How constructions are born. The role of patterns in the constructionalization of be going to INF
-
Peter Petré
Abstract
This paper addresses the question if and why constructions, conventionalized form-meaning pairings, should have a privileged status among patterns in modelling our knowledge of a language. Constructionist approaches regard constructions as the basic unit of our language knowledge. They range from words to schematic patterns such as the ditransitive (he gave Mary a book). Construction grammar also recognizes the existence of connections based on similarity or repeated cooccurrence between forms alone or meanings alone. The emphasis on constructions, however, runs the risk of relegating them to second place. The strict division between constructions and connections between constructions also potentially obliterates the importance of an in-between category such as compositional combinations of constructions, which I refer to as assemblies. While these connectivity patterns have also been captured under the category of constructions broadly defined, I will argue for a separation of non-compositional form-meaning pairings from the dynamics of compositional connectivity patterns, particularly focusing on the role frequency shifts in assemblies play in a constructionalization process.
Abstract
This paper addresses the question if and why constructions, conventionalized form-meaning pairings, should have a privileged status among patterns in modelling our knowledge of a language. Constructionist approaches regard constructions as the basic unit of our language knowledge. They range from words to schematic patterns such as the ditransitive (he gave Mary a book). Construction grammar also recognizes the existence of connections based on similarity or repeated cooccurrence between forms alone or meanings alone. The emphasis on constructions, however, runs the risk of relegating them to second place. The strict division between constructions and connections between constructions also potentially obliterates the importance of an in-between category such as compositional combinations of constructions, which I refer to as assemblies. While these connectivity patterns have also been captured under the category of constructions broadly defined, I will argue for a separation of non-compositional form-meaning pairings from the dynamics of compositional connectivity patterns, particularly focusing on the role frequency shifts in assemblies play in a constructionalization process.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of tables and figures VII
- List of contributors IX
- Patterns in linguistics: This volume, its aims and its contributions 1
- From term to concept and vice versa: Pattern(s) in language and linguistics 11
- How to do things with intertextual patterns: On Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose 47
- Word-entry patterns in Early Modern English dictionaries 69
- Collocations and colligations: Visualizing lexicogrammar 97
- Constructional pattern-development in language change 125
- How constructions are born. The role of patterns in the constructionalization of be going to INF 157
- Constructions are patterns and so are fixed expressions 193
- A dynamic equational approach to sound patterns in language change and secondlanguage acquisition: The (un)stability of English dental fricatives illustrated 221
- Learning by predicting: How predictive processing informs language development 255
- Index 289
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of tables and figures VII
- List of contributors IX
- Patterns in linguistics: This volume, its aims and its contributions 1
- From term to concept and vice versa: Pattern(s) in language and linguistics 11
- How to do things with intertextual patterns: On Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose 47
- Word-entry patterns in Early Modern English dictionaries 69
- Collocations and colligations: Visualizing lexicogrammar 97
- Constructional pattern-development in language change 125
- How constructions are born. The role of patterns in the constructionalization of be going to INF 157
- Constructions are patterns and so are fixed expressions 193
- A dynamic equational approach to sound patterns in language change and secondlanguage acquisition: The (un)stability of English dental fricatives illustrated 221
- Learning by predicting: How predictive processing informs language development 255
- Index 289
