Overview

This book offers the first book-length treatment of the diachronic study of English exclamatives, tracing their development from 1500 through to the twenty-first century. The volume shines a light on independent wh-exclamatives in the history of English. In particular, Schröder calls attention to the development of three prototypical wh-exclamatives as observed in three newly created genre-balance corpora comprising prose fiction, dialogues, and personal correspondence, uncovering new insights into the differences in their evolution. In its analysis of English exclamatives over time and broader exploration of the impact of genre on constructional productivity, the book raises key questions about existing claims in scholarship on Diachronic Construction Grammar and outlines ways forward for new areas of inquiry. This volume will appeal to scholars interested in diachronic linguistics, historical syntax, language variation and change, and the history of English.

Full Product Details

Author:   Daniela Schröder
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.470kg
ISBN:  

9781032544533

ISBN 10:   1032544538
Pages:   240
Publication Date:   28 November 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1.1 The syntax and semantics of exclamatives 1.2 How-exclamatives 1.3 What a-exclamatives 1.4 Independent wh-exclamatives 1.5 Structure of the work 2. Exclamatives as constructions 2.1 Construction Grammar 2.2 Diachronic Construction Grammar 2.3 Chapter Summary 3. Exclamatives in diachrony 3.1. What a-exclamatives 3.2. How-exclamatives 3.3 Independent wh-exclamatives in diachrony 3.4 Independent Wh-Exclamatives – A constructional proposal 3.5 Chapter summary 4. Methodology 4.1 Genre 4.2 Data basis 4.3 Operationalization of Independent Wh-Exclamatives 4.4 Corpus search 4.5 Semantic classification: Roget’s Thesaurus of English words and phrases 4.6 Measuring productivity 4.7 Chapter Summary 5. Results: Changes in Productivity 5.1 General overview 5.2 Genre 5.3 Productivity 5.4 Chapter Summary 6. Theoretical implications 6.1 The indexical meaning of Independent Wh-Exclamatives and genre specifics 6.2 The relationship between the slots 6.3 The role of skewed frequencies 6.4 Is there an Abstract Exclamative construction? 6.5 Chapter Summary 7. Conclusion and Outlook 7.1. Summary of the main results 7.2 Outlook Appendices Index

Reviews

""The empirical value of [this book] in the History of English cannot be denied. It showcases the author’s success in providing the linguistic community with a new resource on English exclamative constructions and attention to detail in doing so. The reader will definitely appreciate the clear and thorough theoretical background on (Diachronic) CxG and the notion and measures of productivity…and the deep engagement with the existing literature."" -- Joanna Nykiel, University of California, Davis, English Language and Linguistics

Author Information

Daniela Schröder received her PhD in English linguistics in 2020 after gaining her MA in American Studies, Sociology, and German Linguistics in 2013. She worked as a research associate at the University of Hamburg from 2013 to 2020 and as an English language instructor at the English Seminar of the University of Münster from 2021 to 2023. She is currently a fellow manager at the Hamburg Institute for Advanced Study.

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