Constructionalization and Constructional Changes

Abstract A constructionalist approach to language change is proposed, with focus on the development of signs in a usage-based model. The book's explore the interconnections between grammatical and lexical constructions in the language network, and the way in which language use affects the representation of constructions and schemas over time. Language change is shown to proceed by micro-steps that involve closely related changes in syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, pragmatics, and discourse functions. Examples are drawn from electronic corpora representing the one thousand five hundred year history of English from earliest times to the present. The book is organized in six chapters. The first outlines…