Ad hoc constructions. Morphosyntactic creativity as a synchronic phenomenon

Abstract

The paper argues with two case studies for a number of related grammar theoretical assumptions: it is essential to keep the social and the individual dimension distinct in grammatical analysis, in order to account for the grammatical creativity that speakers display when necessary. Such newly created constructions are termed ad hoc constructions. Two examples from German are discussed. It is shown with some empirical measures that the constructions are no conventionalised parts of the language system of German, but are nevertheless accepted by speakers – as if they did belong to the German grammar. On the basis of these analyses, it is argued for a differentiated notion of grammaticality that distinguishes between grammaticality at the social dimension (the tradidtional notion of grammaticality) and grammaticality for the individual speaker (including all deviations from the language system that still can be used in conversation). Key words: German, syntax, grammatical innovation, grammaticality, generalised conversational implicature, constructional blending.