Synopses & Reviews
The last decade has seen a rise in popularity in construction-based approaches to grammar. Put simply, the various approaches within the rubric 'construction grammar' all see grammar (morphemes, words, idioms, etc.) as fundamentally constructions -- pairings of form and meaning. This is distinct from formal syntax which sees grammar as a system of atomized units governed by formal rules. Construction Grammar is connected to cognitive linguistics and shares many of its philosophical and methodological assumptions. Advocates of Construction Grammar see it as a psychologically-plausible, generative theory of human language that can also account for all kinds of linguistic data. The research programs it has spawned range from theoretical morphological and syntactic studies to multidisciplinary cognitive studies in psycho-, neuro-, and computational linguistics.
This Handbook is the first authoritative reference work solely dedicated to the theory, method, and applications of Construction Grammar, and will be a resource that students and scholars alike can turn to for a representative overview of its many sub-theories and applications. It has 24 chapters divided into 7 sections, with an introduction covering the theory's basic principles and its relationship with other theories including Chomskyan syntax. The book's readership lies in a variety of diverse fields, including corpus linguistics, thoeretical syntax, psycho and neurolinguistics, language variation, acquisition, and computational linguistics.
Synopsis
The last decade has seen a rise in popularity in construction-based approaches to grammar. The various approaches within the rubric 'construction grammar' all see language as a network of constructions-pairings of form and meaning. Construction Grammar, as a kind of cognitive linguistics, differs significantly from mainstream generative grammar as espoused by Chomsky and his followers. Advocates of Construction Grammar see it as a psychologically plausible theory of human language. As such, it is capable of providing a principled account of language acquisition, language variation and language change. Research in Construction Grammar also includes multidisciplinary cognitive studies in psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and computational linguistics.
The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar is the first authoritative reference work solely dedicated to Construction Grammar. Divided into five sections, the book will be an invaluable resource that students and scholars alike can turn to for a comprehensive account of current work on Construction Grammar, its theoretical foundations, and its applications to and relationship with other kinds of linguistic enquiry.
About the Author
Thomas Hoffmann is Assistant Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Osnabrück.
Graeme Trousdale is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at the University of Edinburgh.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter Authors
I. Principles and methods
1 Construction Grammar: Introduction Thomas Hoffmann and Graeme Trousdale
2 Constructionist Approaches Adele E. Goldberg
3 The Limits of (Construction) Grammar Paul Kay
4 Usage-based Theory and Exemplar Representations of Constructions Joan L. Bybee
5 Constructions in the Parallel Architecture Ray Jackendoff
6 Data in Construction Grammar Stefan Th.Gries
II. Constructionist approaches
7 Berkeley Construction Grammar Charles Fillmore
8 Sign-based Construction Grammar Laura A. Michaelis
9 Fluid Construction Grammar Luc Steels
10 Embodied Construction Grammar Ben Bergen and Nancy Chang
11 Cognitive Grammar Cristiano Broccias
12 Radical Construction Grammar William Croft
13 Cognitive Construction Grammar Hans Boas
III. Constructicon: from morphemes to clauses and beyond
14 Morphology in Construction Grammar Geert Booij
15 Words and Idioms Stefanie Wulff
16 Collostructional Analysis Anatol Stefanowitsch
17 Abstract Phrasal and Clausal Constructions Thomas Hoffmann
18 Information Structure Jaakko Leino
IV. Acquisition and cognition
19 Construction grammar and First Language Acquisition Holger Diessel
20 Construction grammar and Second Language Acquisition Nick Ellis
21 Psycholinguistics Giulia Bencini
22 Brain Basis of Meaning, Words, Constructions and Grammar Friedemann Pulvermüller, Yury Shtyrov and Bert Capelle
IV. Language Variation and Change
23 Principles of Constructional Change Mirjam Fried
24 Construction-Based Historical-Comparative Reconstruction Jóhanna Barðdal
25 Corpus-based approaches to constructional change Martin Hilpert
26 Dialects, Discourse and Construction Grammar Jan-Ola Ostman and Graeme Trousdale
27 Constructions in Cognitive Sociolinguistics Willem Hollmann