Construction Grammar

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Kerstin Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Judith Huber

Chapter 2 provides an introduction to the motion encoding typology as proposed by Talmy, Slobin, and others (manner- and path-conflating languages, different types of framing and their concomitant characteristics). It argues that this typology is highly compatible with a construction grammar framework, points out the differences, and shows that particularly from the diachronic perspective taken in this study, the constructionist approach has advantages over the originally lexicalist approach of the motion typology. The chapter also provides a discussion of the different categories of motion verbs used in this study (manner verbs, path verbs, neutral motion verbs, and verbs that do not evoke a motion event on their own, but can receive a contextual motion reading).


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hoffmann

AbstractCreativity is an important evolutionary adaptation that allows humans to think original thoughts, to find solutions to problems that have never been encountered before and to fundamentally change the way we live. One particular domain of human cognition that has received considerable attention is linguistic creativity. The present paper discusses how the leading cognitive linguistic theory, Construction Grammar, can provide an explanatory account of creativity that goes beyond the issue of linguistic productivity. At the same time, it also outlines how Construction Grammar can benefit from insights from Conceptual Blending.


2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-83
Author(s):  
Liljana Mitkovska

Abstract This paper analyses a number of constructions with a reflexive marker on the verb and a dative argument, using the framework of Construction Grammar. In these constructions the predication is ascribed in various modes to the experiencer argument. We focus on these constructions in the South Slavic languages in which they have a wide distribution, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS). The following basic types are identified: Emotional processes and states, Accidental, Perception/Cognition and Stative Reflexive-Dative Construction (SRDC). The specific clusters of features in each one are due to the inheritance properties from a reflexive construction, indicating a valence reduction, in combination with the features of affectedness and lack of control, characteristic of a dative argument. This results in varied but multiply linked patterns that create a complex network of constructions. The study aims at defining the relations between these constructions and in particular at determining the place of SRDC in this network.


Author(s):  
María Guijarro Sanz

Abstract This article demonstrates how Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar can prevent Chinese students learning Spanish from fossilizing mistakes in restrictive relative clauses at the A2-B1 level of the European Framework of Reference for Languages. To address this issue, first, relative clauses in Spanish and Chinese were contrasted and, second, tailored solutions based on Cognitive Grammar were proposed. Among the cognitive based tailored solutions, certain geometry forms, colours and basic mathematics metaphors were compared with syntactic characteristics such as noun order, subordination hierarchy or resumption. To elucidate the impact of such teaching methods, an experiment with 74 Chinese students was performed. The results indicate that the efficacy of the proposed materials is statistically significant and as such, the Chinese students avoid fossilized mistakes while producing subject, object and locative relative clauses in Spanish.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
KRISTEL VAN GOETHEM

ABSTRACTThis article investigates the recently developed adjectival properties of the French noun clé ‘key’, as attested in for instance un poste très clé ‘a really key position’ and Cette mesure est-elle vraiment clé? ‘Is this measure really key?’. The main purpose of this study is triple: it consists in analysing (i) which adjectival uses can be found in modern French, (ii) to what extent they are accepted by native speakers (from different geographical varieties) of French, and (iii) how they can be accounted for within the framework of Construction Grammar and Construction Morphology. It will be hypothesised that French clé is subject to categorial gradience as a consequence of an ongoing constructionalisation process.


Gesture ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Andrén

Swedish children’s use of the headshake from 18 to 30 months shows a developmental progression from rote-learned and formulaic coordination with speech to increasingly more flexible and productive coordination with speech. To deal with these observations, I make use of the concept of multimodal constructions, to extend usage-based approaches to language learning and construction grammar by inclusion of the kinetic domain. These ideas have consequences for the (meta‑)theoretical question of whether gesture can be said to be part of language or not. I suggest that some speech-coordinated gestures, including the headshake, can be considered part of language, also in the traditional sense of language as a conventionalized system.


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