A Construction Grammar of the English Language: CASA – a Constructionist Approach to Syntactic Analysis

The present book provides an introduction to the linguistic model of Construction Grammar, offering a full analysis of the grammar of the English language. It covers all levels of morpho-syntactic form-meaning units: including sentence types, tense and aspect, argument structure, phrases, idioms, word and morphological constructions. In line with its usage-based approach, all constructions are discussed using authentic corpus examples. In order to illustrate how constructions can be learnt, the book draws on authentic data from child language. Furthermore, corpus analysis is used to show which lexical items typically occur in the slots of constructions and make up their ‘collo-profile’. A key feature of the book is that it develops a systematic method for showing how constructions combine to form actual utterances. For this purpose, so-called ‘construction grids’ are developed which contain all the constructions that make up even the most complex sentences and show points of overlap between them. Table of contents Preface Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Why Construction Grammar 1.2 What is Construction Grammar 1.3 What is a construction? 1.3.1 Definitions of construction 1.3.2 Simple words as constructions 1.3.3 Complex words as constructions 1.3.4 Idioms as constructions 1.3.5 Schematicity of constructions 1.3.6 Collocations as constructions 1.3.7 Lexico-grammatical space 1.4 How do we learn constructions 1.4.1 Segmentation and pattern finding 1.4.2 Entrenchment and pre-emption 1.5 How do constructions combine 1.6 Form and meaning in Construction Grammar 1.7 Construction Grammar as a model of linguistic description Chapter 2 Conventional wisdom 2.1 The purpose of this chapter 2.2 Word classes 2.3 Phrases, clauses and sentences 2.4 Clause constituents 2.5 Semantic roles Chapter 3 Sentence type constructions 3.1 Starting with children 3.2 From illocution to the semantic properties of different sentence types 3.3 Basic sentence type constructions 3.3.1 Subject and predicate 3.3.2 Declarative and interrogative constructions 3.3.3 Imperative constructions 3.3.4 Exclamative constructions 3.4 Sentence type fragments 3.5 The role of sentence type constructions in CASA Chapter 4 The roles of verbs 4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 Language acquisition and adult language use 4.1.2 A methodological question 4.2 Expressing different degrees of certainty 4.2.1 Yes, no, possibly or perhaps 4.2.2 The English modals 4.2.3 Form and meaning of modal constructions 4.2.4 Combining modal and other constructions 4.3 Using verbs to refer to time 4.3.1 Problems of the morphological analysis of English verb forms 4.3.2 Tense and person constructions 4.3.2.1 Present and past-tense constructions 4.3.2.2 Combining tense constructions with other constructions 4.3.3 Referring to the future 4.3.3.1 Referring to future time with the will construction 4.3.3.2 The be-going-to-v construction 4.3.4 Other multi-word constructions used to express ‘time’ 4.4 The progressive construction 4.5 The perfective construction 4.5.1 Form and meaning of the perfective construction 4.5.2 Relating the perfective construction to other constructions 4.6 The passive construction 4.6.1 Active and passive 4.6.2 Combining the passive construction with other constructions 4.7 More complex combinations 4.8 Subjunctive mood constructions 4.9 Negation and the do-support construction Chapter 5 Who does what to whom? 5.1 General introduction 5.1.1 Ways of looking at argument structure 5.1.2 The emergence of argument structure constructions 5.1.3 Argument structure constructions at different levels of abstraction 5.1.3.1 Valency constructions and pre-emption 5.1.3.2 Participant roles and argument roles 5.1.3.3 Levels of knowledge associated with argument structure constructions 5.1.3.4 Summary 5.2 The CASA framework of argument structure constructions 5.2.1 Specification of argument structure constructions in CASA 5.2.2 Specification of argument slots 5.2.3 Why Subj does not automatically mean SUBJ 5.2.4 Argument roles 5.2.5 Names of constructions 5.2.6 Subj-arguments 5.3 A one-argument construction 5.4 æffector and æffected 5.4.1 Monotransitive constructions 5.4.1.1 The monotransitive construction with ObjNP 5.4.1.2 Monotransitive constructions with clausal objects 5.4.2 Introducing a recipient 5.4.2.1 The ditransitive construction with ObjNP 5.4.2.2 Ditransitive constructions with clausal objects 5.5 Motion constructions 5.5.1 Self-motion and caused-motion 5.5.2 caused-motion and to-recipient constructions 5.6 Attribute and resultative constructions 5.6.1 subject-attribute constructions 5.6.2 object-attribute constructions 5.6.3 A note on resultative constructions 5.7 Constructions with prepositional objects 5.7.1 General characterization 5.7.2 change-of-state and into-causative constructions 5.7.3 general-issue and specific-issue 5.7.4 Communication partners 5.7.5 Instrument and emotion 5.7.6 The English conative construction 5.7.7 desired-thing constructions 5.7.8 The nature of prepositional objects 5.8 Perspectivization of arguments 5.8.1 Actives and passives 5.8.2 Discrepancies between active and passive expressions of arguments 5.8.3 Perspectivization 5.8.4 The mediopassive construction 5.9 Combining argument structure constructions with sentence type constructions 5.10 Adjectival argument structure constructions 5.10.1 Argument structure constructions across word classes 5.10.2 General design of adjective argument structure constructions 5.10.3 Adjectival argument structure constructions with prepositional phrases 5.10.4 Adjectival argument structure constructions with that- and wh-clauses 5.10.5 Different types of infinitive constructions with adjectives 5.10.5.1 difficultetc-to-infinitive construction 5.10.5.2 willingetc-to-infinitive construction 5.10.5.3 braveetc-to-infinitive construction 5.10.5.4 The surprisedetc-to-infinitive construction 5.10.5.5 Adjective+infinitive constructions with quasi-modal meanings 5.10.6 Impersonal constructions with adjectives 5.10.6.1 it-that-clause construction 5.10.6.2 The it-be-importantetc-for-x-to-infinitive construction 5.10.6.3 The it-be-importantetc-for-beneficiary-to-infinitive construction 5.10.6.4 The niceetc-of-x-to-infinitive construction 5.10.6.5 Impersonal adjective construction without PPs 5.11 Nominal argument structure constructions 5.12 A network of argument structure constructions 5.13 Argument structure in CASA and other approaches Chapter 6 Referring to, describing and evaluating things 6.1 Nouns and pronouns in language acquisition 6.2 Characteristics of NP-constructions 6.2.1 NPs can fill the same slots 6.2.2 NPs can be used to refer to ‘things’ 6.2.2.1 Reference 6.2.2.2 Grounding elements 6.2.3 A family of NP-constructions 6.2.4 Proper nouns, count and mass nouns 6.3 Indefinite NP-constructions 6.4 Definite NP-constructions 6.4.1 the + nouns 6.4.2 Personal pronoun constructions 6.4.3 Reflexive NP-constructions 6.4.4 Reciprocal constructions 6.4.5 Genitive and possessive constructions 6.5 Demonstrative NP-constructions 6.6 Quantifying NP-constructions 6.6.1 Numerical NP-constructions 6.6.2 General quantifier NP-constructions 6.7 Ranking NP-constructions 6.8 Wh-NP-constructions 6.9 Name and title constructions 6.10 Noun phrases 6.10.1 Basic NP-constructions 6.10.2 Modifier-of-noun constructions 6.10.2.1 Premodifier-of-noun constructions 6.10.2.2 Postmodifier-of-noun constructions 6.10.2.3 Discontinuous modifier-of-noun constructions 6.10.3 A simplified, integrated view of NP-constructions 6.10.4 Shortcut representations Chapter 7 Using adjectives to evaluate, describe and compare 7.1 Adjectives and adverbs 7.1.1 Uses of adjectives 7.1.2 The adjective construction 7.1.3 The premodifier-of-noun construction 7.1.4 Item-relatedness in attributive and predicative uses 7.2 Expressing degree 7.2.1 Modifier-of-adjective constructions 7.2.1.1 Premodifier constructions 7.2.1.2 Postmodifier constructions 7.2.1.3 Discontinuous modifier constructions 7.2.2 Expressing maximum degree 7.3 Collocational parallels between adverb-adjective and adjective-noun patterns 7.4 Comparing things 7.4.1 The comparative construction 7.4.2 The more-than-comparison construction 7.4.3 Ways of expressing difference and likeness Chapter 8 Where, when and how 8.1 Going beyond “who does what to whom” 8.2 Constructions situating an event with respect to location and time 8.2.1 Different ways of expressing similar meanings 8.2.2 Point of location 8.2.3 Time 8.3 Constructions detailing the way the action described is carried out 8.4 Constructions that situate the event described within the domain of causation and interrelatedness of ‘things’ 8.5 Constructions that express an assessment of the event described by the speaker 8.6 Constructions that situate the event described within the text 8.7 The gradient character of these distinctions 8.8 The syntactic status of adjunct constructions 8.8.1 Integration in sentences and utterances 8.8.2 Adjunct constructions 8.8.3 point in time and point of location as adjuncts or arguments 8.8.4 change-of-location constructions and multiple realization 8.8.5 The (ir)relevance of the argument vs. adjunct distinction 8.8.6 Vocatives Chapter 9 Joining ideas and clauses 9.1 Compression through blending 9.2 Coordination 9.2.1 Asyndetic and syndetic coordination 9.2.2 Levels of coordination 9.2.3 Additive coordination constructions 9.2.4 Alternative coordination constructions 9.3 Connectors and connection constructions in general 9.3.1 Connectors as a word class 9.3.2 Connection constructions 9.3.3 Connection constructions with only one expressed connectee 9.4 Reasoning in discourse 9.4.1 Discourse organization 9.4.1.1 More on addition 9.4.1.2 Sequence 9.4.2 Contrast 9.4.3 Why 9.4.4 Conditions 9.4.5 scope 9.5 Linguistic implications Chapter 10 Information structure constructions 10.1 Information structure and construal 10.2 Reference 10.3 Topic 10.4 Summary Chapter 11 Speaking idiomatically 11.1 Idiomaticity 11.1.1 The idiom principle 11.2 Idioms as constructions 11.3 Constructions involving particles 11.3.1 Verb-particle constructions 11.3.2 Constructions with two particles 11.4 Collocation 11.5 Small-scale constructions 11.5.1 The let-alone construction 11.5.2 The god-knows construction 11.5.3 The comparative-correlative construction 11.6 Outlook Chapter 12 Solving problems with Construction Grammar 12.1 Ligature 12.2 Reporting what other people have said 12.2.1 The quotative construction 12.2.2 referring-to-source construction 12.2.3 Indirect speech 12.3 Tag constructions 12.4 Constructions with it and there 12.4.1 Existential there 12.4.2 Other constructions with there and here 12.4.3 Constructions with impersonal it 12.4.3.1 Weather verbs 12.4.3.2 Impersonal constructions with verbs, adjectives and nouns Chapter 13 Words as constructions in a constructional network 13.1 Words 13.1.1 Word-lemmata and word-forms 13.1.2 Words as nodes in networks 13.1.3 A note on polysemy 13.2 From words to word classes 13.2.1 Aspects of word learning 13.2.2 Plausibility 13.2.3 Dual class membership 13.2.4 The CASA category of particles 13.2.4.1 Particles and the traditional distinction between prepositions, adverbs and conjunctions 13.2.4.2 Complex particles 13.2.5 Adverbs 13.2.6 Determiners and pronouns 13.2.7 Wh-words 13.2.8 The limits of classification 13.2.9 Summary 13.3 CASA word classes 13.3.1 Survey 13.3.2 Words that play a part in establishing reference to a ‘thing’ 13.3.2.1 Nouns 13.3.2.2 Pronouns 13.3.2.3 Demonstratives 13.3.2.4 Numerals 13.3.2.5 Quantifiers 13.3.2.6 Articles 13.3.3 Words that refer to relationships situated in time 13.3.3.1 Verbs 13.3.3.2 Modals 13.3.4 Words that have a descriptive or evaluation function 13.3.4.1 Adjectives 13.3.4.2 Adverbs 13.3.5 Words that refer to atemporal relationships 13.3.5.1 Particles 13.3.5.2 Connectors 13.3.6 Interjections 13.3.7 Items defying further classification 13.3.7.1 Who, whose, whom, which, what, why, where, when, and how 13.3.7.2 So 13.3.7.3 As 13.3.7.4 Not Chapter 14 Word order 14.1 The functions of word order in English 14.1.1 Meaning, textual organization, and processing 14.1.2 Word order in Construction Grammar 14.2 Word order and language processing 14.2.1 Noun phrases 14.2.2 Verbs in finite clauses 14.3 Word order in argument structure constructions 14.4 The position of adjunct constructions 14.5 Inversion Chapter 15 Putting it all together 15.1 From constructions to constructs 15.2 Combining constructions 15.2.1 Juxtaposition and superimposition 15.2.2 Conceptual Blending as the cognitive process of construction 15.3 CASA construction grids 15.4 Sample analysis References Constructicon Corpora and other sources Appendixes APPENDIX I List of argument and other semantic roles APPENDIX II Index of constructions II.1 Sentence type cxns II.2 Modal, aspect, tense and voice constructions II.3 Argument structure constructions II.4 Noun phrase constructions II.5 Adjective constructions II.6 Adjunct constructions II.7 Other constructions Index