ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

AT-119-019 · ATLAS 260

Coercion

Contextually enforced adjustment of meaning, through which an expression conforms to the semantic requirements of its context.

Part of the subject path Semantics and Signs

Why is this entry in the Atlas?

A · Analytical concept R1 · Distinct contribution to understanding

Coercion examines constrained adjustment of meaning to combinatorial demands. It tests an unexpressed mediating reading, separate from free imagery, social compulsion and arbitrary interpretation.

Colours and admission grounds

The rectangular label identifies the entry function: F – linguistic figure or procedure; A – analytical concept; G – foundational concept; E – selected concrete case. The rounded badge indicates the admission ground: R1 – distinctive contribution; R2 – necessary foundation; R3 – justified illustrative case. This editorial rationale explains the current selection rather than claiming an undocumented original selection history.

Explanation

In semantics, coercion is a contextually forced adjustment of interpretation. An expression initially contributes a semantic type or aspectual structure that does not directly satisfy the requirements of its environment; hearers therefore infer an additional operation, such as shifting from an object to an associated event. The expression is not reinterpreted arbitrarily but supplemented under lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic constraints. The conceptual movement first locates the type or aspectual incompatibility, reconstructs the smallest plausible adjustment, and tests whether context, world knowledge, and linguistic convention jointly support it.

Movement of thought

1. An expression initially activates its ordinary semantic type and lexically specified structure. 2. The surrounding construction imposes a requirement incompatible with that initial interpretation. 3. Interpretation adds or shifts a meaning component so that expression and context can combine. 4. A counter-test compares alternative readings and asks whether the adjustment is systematic rather than fanciful. 5. The result preserves the lexical point of departure while exposing the operation forced by context.

Scientific use case

Formal semantics, psycholinguistics, and computational linguistics study coercion through acceptability judgements, reading times, and semantic-type models. Competing pragmatic enrichments must be separated from grammatically licensed adjustment.

Example

In “Leah began the book,” begin requires an event while book initially denotes an object. The context normally supplies reading or writing even though neither verb is expressed.

Counterexample

A freely invented metaphorical reading is not coercion when the context does not require it. Nor is adjustment involved when expression and construction already combine with compatible types and no added meaning operation.

Distinction

Distinguish semantic coercion from physical or social compulsion, free metaphor, ellipsis, and ordinary pragmatic specification. It is a constrained adjustment repairing a combinatorial requirement.

Effect on thought and perception

Coercion makes language economical because every mediating event need not be spoken. It can also slow processing and open several context-dependent interpretations.

Resonance

Expression and environment initially fail to fit; their tension calls forth a mediating meaning. Context becomes a force that produces a new form of connection.

Cite this entry

Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Coercion“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-119-019. ATLAS 260, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-119-019

https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-119-019

The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.

Historical background

Jespersen's nexus analysis treats resultative combinations as units rather than rejecting an isolated verb–object sequence. Pustejovsky's 1991 Generative Lexicon defines type coercion as conversion of an argument to the type required by a function. He distinguishes it from co-composition in resultatives. The older constructions therefore raise a related interpretive problem without all instantiating the later mechanism. The Atlas can test lexical contribution, constructional licensing and contextual repair separately.

How conceptual history changes the analysis

Not every unusual construction is type coercion; the required interpretive operation must be identified.

References for the historical section

Historical source evidence and Atlas applications remain separate; this import does not assert new first attestations or a fresh exhaustive source verification.