This study investigates the descriptive and contrastive analysis of constructional idioms within the framework of the CONSTRIDIOMS project. Focusing on the Spanish reduplicative construction [N1singulara N1singular], the aim is to demonstrate how a constructionist, corpus-based approach can contribute to the systematic identification of phraseological patterns across languages, thereby supporting future didactic applications.
Methodology:
The study adopts Cognitive Construction Grammar as its theoretical foundation. A two-step analysis was conducted. First, the Spanish construction [N1singulara N1singular] was analyzed using the esTenTen23 corpus (Sketch Engine), focusing on frequency, semantics, and contextual collocates. Second, the unilateral contrastive method was applied using the Spanish-German parallel corpus PaGeS to identify potential equivalent constructions in German.
Data and analysis:
The analysis draws on 1,978,020 tokens from the esTenTen23 corpus, with a focus on the 50 most frequent types of the [N1singulara N1singular] construction. These were analyzed for formal structure, semantic variability, and typical usage contexts. Selected types were then examined in PaGeS to uncover recurrent German equivalents, including semi-schematic constructions and idiomatic expressions.
Findings and conclusion:
The Spanish construction [N1singulara N1singular] displays a high degree of productivity and polysemy, with meanings shaped by both lexical fillers and collocational context. In German, multiple constructional equivalents were identified, highlighting variation in form and idiomaticity. While the study does not assess learning outcomes, the results suggest that contrastive corpus-based analyses of this kind hold potential for enriching the pedagogical treatment of phraseological phenomena.
Originality:
This study offers a novel empirical account of a Spanish reduplicative construction and its German counterparts, combining constructionist theory with contrastive corpus methodology. It also provides structured linguistic data that may inform future applications in language education.
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