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Article published In: Quo Vadis, Construction Grammar?
Edited by Hans C. Boas, Jaakko Leino and Benjamin Lyngfelt
[Constructions and Frames 16:2] 2024
► pp. 191–219

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Philosophical reflections on the future of construction grammar (or, confessions of a Radical Construction Grammarian)

ORCiD logo with link | University of New Mexico
Published online: 15 August 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cf.23011.cro
Abstract
Many issues face construction grammar today. I start with the role of usage in construction grammar, and trace the changes in the usage-based model from mental storage to social interaction to evolution of populations of speakers and utterances. Just as speech communities and linguistic categories can be described as evolving populations, so can the construction grammar community and the theoretical concepts and formalisms that have evolved in it. Meaning remains the most challenging question for the future. Meaning is human experience, incredibly rich, and I suggest that construction grammar move away from mental representations to radical embodiment (existential phenomenology).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From usage-based to complex adaptive systems to the evolutionary framework
    • 2.1The usage-based model as a model of grammatical knowledge and processing
    • 2.2The usage-based model as a model of grammar vis-à-vis language use
    • 2.3An evolutionary framework: Replication, lineages, and populations
  • 3.Construction grammar: A “framework”, or a scientific community?
    • 3.1Construction grammar as a “framework”
    • 3.2Construction grammar as a historical entity
    • 3.3Formalisms and construction grammar
  • 4.Meaning, function, and phenomenology
    • 4.1Semantic content and information packaging
    • 4.2Semantic maps, multidimensional scaling, and the continuous nature of conceptual space
    • 4.3From Frame Semantics to radical embodiment (existential phenomenology)
  • 5.Conclusion: The future of construction grammar
  • Notes
  • References
References (72)
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Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Croft, William
2025. Constructions in Typological and Cross-Linguistic Context. In The Cambridge Handbook of Construction Grammar, ► pp. 439 ff. DOI logo
Boas, Hans C., Jaakko Leino & Benjamin Lyngfelt
2024. Constructionist views on Construction Grammar. Constructions and Frames 16:2 ► pp. 169 ff. DOI logo
Goldberg, Adele E.
2024. Usage-based constructionist approaches and large language models. Constructions and Frames 16:2 ► pp. 220 ff. DOI logo

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