Constructionist approaches: Past, present, future

Abstract

Construction Grammar (CxG) has developed into a broad and highly diverse family of approaches that have in common that they see constructions, i.e. form-meaning pairs at various levels of abstraction and complexity, as the basic units of language. This “element” gives an overview of the origin and the current state of the art of constructionist approaches, focusing, on the one hand, on basic concepts like the notion of “constructions”, while at the same time offering an in-depth discussion of current research trends and open questions. We discuss the commonalities and differences between the major constructionist approaches, the organization of constructional networks as well as ongoing research on linguistic creativity, multimodality and individual differences.

Cognitive Linguistics and Language Evolution

“…In addition, it makes sense not to draw a categorical distinction between linguistic and non-linguistic signs but to conceive of language as one semiotic resource among others. This follows out of the gradualist approach of cognitive linguistics, evident in its embracement of prototype theory (e.g., Lakoff 1987) and in concepts like the lexiconsyntax continuum that plays a crucial role in Construction Grammar (Ungerer & Hartmann 2023). This gradualist approach, then, also offers a heuristic framework for modelling the emergence of linguistic signs out of pre-linguistic precursors.…”

“Chaos theory, shmaos theory”: Creativity and routine in English shm-reduplication

“…Inkelas and Zoll (2005: 2-4) distinguish two major approaches to reduplication, one focusing on phonology, the other on semantic as well as syntactic properties. From the perspective of usage-based Construction Grammar (see, e.g., Ungerer and Hartmann 2023), we can conceive of shm-reduplication as a construction, i.e., a pairing of form and meaning at various levels of generality. By combining the concatenation of words with a quasi-paradigmatic stem alternation, shm-reduplication blends features traditionally attributed to syntax with features that are commonly seen as morphological.…”

The Effectiveness of Using Movie Material to Develop Form-Meaning Pair Skills

“…구문이란 언어학적 지식에서 중요한 단위이다. 구체적으로, 구문은 추상성(abstraction)과 복잡성(complexity)의 각기 다른 정도에서 형태-의미 짝짓기를 말한다 (Ungerer & Hartmann, 2023). 여기서 추상성이란 규모가 넓은 항목을 가리킨다.…”