Constructions at Work: The Nature of Generalization in Language / Edition 1

by Adele Goldberg

Overview

This book investigates the nature of generalization in language and examines how language is known by adults and acquired by children. It looks at how and why constructions are learned, the relation between their forms and functions, and how cross-linguistic and language-internal generalizations about them can be explained.

Constructions at Work is divided into three parts: in the first Professor Goldberg provides an overview of constructionist approaches, including the constructionist approach to argument structure, and argues for a usage-based model of grammar. In Part II she addresses issues concerning how generalizations are constrained and constructional generalizations are learned. In Part III the author shows that a combination of function and processing accounts for a wide range of language-internal and cross-linguistic generalizations. She then considers the degree to which the function of constructions explains their distribution and examines cross-linguistic tendencies in argument realization. She demonstrates that pragmatic and cognitive processes account for the data without appeal to stipulations that are language-specific.

This book is an important contribution to the study of how language operates in the mind and in the world and how these operations relate. It is of central interest for scholars and graduate-level students in all branches of theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics. It will also appeal to cognitive scientists and philosophers concerned with language and its acquisition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199268528
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/16/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	9.08(w) x 6.34(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Adele E. Goldberg is Professor of Linguistics at Princeton University.

Table of Contents

Part One: Constructions1. Overview2. Surface Generalizations3. Item Specific Knowledge and GeneralizationsPart Two: Learning Generalizations4. How Generalizations are Learned5. How Generalizations are Constrained6. Why Generalizations are LearnedPart Three: Explaining Generalizations7. Island Constraints and Scope8. Grammatical Categorization: Subject Auxiliary Inversion9. Cross-linguistic Generalizations in Argument Realization10. Variations on a Constructionist Theme11. ConclusionReferencesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"In Adele Goldberg's new book, Construction Grammar comes of age. The vision of language embodied in Constructions at Work emerges as a robust alternative to mainstream thought in linguistics, one that maintains high aspirations to explanation in psychological as well as crosslinguistic terms."—Ray Jackendoff, Tufts University

"Bursting with original ideas."—Michael Tomasello

"An extremely important book that marks a significant advance in language science."—Jeffrey L. Elman

From the Publisher