Construction-based Approach Research Articles

Nostalgia for the future of Construction Grammar

Abstract Construction Grammar is a nomadic family of theoretical approaches whose members are constantly moving in various directions. The diversity in construction-based approaches is a clear sign of a thriving and tolerant research community, but it also risks muddying the waters, leading to potential confusion. In this paper, I argue that the main source of confusion about Construction Grammar stems from the community’s gradual evolution from the traditional view of languages as static, idealized entities (the “aggregate” perspective) to the view of language as a complex adaptive system (the “population” perspective). While the aggregate perspective abstracts away as much as possible from variation and language usage, the population perspective greatly emphasizes the dynamics of language and situated communicative interactions. This paper illustrates what it means to perform constructional analyses from the population perspective; and argues that Construction Grammar is particularly well-positioned to lead the way in this new kind of linguistics, indicating that our community has a bright future ahead.

Accurate Spectral Properties within Double-Hybrid Density Functional Theory: A Spin-Scaled Range-Separated Second-Order Algebraic-Diagrammatic Construction-Based Approach.

Our second-order algebraic-diagrammatic construction [ADC(2)]-based double-hybrid (DH) ansatz (J. Chem. Theory Comput.2019, 15, 4440. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.9b00391) is combined with range-separation techniques. In the present scheme, both the exchange and the correlation contributions are range-separated, while spin-scaling approaches are also applied. The new methods are thoroughly tested for the most popular benchmark sets including 250 singlet and 156 triplet excitations, as well as 80 oscillator strengths. It is demonstrated that the range separation for the correlation contributions is highly recommended for both the genuine and the ADC(2)-based DH approaches. Our results show that the latter scheme slightly but consistently outperforms the former one for single excitation dominated transitions. Furthermore, states with larger fractions of double excitations are assessed as well, and challenging charge-transfer excitations are also discussed, where the recently proposed spin-scaled long-range corrected DHs fail. The suggested iterative fourth-power scaling RS-PBE-P86/SOS-ADC(2) method, using only three adjustable parameters, provides the most robust and accurate excitation energies within the DH theory. In addition, the relative error of the oscillator strengths is reduced by 65% compared to the best genuine DH functionals.

Advances in Morphological Theory: Construction Morphology and Relational Morphology

In recent years, construction-based approaches to morphology have gained ground in the research community. This framework is characterized by the assumption that the mental lexicon is extensive and richly structured, containing not only a large number of stored words but also a wide variety of generalizations in the form of schemas. This review explores two construction-based theories, Construction Morphology and Relational Morphology. After outlining the basic theoretical architecture, the article presents an array of recent applications of a construction-based approach to morphological phenomena in various languages. In addition, it offers reflections on challenges and opportunities for further research. The review highlights those aspects of the theory that have proved particularly helpful in accommodating both the regularities and the quirks that are typical of the grammar of words.

The role of intonation in Construction Grammar: On prosodic constructions

In constructionist approaches, constructions are defined as pairings of phonological, morphological and syntactic form, and semantic, pragmatic or discursive meaning. However, in practice very few constructional analyses deal specifically with the intonational properties of constructions. Moreover, constructional approaches are not clear about the ontological status of intonation in a constructional model of language. Combining insights from Construction Grammar and Intonational Studies, specifically the Autosegmental Metrical framework of intonational phonology and the Tones and Breaks Indices (ToBI) transcription model, this paper discusses the role of prosody in a construction-based approach to language, through the analysis of the insubordinate conditional construction (ICC) in Spanish. Building on the analysis of the prosody of 90 tokens of the ICC uttered by 14 native speakers of Peninsular Spanish, we argue that the best way to account for the relationship between intonational patterns and (lexicogrammatical) constructions is to treat intonational patterns as constructions that pair a phonological form with a semantic-pragmatic meaning, which are then inherited by sentence-level constructions as long as their meanings are compatible.

Meaningfulness Beats Frequency in Multiword Chunk Processing.

Whereas a growing bulk of work has demonstrated that both adults and children are sensitive to frequently occurring word sequences, little is known about the potential role of meaning in the processing of such multiword chunks. Here, we take a first step toward assessing the contribution of meaningfulness in the processing of multiword sequences, using items that varied in chunk meaningfulness. In a phrasal-decision study, we compared reaction times for triads of three-word sequences, corresponding to idiomatic expressions, compositional phrases, and phrasal fragments, while controlling for phrase and substring frequencies. Chunk meaningfulness, as assessed by a separate subjective rating study, was found to speed up decision times for all three types of strings: The more meaningful a multiword sequence was judged to be, the faster it was processed, independently of whether it was idiomatic, compositional in nature, or a phrasal fragment. These results highlight the importance of taking meaning into account when considering the processing of multiword chunks, consistent with predictions of construction-based approaches to language.

Words are constructions, too: A construction-based approach to English ablaut reduplication

Abstract In this article we present a new approach to words of the type zigzag, chitchat, etc. in English. Such words form a formal (phonological) and functional (semantic) pattern in English. We argue that this pattern should be analysed in a construction-based approach, which has clear advantages over other approaches, e.g. analyses involving extragrammaticality or a synchronically productive reduplication process. We propose to extend the construction-based approach beyond its original scope (syntactic constructions) to words that may even no longer be morphologically complex. Finally, we make a tentative suggestion about how the difference between productive and unproductive patterns could be captured in the construction-based approach.

Contrastive Stripping Constructions in English: A Construction-Based Approach

This paper aims to account for the idiosyncratic properties of the Contrastive Stripping Construction (CSC) in English. The main issues on this construction are how to generate its 4 possible skeletal structures and get the right contrastive reading from them. Rejecting the Movement-Ellipsis approaches facing theoretical and/or empirical problems, we propose a constructionbased analysis of the CSC which interacts the English CSC-cx rule with various lexical information of the lexemes such as and and but. This enables us to generate the 4 skeletal structures of the CSC and assign an appropriate contrastive reading to them.

Predicate topicalization in Korean: A construction-based HPSG Approach

Predicate topicalization in Korean: A construction-based HPSG Approach

De bronconstructies van Belgisch Nederlands (’t) schijnt: een repliek

Abstract This is a brief reply to the article by Vliegen in this issue. We argue that, while Vliegen’s suggestion of a link between naar het schijnt and (’t) schijnt is certainly plausible, this need not rule out a scenario in which the emerging use of (’t) schijnt as a particle has also taken its root in (specific uses of) the matrix clause construction het schijnt dat. In modern construction-based approaches to language change, it is accepted that newly developing constructions may have multiple sources. In this perspective, the ‘matrix clause hypothesis’ and the ‘paratactic hypothesis’ are not mutually exclusive.

종결어미 뒤에 결합한 ‘싶다’의 기능에 대한 구문 기반 연구

이 글에서는 종결어미에 후행하는 ‘싶다’의 통사적 · 의미적 특성을 상세히 검토하고, 기존에 제시된 문제점에 대한 실마리를 찾고자 하였다. 먼저 통사적으로 종결어미에 후행하는 ‘싶다’는 보조용언과 통사적 양상에서 큰 차이를 보이며, 따라서 ‘싶다’는 보조용언이 아닌 별도의 서술어로 보아야 한다고 주장했다. ‘싶다’의 의미에 대해서는 기존에 제시된 ‘추측’이나 ‘판단’으로는 설명이 어려운 구문이 존재하며, 따라서 ‘인용’을 나타내는 것으로 보는 것이 합리적임을 밝혔다.BR 한편 ‘싶다’는 고대 국어에서 소실된 어기 ‘*식다’와 관련이 있을 것으로 보고, ‘하다’와의 의미적 관련성이 전제됨을 주장하였다. 나아가 ‘싶다’는 ‘하다’와는 달리 내적 사유를 인용하는 표현임을 밝히고, 그 의미 영역적 특성으로 인해 형용사로 쓰이며, 보문소를 취할 수 없음을 주장하였다.

Construction-based approach to teaching the English resultative construction to Korean EFL learners

Construction-based approach to teaching the English resultative construction to Korean EFL learners

An HPSG Approach to English Comparative Inversion

It has been analyzed that the word order of English comparative inversion is analogous to that of other subject-auxiliary inversion constructions, in that only a finite auxiliary verb (i.e., the highest auxiliary) can be followed by the subject. However, English comparative inversion must be distinguished from other inversion constructions, since the subject can be located between a cluster of auxiliary verbs and the non-auxiliary phrase in English comparative inversion. Existing analyses of subject-auxiliary inversion cannot account for this special kind of inversion. This paper proposes a new phrase type, called inv-focus-cl, for English comparative inversion within the framework of constructionbased Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). Additionally, I suggest that constraints on properties of lexemes participating in the inv-focus-cl are governed by the construction-based approach, while the word order of English comparative inversion is determined by independent rules that determine the word order of lexical items, as the word order domain approach suggests.

Conditional-and Constructions: A Construction-based Approach

In this paper, I argue that the conditional-and construction is a combination of a subordinating clause and a main clause, to be compatible with the syntax and semantics of the construction. In the literature, the structure for the conditional-and construction has not been proposed separately from the coordinate construction, although the researchers noted that the conditional-and construction shares a number of properties with if-conditional rather than coordinating-and construction. Unlike the previous analyses, this study claims that the conditional-and construction is syntactically a subordinate structure and treats the conditional conjunction as a main clause marker, independent of its coordinating counterpart. In specific, I propose the new constructional types conditional-conj(unction)-cl(ause) and conditional-and-cl within a construction-based HPSG framework. What I propose can account for the syntactic and semantic properties without positing any non-standard syntactic mechanism. Moreover, it deals with other relevant constructions with the conditional conjunction, by suggesting the subtypes under the unified constructional organization. (Seoul National University)

Syntax from and for Discourse: Adverbial Clauses as Item-Specific Constructions in Spontaneous Spoken English

AbstractThis paper seeks to contribute to a usage- and construction-based approach to the complex sentence. Studying temporal adverbial clauses withbefore,after,untilandoncein spontaneous spoken English, it diverges from previous work [Diessel, Holger (2008). “The Iconicity of Sequence. A Multifactorial Analysis of Clause Order in Complex Sentences.”Cognitive Linguistics19.3, 465–490.] by focussing especially on the functions and usage characteristics of configurations that are highly marked, i.e. on complex sentences in which the respective adverbial clause precedes its matrix and expresses an event-sequence in a non-iconic ordering (before, until). The paper is inspired by two longstanding claims from functionalist syntax and discourse analysis, viz. that discourse should be the starting point for any study of syntax and that initial adverbial clauses present constructions in their own right. It reports the first results of a corpus study (based on the BNC files with spontaneous spoken language) which substantiate the latter claim and also discusses some of the wider implications of these results for construction-based models of the complex sentence.

Business process simulation in the context of enterprise engineering

Traditional business process-based discrete event simulation is not sufficiently powerful to support change-related business process reengineering (BPR). The simulation methods are inadequate for describing large, complex systems and are difficult to change so as to simulate new BPR designs. The limitations are caused by (1) focusing on workflow; (2) low-abstraction conceptual models; and (3) a lack of separate opinions on design and implementation. Our research is based on enterprise engineering, a construction-based approach, rather than workflow. By clarifying the differences between and dependencies of the ontological and implementation models, this research proposes a generic framework for generating a modularized and component-based simulation model with increased reusability as well as with the capacity to make controllable changes in enterprise simulation. The method is assumed to assist BPR by reducing complexity and through its focus on enterprise engineering-based design thinking and human-centered interactions.

Scandinavian pancake constructions as a family of constructions

This paper deals with a classical problem in Scandinavian grammar, so-called ‘pancake sentences’, nicknamed after examples like Pannekaker er godt ‘Pancakes are good’ where there seemingly is disagreement between the plural subject and the predicative adjective in the neuter singular. Our aim is twofold. From the theoretical point of view, we shall argue that there are advantages with a construction-based approach, and that such an approach is superior to previous analyses within various generative frameworks.The main reason for this is that the data require generalizations over combinations of subjects and predicative adjectives at a rather specific level. From a more empirical point of view, we shall argue that Scandinavian displays a range of different, but related pancake constructions. For the first time, corpus data are brought into the debate. We show that a construction type that has not received much attention previously is in fact the most frequent type, namely constructions where the subject is a deverbal noun.

A Study on the English Concessive Clause Constructions: A Construction-Based Approach

A Study on the English Concessive Clause Constructions: A Construction-Based Approach

Sluicing in Korean: A construction-based approach

This paper aims to account for the general and idiosyncratic properties of the Korean sluicing construction. The main issues on this construction are how to generate its relevant structures and get the right reading(s) from them. Rejecting the previous analyses facing theoretical and/or empirical problems, we propose a descriptive analysis of sluicing employing a Korean sluicing construction rule and a semantic Linking principle of remnants and their correlates based on the Case and the Index value. The present analysis enables us to explain most of the properties of the Korean sluicing construction.

Re-thinking Compositionality in Persian Complex Predicates

Persian Complex Predicates (CPs) have been a focus of interest during the last two decades. Their formation (i.e. morphological/lexical vs. phrasal/syntactic) and their interpretation (compositional vs. idiomatic) have been thoroughly inves-tigated and various analyses have been proposed to account for their seemingly contradictory properties. In this paper, we revisit the issue of the compositionality of Persian CPs, focusing on Noun-Verb combinations, and provide a Construction-based approach which allows to overcome the apparent contradiction between their idiomatic and compositional properties, and offers a new insight into their produc-tivity.

Respectively construction in English: A constraint- and construction-based approach

Cho, Sae-Youn. 2013. Respectively construction in English: A constraintand construction-based approach. Linguistic Research 30(2), 273-291. Postal (1998) and Gawron & Kehler (2004) have argued that Respectively Construction (RC) involving filler-gap constructions should be harder to account for under non-transformational approaches. Against their arguments, Chaves (2012), however, has claimed that the RC can be explained in HPSG without any difficulty. In doing so, Chaves proposes an HPSG account of the RC, assuming that sentences with ‘respectively’ will not differ in semantic and syntactic structure from those without it. In this paper, we argue that on the basis of the various properties of the RC, Chaves’ assumption seems to be too strong or inaccurate, though most of his proposals on the RC can be accepted. To support our claim, we provide attested data such as RNRed RC from the corpus or the previous work and seek to give a proper account of RC in HPSG. (Kangwon National University)