Abstract While research on language change generally focusses on “successful” innovations, “failed” changes are often neglected. This study examines such a case: the French verbal periphrasis , which is largely unproductive in Modern French and shows a number of co(n)textual restrictions. Previous studies on its diachronic evolution fail to explain its gradual decline, because they especially lack empirical evidence. Addressing this research gap, we present a diachronic corpus analysis of the crucial period from the 15 th to the 18 th century. In addition to the corpus Frantext , we consult metalinguistic documents and other types of text not included in the corpus. Through a concise, qualitative-quantitative analysis of the construction on different co(n)textual levels, we demonstrate that its linguistic characteristics do not change considerably during the period examined. Instead, our data suggest that the decline of the periphrasis is mainly due to a strong association with specific discourse traditions related to the Antiquity. Moreover, our results let us suppose that the periphrasis never reached the stage of full conventionalisation. This present case study thus sheds light on diachronic processes of diffusion and loss of grammatical innovations and also underscores the importance of profound co(n)textual analyses in diachronic linguistics.
Désirée Kleineberg (Wed,) studied this question.
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