A constructional approach to Contrastive Textology? (Ken Farø, Copenhagen)

Many constructions are textually neutral. Two such cases in Danish could be termed (a) the Hyperbolic Comparative Construction and (b) the Reflexive Motion Construction.   Other constructions occur only or predominantly in certain text types. For instance, constructions such as the typologically quite wide-spread Cataphoric Explanative Construction (c) are found only in titles, and the rather text type specific German Wenn Construction (d) predominantly in slogans. Even film titles tend to show constructional patterns. On the surface such constructions look like standard realizations of comprehensive grammar phenomena but there is often more to them. In my paper they will be analyzed in some detail.

                             Do such phenomena as (c) and (d) belong to grammar or not? Well, that depends on how sensitive the grammatical description is. In my view, grammar should not to neglect the interplay with text (type), since grammar is basically - or at least it should be - language patterns derived from texts.

                             I will focus on the relation between text neutral and text specific constructions like the aforementioned, and discuss the relevance of the CxG paradigm in the realm of (Contrastive) Textology in general: Could the constructional approach enrich text linguistics? And does it even make sense to treat text types as constructions? The audience should not expect any final answers, only an initial discussion.