Argument Structure Constructions Research Articles

Agentive Cognitive Construction Grammar: a predictive semiotic theory of mind and language

Abstract This paper introduces a novel perspective on Agentive Cognitive Construction Grammar (AgCCxG) by examining the intricate interplay between mind and language through the lens of both Active Inference and Peircean semiotics. AgCCxG emphasizes the impact of intention and purpose on linguistic choices as a cognitive imperative to balance the symbolic Self (Intelligent Agent) with the dynamics of the environment. Among other things, the paper posits that linguistic constructions, particularly Constructional Attachment Patterns (CAPs), like argument structure constructions, embody experienced interactions with the world through reenactment routines via the integration of multisensory channels. Unlike traditional usage-based approaches (e.g., construction grammars), AgCCxG embraces a robust theory of signs that reveals human representation as a continuous process of semiotic hybridization for the creative prediction of uncertain scenarios. Importantly, the paper challenges the notion of the mind as a unified, rational, uncertainty-reducing machine by asserting that physical processes governing open biological systems profoundly influence the linguistic sign system. Intelligent agents’ adaptability in expressing incongruous realities thus highlights the role of semiotic hybridization in preserving an agent’s autonomy and semiotic boundary.

Assessment of sentence sophistication in L2 spoken production: Expansion of verbs and argument structure constructions

Despite the vast body of literature concerning automatic analyses of L2 production, there is limited research on L2 spoken production. Furthermore, investigations into L2 sentence production abilities have predominantly been centered around sentence length. To provide more sophisticated descriptions of L2 syntactic sophistication, this study examines the validity of using the expansion of verbs and constructions as an index of L2 oral production abilities, drawing upon the principles of usage-based approaches to language development. Employing natural language processing tools, we analyzed 790 speech samples produced by L2 English learners using frequency-based and construction-focused indices to assess their predictive validity in relation to the learners’ speaking proficiency. Our findings revealed that advanced L2 learners tend to exhibit an increased use of diverse construction types and a wider range of verb types within each construction. Notably, among the individual construction types observed, the transitive and there-expletive constructions exerted the most substantial influence on the variance in speaking proficiency. These findings suggest a close relationship between the development of verbs and constructions in the spoken domain and factors related to language usage. The results provide an opportunity to evaluate L2 sentence production skills in speaking within the theoretical framework of usage-based approaches.

Investigating the psychological reality of argument structure constructions and N1 of N2 constructions: a comparison between L1 and L2 speakers of English

Abstract This study examined L1 and L2 English speakers’ sensitivity to constructional meaning by investigating their categorization of Noun1 of Noun2 constructions (e.g., results of studies) and argument structure constructions (e.g., Tom cut the bread). Participants were 40 L1 English speakers and 44 intermediate proficiency Chinese-speaking learners of L2 English, who completed two online sorting experiments. In each experiment, participants were instructed to (i) sort the stimuli according to their overall meaning and (ii) provide explanations for their sorting decisions. Results showed that EFL users preferred construction-based sorting for the argument structure stimuli but not the Noun1 of Noun2 stimuli. However, L1 English speakers showed a preference toward word-based sorting for both construction types. Participants’ self-reported explanations for their sorts nonetheless indicated sensitivity to the constructional meanings of argument structure constructions and Noun1 of Noun2 constructions. Additionally, language users were found more likely to produce construction-based sorts with more time spent on the task.

Argument-Structure Constructions with Organization Names in the English Eurolect

Construction Grammar (Hoffmann & Trousdale 2013) has received very little attention in onomastics, let alone corpus-based approaches, as corpora are just starting to be applied to the empirical study of names (Motschenbacher 2020). This study employs Named Entity Recognition plus verbal pattern extraction in an intermodal corpus (Bernardini 2016) of EU discourse, or Eurolect (Sandrelli 2018). The methodological aim is to mine English argument-structure constructions (Goldberg 1995) with subordinate clauses introduced by that and organization names in the subject slot ([ORG + V + that + SC]). First, the personification recognition method of Dorst, Mulder, and Steen (2011) is applied to quantitatively prove the strong relationship between the extracted argument-structure constructions and personification metaphors in EU discourse. Second, the constructions and their form-meaning pairings are described, both per subcorpus and globally. Results show that, at a macro- and meso-level of schematicity, the [ORG + V + that + SC] construction transversally symbolizes personification as an understanding scheme for institutional relations, constructing organization names with semantically human verbs of belief, speech, and thought. At a microscopic level, however, some constructions occur exclusively in one of the four subcorpora (non-translated, translated, non-interpreted, and interpreted English), meaning that they could be covering specific mediating functions through their name-verb slot choices.

Differences in syntactic annotation affect retrieval

AbstractPrepositional phrases (PPs) play an important part in English argument structure constructions, but pose considerable challenges for linguistic investigations of any kind. In addition to the fact that PP-attachment is generally notoriously difficult to model computationally, a particularly striking methodological challenge in investigating verb-dependent PPs across (synchronic and/or diachronic) corpora is that such cross-corpus studies may have to rely on material annotated with different tools. This study evaluates the impact that such differences in corpus annotation may have on retrieval of verb-attached PPs by means of data from Early and Late Modern English corpora. Our intrinsic (recall/precision) and extrinsic parser evaluation shows that annotation does play a role, but that the noise introduced is negligible as far as frequency developments are concerned.

Constructional complexity as a predictor of Korean EFL learners’ writing proficiency

Abstract Based on usage-based constructionist approaches to language development, this study investigates the validity of constructional complexity as a predictor of writing proficiency of Korean EFL learners. We analyzed argumentative essays produced by Korean EFL learners and compared a prediction model that uses English argument structure constructions with a conventional T-unit-based model. We first tested the predictive power of a discriminant function model with argument structure constructions as predictors for assessing writing proficiency of lower- and higher-level learners. We then compared the construction-based model to another model that included T-unit measures as predictors. The results validated the contribution of argument structure constructions for predicting L2 writing proficiency: The construction-based model yielded higher prediction accuracy than the T-unit-based model did, confirming that constructional complexity is closely aligned with writing proficiency. These findings demonstrate the significance of a construction-based model as a reliable tool for diagnosing EFL learners’ writing proficiency.

초등 영어 학습자의 의사소통 능력 향상을 위한 타동 구문 지도 방안

This paper discusses how to teach the transitive construction for improving communicative competence of primary English learners. Given that sentence-level comprehension (form-to-meaning) and production (meaning-to-form) are two major axes in communication, it is necessary to teach the forms and meanings of English sentences in an integrated way. Thus, we employ Construction Grammar (Goldberg, 1995) as the theoretical framework for form-meaning integration and explore methods of teaching the transitive construction, one of the major argument structure constructions in English. We first propose four principles for teaching argument structure constructions and highlight the characteristics of the transitive construction that primary English learners should be taught. Then, we describe instructional methods and specific activities for teaching the transitive construction to primary English learners. These efforts lead us to conclude that such instruction will contribute to primary English learners’ basic communicative competence and that the forms and meanings of other argument structure constructions also should be taught in integrated ways.

The combinatorial patterns of twá 'to cut' in Asante-Twi (Akan):

Cross-linguistically, verbs have combinatorial patterns. When the semantics of a verb combines with the semantics of its internal arguments, different interpretations are derived. These interpretations can be literal or non-literal (Ameka 2019; Spalek 2015; Rappaport Hovav 2014; Bobuafor 2013, 2018; Levin and Rappaport Hovav 2013; Ameka and Essegbey 2007; Levin 1993). Using data collected from written texts, video-stimuli descriptions, spontaneous utterances and native-speaker intuitions, this paper explores the potential combinatorial patterns of twá ‘to cut’ in Asante-Twi (Akan, Kwa-Niger Congo). I show that the verb combines with different types of internal arguments, in different argument structure constructions to derive multiple interpretations. Taking into consideration the fact that “natural language tries to minimize polysemy” (Levin and Rappaport Hovav 2013: 2), I propose a univocal lexical semantics for twá ‘to cut’ and show that its basic semantics is kept constant even in non-prototypical contexts. I argue that the use of twá ‘to cut’ in non-prototypical contexts represent contextual modulations of the verb’s single meaning. Following Spalek (2015) and Ameka (2019), I suggest that such contextual interpretations should be analysed compositionally, paying attention to the verb’s internal arguments as well as the argument structure constructions in which it occurs.   

The Treatment of Argument Structure Constructions in Online English Learners' Dictionaries: The Case of V N ADJ ASCs

Despite their diversity and complexity in structure and meaning, little research has been conducted into the systematic presentation of argument structure constructions (ASCs) in English learners' dictionaries (ELDs). To fill in the gap, this paper focused on the treatment of V N ADJ ASCs in the "Big Five" online ELDs against usage data. First a list of 40 target verbs was obtained using two measures of contingency (i.e., faithfulness and collostruction strength) through collo­structional analysis of V N ADJ ASCs in the British National Corpus, and then the related ASCs regarding their macro- and micro-structural presentation in selected dictionaries were examined. It was found that most ELDs attach importance to ASCs, notably LDOCE, which assigns many of them the status of phrases. Nevertheless, the treatment of ASCs in current ELDs is inadequate. First, the inclusion of ASCs in most ELDs is far from sufficient. Second, in some cases, there is a mismatch between a valency pattern illustration and an illustrative example. Last but not least, most ELDs are not consistent with respect to their policy of listing and encoding ASCs, and assigning them the status of phrases. We proposed, in the framework of the usage-based construc­tion grammar, some suggestions for optimizing the treatment of ASCs. Keywords: argument structure constructions, online English learners' dictionary, phraseology, collostructional analysis, usage-based con­struction grammar

Effects of verb and construction frequency in sentence comprehension

Abstract Two theoretical viewpoints provide different explanations about how people extract statistical regularities from input to assess the felicity of verb usage in a sentence. The lexical approach emphasizes the role of verb frequency in determining a verb’s distributional bias within a sentence, whereas the entrenchment hypothesis highlights the conjoined roles of the frequency information from both a verb and an argument structure construction. The present study tests these accounts by investigating Korean speakers’ interpretation of two dative patterns in Korean (Dative–Accusative and Accusative–Accusative). Through the analysis of a large-scale corpus, we calculated the frequency of each dative pattern as well as the frequency of dative verbs occurring therein. Using this information, we conducted an acceptability judgment task with Korean speakers by manipulating the dative type and the verb frequency. The results showed that the speakers’ acceptability rating behavior was affected by the interaction between the verb and construction frequency such that highly entrenched verb–construction combinations were evaluated to be more acceptable. Our finding supports the entrenchment hypothesis that emphasizes the conjoined roles of usage frequency of verbs and constructions in sentence comprehension.

Automatic Analysis of Constructional Diversity as a Predictor of EFL Students’ Writing Proficiency

AbstractOne of the important components in second language (L2) development is to produce clause-level units of form–meaning pairings or argument structure constructions. Based on the usage-based constructionist approach that language development entails an ability to use more diverse, more complex, and less frequent constructions, this study tested whether constructional diversity and complexity predict L2 learners’ writing proficiency. Using a natural language processing tool called the Constructional Diversity Analyzer (CDA), we analyzed 3,284 essays produced by college EFL students in terms of the proportion of individual constructions and their diversity. Results from regression analyses showed that constructional diversity reliably predicted learner proficiency: essays with higher scores contained more diverse constructions. We also found that less frequent and more complex constructions made a stronger contribution to predicting the written proficiency levels. Based on the findings, we argue for the validity of constructional diversity and the use of individual constructions as reliable predictors of L2 writing proficiency and propose the application of the CDA for L2 writing assessment and instruction.

Sōþes ne wanda. The Avoidance is Separation Metaphor in West-Germanic Argument Structure

Abstract In this paper I reconstruct two separative argument structure constructions for West Germanic: one involving a genitive of origin and one involving an instrumental in the process of being subsumed under the dative. Although neither genitives nor instrumentals/datives are typically used to refer to literal origins in space in any of the languages under consideration, a number of verbs attested with genitives and instrumentals/datives can be semantically related to each other as expressing different metaphorical extensions from the concept of separation. The fact that the expression of spatial origin itself is not a function of the genitive or the instrumental/dative can be explained diachronically with reference to a common evolutionary scenario in which adpositional phrases replace bare-case constructions in their concrete, spatial functions before they take over their derived, more abstract senses. The alternation between genitives, instrumentals/datives and separative prepositions is best modelled as a constructeme, a schema with various allostructions.

Variation and Grammaticalization of Verbal Constructions

Abstract Construction grammar – most notably Cognitive Construction Grammar (Goldberg 2006), Radical Construction Grammar (Croft 2001) and Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 2008) – 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 2003; Engelberg 2009; Faulhaber 2011; Goldberg 1995; Rostila 2007). Usage-based approaches (Barlow & Kemmer 2000; Bybee & Hopper 2001; Diessel 2015, 2019; Langacker 1988; Tomasello 2003) 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 & Gries 2003; Gries 2006; Glynn 2014) and diachronically (Hilpert 2006). 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.

A Usage-Based Proposal for Argument Structure of Directional Verbs in American Sign Language.

Verb agreement in signed languages has received substantial attention for a long time. Despite the numerous analyses about the linguistic status of verb agreement, there is little discussion about the argument structure associated with “directional verbs,” also known as agreeing/agreement or indicating verbs. This paper proposes a usage-based approach for analyzing argument structure constructions of directional verbs in American Sign Language (ASL). The proposal offers low-level constructions for reported speech, non-dedicated passive and reflexive, and stance verb constructions, which capture the patterns, abstracted from recurring usage events, that are part of users’ linguistic knowledge. The approach has potential to push the field of sign linguistics in new directions of understanding the interplay of language use and structure.

The role of semiotics in the unification of langue and parole: an Agentive Cognitive Construction Grammar approach to English modals

Abstract This article introduces Agentive Cognitive Construction Grammar, an emerging field that seeks to connect the linguistic system with speaker-meaning. The stated purpose is thus to tackle a pervasive disconnect in both cognitive linguistics and construction grammar, whereby the linguistic system (langue) and speaker selections (parole) are separated in the belief that language is essentially a mental process associated with the brain, and hence, separated from bodily experience. I contend this view by introducing a triadic model of construction (based on the Peircean sign) in which form and function are inextricably bound up with agency. This is possible because language is tethered to senses of movement and balance that connect experiences with the physical world with the mental. A major insight of the paper is that argument structure constructions partake of both linguistic and non-linguistic signs, which provides speakers with a means to verbalize their thoughts and distribute agency in specific events.

Another look at the interaction between verbs and constructions

AbstractDespite the wealth of literature on English resultatives, there still remain a number of issues that have not been squarely addressed. This paper addresses two of them through a case study of resultatives based onwipe. First, while the existence of resultatives with objects not selected by verbs is well-known in the literature (e.g.,wipe the crumbs off the table/*wipe the crumbs), few studies have addressed the issue of exactly which entities may appear as non-selected objects. Second, there are resultatives whose form is to be analyzed as a mixture of the verb’s lexically-specified syntactic frame and the syntactic frame of resultatives (e.g.wipe the blade clean on his skin coat), but such resultatives have been neglected in previous studies.In order to find an answer to the first issue, this paper adopts a force-recipient account, according to which the post-verbal NP of a resultative is a force-recipient (cf.Croft 1990,1991,1998,2012). It is shown that non-selected objects likecrumbsare indeed force-recipients in a conceptual scene. As for the second issue, such resultatives can be accommodated by means of a constructional analysis which holds that verbs contribute the semantics of the resulting expression, and that argument structure constructions simply enable the verb meaning to take its form. Together, these findings indicate that verbs play a far more important role than argument structure constructions in effecting the syntax and semantics of the resulting expression.

Of travels and travails: The role of semantic typology, argument structure constructions, and language contact in semantic change

Abstract This paper is an investigation into the role of argument structure constructions as catalysts or blockers of lexical semantic change. It presents a case study of the divergent semantic development of French travailler ‘work’ and English travel ‘journey’ from their shared earlier meaning ‘labour, toil’. This divergence is shown to not be random: It can be explained as a product of the different intransitive motion constructions (IMCs) and different communicative habits in these two languages. Consequently, the development of travailler ‘journey’ in the Anglo-Norman dialect of French can be understood as the result of contact influence of Middle English. By pointing to similar instances in which verbs meaning ‘labour, toil’ have acquired a polysemous ‘motion’ sense in languages with an IMC that can coerce non-motion verbs into contextual motion readings, the paper argues that this is most probably a regular semantic trajectory in satellite-framing, manner-conflating languages.

Roles of verb and construction cues

Abstract This study investigates how speakers of English and Korean, two typologically distinct languages, derive information from a verb and a construction to achieve sentence comprehension. In a sentence-sorting task, we manipulated verb semantics (real versus nonce) in each language. The results showed that participants from both languages were less inclined to sort sentences by a verb cue when the lexical-semantic information about a verb was obscured (i.e., nonce verb). In addition, the Korean-speaking participants were less likely affected by the verb semantics conditions than the English-speaking participants. These findings suggest the role of an argument structure construction in sentence comprehension as a co-contributor of sentence meaning, supporting the constructionist approach. The findings also imply language-specific mechanisms of sentence comprehension, contingent upon the varied impact of a verb on sentence meaning in English and Korean.

Responsibility attribution in gender-based domestic violence: A study bridging corpus-assisted discourse analysis and readers' perception

This paper investigates how argument structure constructions (see e.g. Goldberg 1995) are used by Italian newspapers to portray gender-based violence (GBV), how their usage affects responsibility attribution to perpetrators, and how such usage is perceived by Italian readers. The assumption is that constructions critically affect meaning: constructional choices prompt different viewpoints of the same event. For the corpus study, we collected 40 articles from local newspapers and annotated 720 constructions denoting GBV events. Constructions suppressing/backgrounding the perpetrator or depicting the event as a bare happening were the most frequent. Building upon these results, for the perception study, 274 participants read an author-constructed news report portraying GBV and answered four speculative questions about the identity of the perpetrator and the victim. Respondents were divided into groups and each group was presented with a stimulus article containing different constructions of the GBV event surrounded by the same information frame. In line with previous studies, it was found that the perpetrator could be assigned less responsibility when the passive and nominal constructions were employed.

Putting the argument back into argument structure constructions

AbstractThis paper shows that low-level generalisations in argument structure constructions are crucial to understanding the concept of alternation: low-level generalisations inform and constrain more schematic generalisations and thus constructional meaning. On the basis of an analysis of the causative alternation in English, and more specifically of the theme (i.e., the entity undergoing the event denoted by the verb), I show that each construction has its own schematic meaning. This analysis is conducted on a dataset composed of 11,554 instances of the intransitive non-causative construction and the transitive causative construction. The identification of lower-level generalisations feeds into the idea that language acquisition is organic and abstractions are formed only gradually (if at all) from exposure to input. So far, most of the literature on argument structure constructions has focused on the verb itself, and thus fails to capture these generalisations. I make up for this deficit through an in-depth analysis of the causative alternation.