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Introduction published In: Variation and Grammaticalization of Verbal Constructions
Edited by Dániel Czicza and Gabriele Diewald
[Constructions and Frames 14:1] 2022
► pp. 1–12

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Introduction

Variation and Grammaticalization of Verbal Constructions

 | Leibniz Universität Hannover
 | Leibniz Universität Hannover


This article is available free of charge.

Published online: 9 August 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/cf.00062.int
Abstract
Construction grammar – most notably Cognitive Construction Grammar ( (2006). Constructions at work. The nature of generalization in language. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), Radical Construction Grammar (Croft, W. (2001). Radical construction grammar. Syntactic theory in typological perspective. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and Cognitive Grammar ( (2008). Cognitive grammar. A basic introduction. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) – has been extremely inspiring in providing tools for modelling gradience in variation and change. Verbal constructions have been investigated within the paradigm of construction grammar from a number of angles including idiomaticization processes as well as argument structure constructions (Boas, H. (2003). A constructional approach to resultatives. CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Engelberg, S. (2009). Blätter knistern über den Beton. Zwischenbericht aus einer korpuslinguistischen Studie zur Bewegungsinterpretation bei Geräuschverben. In E. Winkler (Ed.), Konstruktionelle Varianz bei Verben (pp. 75–97). Institut für Deutsche Sprache.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Faulhaber, S. (2011). Verb valency patterns. A challenge for semantics-based accounts. Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Goldberg, A. E. (1995). Constructions. A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Rostila, J. (2007). Konstruktionsansätze zur Argumentmarkierung im Deutschen. Tampere University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Usage-based approaches (Barlow, M. & Kemmer, S. (Eds.) (2000). Usage-based models of language. CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Bybee, J. & Hopper, P. J. (Eds.) (2001). Frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Diessel, H. (2015). Usage-based construction grammar. In E. Dabrowska & D. Divjak (Eds.), Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 295–321). Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2019). The grammar network: How linguistic structure is shaped by language use. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Langacker, R. W. (1988). A usage-based model. In B. Rudzka-Ostyn (Ed.), Topics in cognitive linguistics (pp. 127–161). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language. A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) have pointed out that usage is the place to look for variation and change. Data-driven, corpus-based approaches have introduced quantitative methods for analyzing constructional functionality and variety synchronically (Stefanowitsch, A. & Gries, S. Th. (2003). Collostructions: Investigating the interaction between words and constructions. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 8(2), 209–243. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Gries, S. Th. (2006). Corpus-based methods and cognitive semantics: The many senses of to run. In S. Th. Gries & A. Stefanowitsch (Eds.), Corpora in cognitive linguistics. Corpus-based approaches to syntax and lexis (pp. 57–99). Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Glynn, D. (2014). The many uses of run. Corpus methods and socio-cognitive semantics. In D. Glynn & J. A. Robinson (Eds.), Corpus methods for semantics. Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy (pp. 117–144). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and diachronically (Hilpert, M. (2006). Distinctive collexeme analysis and diachrony. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 2(2), 243–256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). These techniques have given rise to detailed studies of verbal constructions, lexicalization and idiomaticization.
This volume presents papers which in their majority have arisen in connection with the workshop “Variation and Grammaticalization of Verbal Constructions”, held at the 51st SLE Annual Meeting at Tallinn, 29th August – 1st September 2018. Its focus is on verbal constructions in Germanic languages, constructional variation and degrees of polyfunctionality between lexical, idiomatic and grammaticalized usages. The major object of this volume is to investigate the conditions and interdependencies of such variations and polyfunctionalities. The theoretical and conceptual foundations of the studies united here rest upon grammaticalization theory, usage-based constructional approaches, and frame semantics, allway in combination with empirical testing. The scope of interest comprises synchronic as well as diachronic phenomena in various registers and communicative types.
Article outline
  • 1.General background
  • 2.Verbal constructions
  • 3.The contributions
  • References
References (44)
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