‘’t is ça va dan he’

Abstract

This article discusses the adjectivization of the Dutch interjections ça va and ok. argues that this adjectivization process was driven by analogical relations based on broad syntactic categories. A corpus investigation and acceptability judgements show (i) that the adjectival use of ça va and ok has become more frequent since Lemmens’s research, but that their adjectivization is not (yet) completed, (ii) that not only abstract generalizations, but also lower-level generalizations and specific constructions play a crucial role in the adjectivization of both interjections, and, (iii) that ça va and ok already as interjections showed limited grammatical behaviour, making them more susceptible to adjectivization. We argue – contra – that not (only) reinterpretation has led to the adjectivization of both interjections, buth rather their lexical and horizontal links in the constructional network.