Usage-based constructionist approaches and large language models

Abstract

The constructionist framework is more relevant than ever, due to efforts by a broad range of researchers across the globe, a steady increase in the use of corpus and experimental methods among linguists, consistent findings from laboratory phonology, neuroscience, sociolinguistics, and striking progress in transformer-based large language models. These advances promise exciting developments and a great deal more clarity over the next decade. The constructionist approach rests on two interrelated but distinguishable tenets: a recognition that constructions pair form with function at varying levels of specificity and abstraction, and the recognition that our knowledge and use of language are dynamic and based on language use.