Constructions in the Lexical Constructional Model

This article discusses the concept of construction in the Lexical Constructional Model, focusing on tensions, concerned largely with the relationship between meaning and form in constructions, which have arisen in the model as a result of contributions from three different groups of scholars: functionalists, cognitivists and computational linguists/computer scientists. The article examines precursors of the LCM which made use of ideas from Role and Reference Grammar, and then assesses the influence of the cognitivist contribution and the later input from the computational knowledge base, FunGramKB, also based partly on RRG. Finally, it summarises recent work in RRG, suggesting that the new proposals for treating constructional schemas as central to RRG could prove useful in working towards solutions of the problems arising within the LCM.