{"title":"Oblique predicative constructions in English with <i>for</i> and <i>as</i>: <i>qua</i> vs <i>qualitate qua</i>","authors":"BAS AARTS","doi":"10.1017/s1360674323000199","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"English has an oblique predicative construction in which the prepositions for and as license an oblique predicative complement that is predicated of a noun phrase, as in We took her for a friend and I regarded her as a genius . The construction with for is the oldest, and is found in many other languages. This article traces the history of oblique predicative constructions involving for and as , and a number of other prepositions, from Old English to Present-Day English (PDE). Visser (1963–73) has suggested that predicative for and as were rivals, and that in PDE as is now dominant at the expense of for . I will argue instead that since around 1900 predicative for and as can clearly be distinguished semantically as expressing the meanings qua (‘as being’) and qualitate qua (‘in the capacity of’), respectively, and that the existence of these distinct meanings explains why constructions with both prepositions still survive in PDE.","PeriodicalId":45748,"journal":{"name":"English Language & Linguistics","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"English Language & Linguistics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1360674323000199","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
English has an oblique predicative construction in which the prepositions for and as license an oblique predicative complement that is predicated of a noun phrase, as in We took her for a friend and I regarded her as a genius . The construction with for is the oldest, and is found in many other languages. This article traces the history of oblique predicative constructions involving for and as , and a number of other prepositions, from Old English to Present-Day English (PDE). Visser (1963–73) has suggested that predicative for and as were rivals, and that in PDE as is now dominant at the expense of for . I will argue instead that since around 1900 predicative for and as can clearly be distinguished semantically as expressing the meanings qua (‘as being’) and qualitate qua (‘in the capacity of’), respectively, and that the existence of these distinct meanings explains why constructions with both prepositions still survive in PDE.
期刊介绍：
English Language and Linguistics, published twice a year, is an international journal which focuses on the description of the English language within the framework of contemporary linguistics. The journal is concerned equally with the synchronic and the diachronic aspects of English language studies and publishes articles of the highest quality which make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the structure and development of the English language and which are informed by a knowledge and appreciation of linguistic theory. English Language and Linguistics carries articles and short discussion papers or squibs on all core aspects of English, from its beginnings to the present day, including syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics and lexis.
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