Grammaticalization and English complex prepositions: A corpus-based study. By Sebastian Hoffmann. New York: Routledge, 2005. Pp. xiv, 214. ISBN 0415360498. $130 (Hb).

Reviewed by Olga Thomason, University of Georgia

This book, a revised version of Hoffmann’s Ph.D. thesis, presents a corpus study of the grammaticalization and use of complex prepositions in English. The corpus data ranges from the Middle Ages to present-day English use (the main focus of the study), drawn from the Gutenberg Corpus and the British National Corpus, as well as from the Oxford English Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary (quod.lib.umich.edu/m/med/). This descriptive study involves diachronic and synchronic approaches and concentrates on thirty preposition-noun-preposition constructions. Multiple figures and tables support the analysis.

The volume contains nine chapters. The first two chapters include a detailed overview of the study and a thorough description of the database, justifying the choice of sources and describing their merits and shortcomings. H does a good job of introducing the material: he clearly explains the main concepts, refers readers to further readings, and often remarks on possible difficulties for the investigation (14, 16, 19, 21). This comprehensive introduction makes this book a must read for everyone who contemplates undertaking a corpus-based study of English.

Chs. 3 and 4 are similar in their format. They begin with a general overview of a certain theoretical problem (the grammatical status of complex prepositions, the grammaticalization), followed by the detailed explanation of H’s position on the subject supported by multiple examples. H is cautious in the choice of his methodology and retreats to manual check of the data if necessary (41). The author holds a functionalist view of language change and maintains that a complex preposition is in fact an indivisible unit. The discussion about complex prepositions as a category (26–31) would benefit if some works of classical and/or historical linguistics on the subject (where these prepositions are often called improper) were taken into account.

Chs. 5 and 6 present a description of diachronic development of complex prepositions and their synchronic status and distributional characteristics in present-day English, respectively. H analyzes thirty very frequent complex prepositions, dividing them into three groups based on the approximate date of their first attested usages as an indivisible unit. H reasonably limits his data to written occurrences due to the character of the earliest sources of the corpora. He repeatedly warns readers about possible distortions because of the insufficient amount of data from the early stages (61, 65, 66, 68, 69, etc.). He also shows that a complex preposition is not a rigid category and often uses quantitative and collocation data to demonstrate the gradualness of this phenomenon. Figures 5.1 (92) and 4.1 (55), showing the distribution of literal and complex prepositional occurrences, use various time periods ranging from forty-nine years to 150. The reason for such differences is not clear; furthermore, one may presume that it is this diversity that is accountable for the rapid rise in the frequency of a given preposition.

Chs. 7 and 8 focus on a detailed description of the most frequent complex preposition in terms of and the grammaticalization status of low-frequency preposition-noun-preposition constructions, respectively. In his discussion of the saliency of the frequency for grammaticalization, H makes valuable remarks on analogy, invariability, and relative frequency as crucial factors influencing the development of low-frequency constructions. Ch. 9, followed by extensive notes for all of the sections and a bibliography (188–208), not only summarizes the study, outlining its main findings, but also suggests directions for further research.

This research is an important contribution to the field of corpus linguistics. By competently combining synchronic and diachronic analysis of the data, H presents a valuable insight into the nature of complex prepositions and their relation to grammaticalization. This book will be a useful source for any linguist interested in complex prepositions and their development.