@cite{goldberg-shirtz-2025}: PAL Constructions — Empirical Data

@cite{goldberg-shirtz-2025}

Experimental results from five studies on Phrasal Adjective-Like (PAL) constructions, plus cross-linguistic attestation data.

PALs are phrases that fill word-level syntactic slots:

• "a must-see movie" (must-see is a phrase in modifier position)
• "a real wink-wink situation" (wink-wink is a phrase acting as adjective)
• "a simple meet-and-greet"

Key findings

1. PALs are preferred when the situation type is common knowledge (Study 1a)
2. PALs are preferred when interlocutors have shared background (Study 1b)
3. PALs are judged as wittier than paraphrases (Study 2)
4. PALs are judged as more sarcastic than paraphrases (Study 3)
5. Conventional subtypes (must-VERB, a simple ⟨PAL⟩, etc.) behave similarly (Study 5)
6. PALs are attested in unrelated language families (German, Dutch, Turkish, Hebrew,...)

Study result structure

structure Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.PALStudyResult : Type

A single experimental result from one of Studies 1–5.

• study : String

  Study identifier (e.g. "1a", "2")

• question : String

  Research question tested

• nParticipants : ℕ

  Number of participants

• meanPALChosen : ℚ

  Mean % choosing PAL over paraphrase

• beta : ℚ

  Regression coefficient (β)

• zStat : ℚ

  z-statistic

• pValue : String

  p-value description

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALStudyResult.repr : PALStudyResult → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALStudyResult : Repr PALStudyResult

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• Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALStudyResult = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALStudyResult.repr }

Studies 1–5: Experimental results

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.study1a : PALStudyResult

Study 1a: Common knowledge increases PAL use. Participants preferred PALs when the situation type (e.g., "grab-and-go") was common knowledge vs. not.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.study1b : PALStudyResult

Study 1b: Shared background increases PAL use. Same design as 1a but manipulates shared background knowledge between speaker and addressee.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.study2 : PALStudyResult

Study 2: PALs are judged wittier than paraphrases.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.study3 : PALStudyResult

Study 3: PALs are judged more sarcastic than paraphrases.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.study5 : PALStudyResult

Study 5: Conventional PAL subtypes behave like novel PALs. Tests must-VERB, a simple ⟨PAL⟩, Don't PAL me, the old ⟨PAL⟩ N.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.allStudies : List PALStudyResult

All study results.

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Cross-linguistic data

structure Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.CrossLinguisticPAL : Type

Attestation of PAL-like constructions across languages.

• language : String
• family : String
• exemplar : String
• gloss : String
• resemblesCompound : Bool

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprCrossLinguisticPAL.repr : CrossLinguisticPAL → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprCrossLinguisticPAL : Repr CrossLinguisticPAL

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• Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprCrossLinguisticPAL = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprCrossLinguisticPAL.repr }

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.german : CrossLinguisticPAL

German PAL attestation.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.dutch : CrossLinguisticPAL

Dutch PAL attestation.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.afrikaans : CrossLinguisticPAL

Afrikaans PAL attestation.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.turkish : CrossLinguisticPAL

Turkish PAL attestation.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.hebrew : CrossLinguisticPAL

Hebrew PAL attestation.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.brazilianPortuguese : CrossLinguisticPAL

Brazilian Portuguese PAL attestation.

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def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.crossLinguisticData : List CrossLinguisticPAL

All cross-linguistic attestations.

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Distributional properties

inductive Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.PALPosition : Type

Syntactic positions where PALs are attested.

• prenominalModifier : PALPosition
• headNoun : PALPosition
• predicateAdj : PALPosition
• verb : PALPosition

instance Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALPosition : Repr PALPosition

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• Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALPosition = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALPosition.repr }

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALPosition.repr : PALPosition → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instDecidableEqPALPosition : DecidableEq PALPosition

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• Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instDecidableEqPALPosition x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instBEqPALPosition.beq : PALPosition → PALPosition → Bool

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• Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instBEqPALPosition.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

instance Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instBEqPALPosition : BEq PALPosition

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• Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instBEqPALPosition = { beq := Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instBEqPALPosition.beq }

structure Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.PALExample : Type

An attested PAL example with its syntactic position.

• pal : String
• position : PALPosition
• sentence : String

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALExample.repr : PALExample → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALExample : Repr PALExample

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• Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALExample = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.instReprPALExample.repr }

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.palExamples : List PALExample

Key examples showing PAL distributional flexibility.

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Stress pattern

def Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.palStressIsCompoundLike : Bool

PALs receive compound-like stress: primary stress falls on the PAL (modifier), not on the head noun. This mirrors NN compound stress (e.g., BLACKbird vs. black BIRD).

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• Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.palStressIsCompoundLike = true

Bridge content (merged from CxG_GoldbergShirtz2025Bridge.lean)

Bridge: PAL Construction Theory → GoldbergShirtz2025 Phenomena

Connects the PAL construction theoretical analysis in ConstructionGrammar.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025 to the empirical data in Phenomena.Constructions.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.

Claims 3 and 4 reference empirical study results (effect sizes from Studies 2/3, cross-linguistic attestation data) and so belong here rather than in the pure theory file.

def ConstructionGrammar.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.Bridge.claim_rhetorical_effects : Prop

Claim 3: PALs produce rhetorical effects (wit, sarcasm).

Supported by Studies 2 (wittiness) and 3 (sarcasm): PALs are judged wittier and more sarcastic than paraphrases.

We record this as the empirical observation that effect sizes are positive and significant across both studies.

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theorem ConstructionGrammar.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.Bridge.claim_rhetorical_effects_holds : claim_rhetorical_effects

Claim 3 holds: β > 0 in both Studies 2 and 3.

def ConstructionGrammar.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.Bridge.claim_crosslinguistic : Prop

Claim 4: PAL-like constructions exist in unrelated language families.

Attested in Germanic (German, Dutch, Afrikaans), Turkic (Turkish), Semitic (Hebrew), and Romance (Brazilian Portuguese).

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theorem ConstructionGrammar.Studies.GoldbergShirtz2025.Bridge.claim_crosslinguistic_holds : claim_crosslinguistic

Claim 4 holds: 4 distinct families attested.