24.3771, Review: General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories: Hoffmann & Trousdale (eds.) (2013)

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Subject: 24.3771, Review: General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories: Hoffmann & Trousdale (eds.) (2013)

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Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 09:04:15
From: Michael Pleyer [michael.pleyer at hggs.uni-heidelberg.de]
Subject: The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-804.html

EDITOR: Thomas  Hoffmann
EDITOR: Graeme  Trousdale
TITLE: The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar
SERIES TITLE: Oxford Handbooks
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2013

REVIEWER: Michael Pleyer, Universität Heidelberg

SUMMARY

“The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar,” edited by Thomas Hofmann and
Graeme Trousdale, offers the first comprehensive overview of Construction
Grammar (henceforth CxG). It features 27 chapters written by leading
researchers in the field. The chapters deal with the theoretical foundations
of CxG, the different constructionist approaches, and CxG’s main areas of
application. In addition to a general index, the volume also has an index of
the constructions that are discussed in the various chapters.

The book is divided into five parts: “Principles and Methods”,
“Constructionist Approaches”, “From Morphemes to Clauses and Beyond”,
“Acquisition and Cognition”, and “Language Variation and Change”.

In chapter 1, “Construction Grammar: Introduction”, Thomas Hoffmann and Graeme
Trousdale present a very brief introduction to some of the main tenets of CxG,
contrasting them with what they call “Chomskyan Mainstream Generative Grammar
approaches”, and summarize the individual chapters of the volume.

In the first chapter of Part I “Principles and Methods”, Adele E. Goldberg
deals with the underlying shared assumptions of “Constructionist Approaches”
in more detail: (1) Constructionist approaches deal with learned form-function
pairings of varying size and schematicity; (2) Grammar is non-derivational;
(3) Constructions are organized in networks; (4) There is grammatical
variability between languages, but there are also generalized patterns across
languages; (5) Constructionist approaches are usage-based.

In Chapter 3, Paul Kay discusses “The Limits of (Construction) Grammar”. He
adopts Fillmore’s (1997) distinction between fully productive “constructions
proper”, on the one hand, and “patterns of coining”, which are analogical and
only partially productive, on the other.  Kay argues that many of the
structures that are described as constructions in other approaches --
including, for example, the ‘Caused Motion Construction’ -- in fact belong to
the latter category. Thus, they should not be seen as part of grammar, but of
a descriptive meta-grammar.

In contrast, the following chapter by Joan Bybee deals with “Usage-based
Theory and Exemplar Representations of Constructions.” Usage-based theory sees
knowledge of language as based on experience with actual language use in
context. Therefore, in this framework, language processing, usage patterns and
the establishment of networks of constructions in a language user’s cognitive
system are explained in terms of domain-general processes related to usage
events. These processes include factors such as frequency effects,
categorization, exemplar storage, cross-modal association, and processes of
neuromotor automation such as chunking.

In Chapter 5, Ray Jackendoff talks about “Constructions in the Parallel
Architecture”, which sees lexical items as pieces of linguistic structure
stored in long-term memory that link and combine structures in the three
generative and independent components of phonology, syntax, and semantics. He
outlines the differences between his use of the theoretical notion of
construction and that of other Construction Grammarians and also defends his
view that there can be abstract linguistic structures that do not have a
semantic component.

Stefan Th. Gries, in chapter 6, discusses the role of “Data in Construction
Grammar.” As he shows, many Construction Grammarians have turned more and more
towards “methods that are more rigorous and replicable than introspective
judgements.” These include observational methods using corpus data and
statistical measurements, as well as experimental and computational-linguistic
approaches.

Part II, “Constructionist Approaches”, contains seven chapters that give an
overview of the frameworks that assign a central role to the notion of
construction in their analyses of language.

In chapter 7, Charles Fillmore presents a historical overview of key aspects
of “Berkeley Construction Grammar” (BCG). The aim of this framework -- which
Fillmore developed together with Paul Kay in the late 80s to mid 90s, and
which was the first to explicitly call itself a “Construction Grammar” -- was
to describe both canonical and ‘special’ grammatical phenomena with the same
mechanisms and descriptive formalism.

In the next Chapter, Laura A. Michaelis discusses the theoretical foundations
and descriptive formalism of “Sign-Based Construction Grammar” (SBCG), a
constraint-based framework inspired by BCG and Head-Driven Phrase Structure
Grammar. The linguistic objects in SBCG are signs and constructs, which are
modelled using highly complex, formalized feature structures, which in turn
are classified in a system of types. In terms of grammatical description,
constructs are licensed by constructions, which combine signs into more
complex signs.

Chapter 9, by Luc Steels, turns to “Fluid Construction Grammar”, a formalism
that is particularly interested in the computational implementation of CxG
notions. Steels describes the computational machinery, data structures, and
operations as well as the higher level, abstract design patterns needed to
explicitly formalize language structure, processing and learning from the
point of view of CxG.

In Chapter 10, Ben Bergen and Nancy Chang present the framework of “Embodied
Construction Grammar” (ECG), which, according to the authors, is an
“empirically driven, computationally implemented, predictive theory” (p. 169)
interested in the cognitive as well as neural mechanisms that are engaged in
language use. Specifically, ECG tries to spell out the ways in which
linguistic units such as constructions lead to and instruct embodied
simulation (see also Bergen 2012).

Cristiano Broccias, in Chapter 11, deals with the theory of “Cognitive
Grammar” (CG) developed by Ronald W. Langacker (e.g. Langacker 1987, 2008).
In CG, language is thought to consist entirely of assemblies of symbolic
structures. These are pairings of a semantic, ‘meaning’, pole with a
phonological, ‘form,’ pole. From this assumption it follows that lexicon,
morphology, and syntax are on a continuum, because these structures are all
symbolic assemblies of different schematicity and complexity. In addition,
given these assumptions, grammar is inherently meaningful. Moreover, CG sees
language as grounded in general cognitive processes.

William Croft, in Chapter 12, presents his theory of “Radical Construction
Grammar”. In RCG, “constructions are the basic units of grammar” (p. 217).
Importantly, grammatical categories do not exist independently of
constructions, and the formal properties of constructions -- that is, the
details of a construction’s mapping between semantic structure and syntactic
structure -- are language-specific.

In Chapter 13, “Cognitive Construction Grammar” (CCG), Hans C. Boas discusses
Adele Goldberg’s constructionist approach, which emphasizes the importance of
cognitive/psychological motivations and factors in linguistic analysis. In
CCG, constructions are defined as conventionalized and entrenched form-meaning
pairings of varying size, complexity, and schematicity that are organized in
taxonomic networks. They thus apply to all levels of grammatical analysis.

Part III subsumes chapters that deal with the “Constructicon: From Morphemes
to Clauses and Beyond.”  These chapters therefore demonstrate how CxG “can be
used for the analysis of all types of (morpho)syntactic phenomena from the
lexicon-syntax cline” (p. 8).

“Morphology in Construction Grammar” is the topic of Geert Booij’s chapter. In
this chapter, he illustrates the descriptive success of his theory
Construction Morphology, which proposes the existence of hierarchically
organized constructions that contain abstract morphological schemas and more
specific subschemas. He also shows that morphological constructions exhibit
holistic properties “not derivable from the properties of its constituents
and/or its structure” (p. 260).

Stefanie Wulff investigates the role of “Words and Idioms” in Construction
Grammar in Chapter 15. As she stresses, words, idioms, and grammatical frames
differ in their degree of specification, but they are not fundamentally
different. Idiomaticity, irregularity, and compositionality of constructions
are matters of degree and can be investigated using corpus measures.

In Chapter 16, Anatol Stefanowitsch introduces “Collostructional Analysis” (a
blend of ‘collocation’ and ‘construction’). Stefanowitsch summarizes the main
methods employed in collostructional analysis, which he defines as “a family
of quantitative corpus-linguistic methods for studying the relationships
between words and the grammatical structures they occur in” (p. 290). He also
discusses some applications of the method as well as methodological issues and
some of the cognitive mechanisms that are assumed by collostructional
analysis.

Chapter 17, by Thomas Hoffmann, focuses on “Abstract Phrasal and Clausal
Constructions”.  Hoffmann points out that constructions differ in their degree
of schematicity: fully specified constructions are on the lexical end of the
lexicon-syntax continuum, and abstract constructions with schematic slots
(e.g. the Ditransitive construction) on the more syntactic end. As he shows,
the analytical apparatus of CxG is very well-suited to analyse these abstract
constructions, such as abstract clausal constructions, filler-gap
constructions, or the English comparative correlative construction.

Jaakko Leino, in Chapter 18, looks at central concepts of “Information
Structure” and their potential relevance for constructionist approaches. Leino
emphasizes that topics that are important in research on information
structure, like word order, presupposition, identifiability, assertion,
activation, topic, and focus are highly relevant for CxG research and should
be included in analyses of the structure of constructions. In addition, CxG
also presents itself as “an attractive framework for information structure
researchers” (p. 332).

The four chapters of Part IV move to issues of “Acquisition and Cognition” and
look at first language acquisition, second language acquisition,
psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics, respectively.

In Chapter 19, “Construction Grammar and First Language Acquisition”, Holger
Diessel elaborates on research within the usage-based and CxG framework that
investigates how children acquire a structured network of constructions.
Diessel argues and presents evidence that children master the task of
“constructing a language” (Tomasello 2003) by using domain-general learning
mechanisms and slowly moving from early item-based constructions to
increasingly abstract constructional schemas and complex sentence
constructions.

The following chapter, by Nick Ellis, turns to “Construction Grammar and
Second Language Acquisition.” Ellis outlines the key concepts of a
usage-based, constructionist approach to SLA that treats language as a Complex
Adaptive System (e.g., Beckner et al. 2009). In this approach, a learner’s
knowledge of L2 constructions depends on the interaction of a variety of
factors in the domains of input frequency, form, and function.  The main goal
of such an approach, according to Ellis, is to “bring together linguistic
form, learner cognition, and usage” (p. 377).

In Chapter 21, “Psycholinguistics”, Giulia M. L. Bencini elucidates the
representations and processes involved in language production from a CxG
perspective. She shows how constructions can be integrated into a theory of
sentence production and argues that much psycholinguistic work on language
production assumes representations that are highly compatible with the CxG
framework. In addition, she stresses the importance of constraints on language
production in “understanding how processing/usage shapes grammars”.

In the last chapter of this part, Friedemann Pulvermüller, Yury Shtyrov and
Bert Capelle turn to the “Brain Basis of Meaning, Words, Constructions and
Grammar“. They offer a brief overview of neuronal processes that are relevant
to the cognitive assumptions of CxG. On their reading, from a neuroscientific
perspective the following assumptions have a high degree of plausibility and
support: (1) Human language is based on other cognitive capacities; (2) Syntax
and semantics are tightly integrated; (3) Schematic constructions can carry
meaning. However, according to the authors, the claim that (4) ‘Lexicon and
syntax form a continuum and there is no principal difference between them’ is
inconsistent with the radically different neural activation patterns exhibited
by word-level vs. above-word level constructions.

The last part (IV) of the volume covers “Language Variation and Change”. The
first three chapters focus on language change, whereas the last two chapters
of the volume deal with social variation in language.

In Chapter 23, Mirjam Fried talks about “Principles of Constructional Change”.
She holds that an integration of grammaticalization research and
constructional analysis is highly promising. CxG can help in capturing the
emergence of grammatical structure and the motivations for language change.
However, the concept of constructionalization and the question to what extent
constructions can be the domain of gradual linguistic change needs to be
explicated more precisely.

“Construction-Based Historical-Comparative Reconstruction“ is the topic of
Chapter 24, written by Jóhanna Barðdal. According to Barðdal, the view that
language consists of complex and schematic form-meaning pairings makes
“Construction Grammar an optimal theoretical framework for reconstructing
syntax” (p. 439). This proposal is illustrated with an exploratory look at
cognate argument structure constructions that shed light on the syntactic
reconstruction of a (Proto-)Indo-European Proto-Construction.

Martin Hilpert, in Chapter 25, deals with “Corpus-based Approaches to
Constructional Change”. Hilpert distinguishes between the study of
grammaticalization, and diachronic CxG, the latter being broader in terms of
the processes of language change it looks at.  In addition, he shows what
kinds of factors in the domains of frequency, form, and function are relevant
in constructional change and how it can be studied with the use of historical
corpora.

Chapter 26, “Dialects, Discourse and Construction Grammar”, by Jan-Ola Östman
and Graeme Trousdale, explores how CxG deals with variability in language use
related to community membership as well as geographical, interactional, and
discourse factors. As they argue, a truly usage-based CxG that takes variation
and discourse seriously should take into account constraints on variation, the
distribution of different grammatical structures in different varieties of the
same language, and the influence of context.

In the last chapter, Willem Hollmann is concerned with the role of
“Constructions in Cognitive Sociolinguistics”. Hollman points out that
Cognitive Linguistics and CxG can contribute important notions to
sociolinguistic theory, such as the importance of cognitive factors such as
frequency and the role of constructional schemas. However, these disciplines
can also profit by integrating the perspective adopted by sociolinguistics,
which sees language not only as a cognitive phenomenon, but as an
interactional activity in a society.

EVALUATION

Over the last two decades, Construction Grammar and constructionist approaches
have increasingly gained in popularity. This development was parallel to that
of Cognitive Linguistics. This is not surprising, as Cognitive Linguistics and
CxG share many main assumptions and descriptive goals. There are a number of
comprehensive introductions to and overviews of Cognitive Linguistics in
general.  In particular, the publication of the “Oxford Handbook of Cognitive
Linguistics” (Geeraerts & Cuyckens 2007) marked a major milestone in the
development of the field. In contrast, the situation for CxG looked quite
different until now. Although there are sections on CxG in introductory
textbooks to Cognitive Linguistics (e.g. Croft & Cruse 2004: 225-237; Evans &
Green 2006: 641-706; Ungerer & Schmid 2006: 244-256), “no single volume” -- as
the editors of the present volume note -- “has been available to students and
researchers that gives a full overview of what the various Construction
Grammar approaches have in common, what their major differences are, and how
Construction Grammar may be applied to other domains of linguistic enquiry”
(p. ix) (Ziem & Lasch 2013 is an example of a book-length introduction to CxG
accessible to a general audience, but it is only available in German and only
deals with usage-based approaches.)

“The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar” fills this gap and succeeds on
all counts in presenting a comprehensive and authoritative guide to CxG and
constructionist approaches.
It certainly will become the go-to guide for students and researchers
interested in Construction Grammar, although some of the chapters might be too
advanced for the former group.

There are of course some minor issues with the handbook that could be
mentioned.  First of all, in terms of ordering and the internal cohesion of
the volume, Stefanowitsch’s strongly methodologically oriented chapter on
collostructional analysis does not seem to sit very comfortably with the other
chapters in Part III, “Constructicon: From Morphemes to Clauses and Beyond”.
Instead it would probably have fitted in more naturally with Gries’ chapter on
“Data in Construction Grammar” in Part I, “Principles and Methods.” A further
issue with Part III is the following: though the editors note that the
chapters in this part are “couched in a general constructionist terminology“,
so that they are “maximally accessible to all readers” (p. 8), not all
chapters succeed equally well in this task.

In addition, some critics might argue that “a general constructionist
terminology” does not really exist, as usage-based, cognitively oriented
constructionist approaches (such as Cognitive Grammar, Cognitive Construction
Grammar, Radical Construction Grammar) differ quite strongly in some regards
from unificational approaches (such as Berkeley Construction Grammar and
Sign-Based Construction Grammar) and computational approaches (such as Fluid
Construction Grammar and Embodied Construction Grammar). In relation to this,
the volume might have profited from a short chapter that summarized the
tensions, debates, and conflicting views voiced in the different chapters more
fully than it is done in the individual chapters. Whereas Goldberg, in her
chapter, advocates the use of the term “constructionist approaches” and argues
that “the field might be well served by moving away from creating divisions
among closely related frameworks by labelling them X, Y, or Z Grammars” (p.
31), some substantial disagreements remain. For example, in contrast to
Cognitive Construction Grammar and Cognitive Grammar, Jackendoff maintains
that there are syntactic principles independent of meaning. Both he and Kay
also offer alternative analyses of some of the constructions posited by
Goldberg. Moreover, Pulvermüller et al.’s claim that lexical construction and
schematic grammatical constructions work very differently from a
neuromechanistic perspective goes counter to the basic assumptions of many
constructionist approaches. It remains to be seen how this view can be
accommodated by constructionist research.

These minor issues, however, do not detract from the overall quality of the
volume, which marks an important milestone in the development of the field and
will very likely serve as the most important reference work for overviews of
CxG and constructionist approaches for years to come.

REFERENCES

Beckner, C., R. A. Blythe, J. L. Bybee, M. H. Christiansen, W. Croft, N. C.
Ellis, J. Holland, J. Ke, D. Larsen-Freeman and T. Schoenemann (2009):
''Language is a complex adaptive system.'' In: Language Learning 59(s1): 1-26.

Bergen, Benjamin K. (2012): Louder than words : the new science of how the
mind makes meaning. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Croft, William and David A. Cruse (2004): Cognitive linguistics. Cambridge
[u.a.]: Cambridge University Press.

Evans, Vyvyan and Melanie Green (2006): Cognitive Linguistics : an
introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press.

Geeraerts, Dirk and H. Cuyckens (2007): The Oxford handbook of cognitive
linguistics. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.

Langacker, Ronald W. (1987): Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Vol. I:
Theoretical Prerequisites. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Langacker, Ronald W. (2008): Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Tomasello, Michael (2003): Constructing a language: a usage-based theory of
language acquisition. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: Harvard
University Press.

Ungerer, Friedrich and Hans-Jörg Schmid (2006): An introduction to cognitive
linguistics. Harlow ; Munich: Pearson/Longman.

Ziem, Alexander and Alexander Lasch (2013): Konstruktionsgrammatik: Konzepte
und Grundlagen gebrauchsbasierter Ansätze. Berlin: De Gruyter.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Michael Pleyer is a PhD student at the English Department of Heidelberg
University and the Heidelberg Graduate School of Humanities and Social
Sciences. The topic of his PhD project is “Perspective and Perspective in
Language and Cognition: A Cognitive-Linguistic and Cognitive-Developmental
Approach.” His research interests include Cognitive Linguistics, Language
Acquisition, Construction Grammar, Perspectivation and Construal, and the
Evolution of Language and Cognition. He is a contributor to the academic group
blog A Replicated Typo (http://www.replicatedtypo.com), which deals with
questions relating to the evolution of language, culture, and cognition.

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