Patterns of coining and constructions

Abstract

We develop the notion of pattern of coining found in some complete-inheritance models of Construction Grammar (Fillmore 1997; Kay 2013), which are processes used to coin new units based on analogy with an existing one. Unlike constructions, they cannot be considered systematically productive in synchrony. After providing measurement methods, we assess the productivity of three patterns (‧whelm, ‧licious and ‧holic). To do so, we carried out a statistical analysis using two web corpora. Unlike Kay, we show that the difference between constructions and patterns of coining is not so clear-cut, since patterns of coining may undergo constructionalization, and that qualitative aspects should be taken into account along with quantitative data when trying to assess the status of a word-formation pattern.