Three open questions in Diachronic Construction Grammar

Abstract

A growing number of studies on language change adopt Construction Grammar as a theoretical framework so that there is now a developing field of Diachronic Construction Grammar. As is typical of any emerging linguistic theory, many aspects of Diachronic Construction Grammar are still not clarified explicitly, or they are understood in different ways by different researchers. There is thus a need for some meta-theoretical reflection. This paper identifies three questions in Diachronic Construction Grammar that are currently unresolved. These three questions pertain to the status of constructions as mental representations of language, the emergence of new constructions, and the way in which nodes and connections are viewed as parts of the constructional network. By airing these questions, this paper hopes to stimulate further discussion.