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In:Constructions in Contact 3: Constructional schemas and patterns in language contact
Edited by Hans C. Boas and Steffen Höder
[Constructional Approaches to Language 40] 2025
► pp. 291–317

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Schemas all the way down?

Exploring the notion of intra-word phonological schematicity in intercommunicative decoding

 | Kiel University
Published online: 13 October 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.40.08hag
Abstract
The phonological form of constructions is often mentioned only in a side note, if at all, in CxG contributions. However, phonology plays an important role at all structural levels, including one that has hardly been acknowledged outside a phonological context: the submorphemic level. Evidence from a growing body of research suggests that submorphemic patterns are highly relevant for the cognitive organization of linguistic knowledge. Crucially, submorphemic patterns and the closely related notion of phonological schemas call for a re-evaluation of the syntax-lexicon continuum and raise the question how phonological variability is processed by speakers and integrated into their construct-i-cons. The paper makes a theoretical contribution to this discussion and illustrates the potential complexity of a type of submorphemic pattern that is thought to play a major role in intercommunication involving closely related languages and varieties: sound correspondence patterns. It suggests that sound correspondence patterns can be modelled as constructions that can be phonologically schematic to different degrees on different ‘dimensions’ below the word level.
Article outline
  • 1.Sounds flying under the radar
  • 2.Schemas all the way down
  • 3.Phonological language markers and schematic lexical diaconstructions
  • 4.Intercommunication promoting phonological schematicity
  • 5.Acquisition of sound correspondence patterns
  • 6.Different sound correspondences illustrating different types of variability
    • 6.1Soft d
    • 6.2Plosive weakening
    • 6.3Schwa apocope/syllable reduction: Phonological embedding
  • 7.Dimensions and levels of schematicity compared
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
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