From ad hoc category to ad hoc categorization: The proceduralization of Argentinian Spanish tipo.

Taxonomic nouns such as Spanish tipo appear in constructions that create ad hoc categories, typically in scientific and academic contexts. Some of them develop further uses, notably an adverbial use as an approximator or hedge, as a result of a reduction of the original construction. The aim of this contribution is to trace the origins of constructions that establish ad hoc categories in the case of Spanish tipo, and in particular the role of genitival constructions and apposition in technological, scientific and generally academic texts in the nineteenth century on the basis of corpora. I will further study the subsequent rise of the adverbial approximating functions used for ad hoc categorization and related pragmatic functions such as the use of tipo as a quotative marker in Argentinian youth language. On this basis, two broader issues will be discussed: (i) the relation between ad hoc categories and ad hoc categorization and a possibly different status of ad hoc categories and ad hoc categorization due to proceduralization; and (ii) the striking parallels with cognates from certain Romance languages (Portuguese and Italian) and from Russian and Swedish, as well as the question of whether there has been a parallel, independent development—and if so, why—or whether contact phenomena explain these similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]