellingShingle | Martin Konvička Category membership and category potential: The case of vague because Lexis: Journal in English Lexicology English part of speech word class category vagueness because |
| title | Category membership and category potential: The case of vague because |
| title_full | Category membership and category potential: The case of vague because |
| title_fullStr | Category membership and category potential: The case of vague because |
| title_full_unstemmed | Category membership and category potential: The case of vague because |
| title_short | Category membership and category potential: The case of vague because |
| title_sort | category membership and category potential the case of vague because |
| topic | English part of speech word class category vagueness because |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/lexis/7418 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT martinkonvicka categorymembershipandcategorypotentialthecaseofvaguebecause |