The Grammar Network Cognitive linguists and psychologists have often argued that language is best understood as an association network; however while the network view of language has had a significant impact on the study of morphology and lexical semantics, it is only recently that researchers have taken an explicit network approach to the study of syntax. This innovative study presents a dynamic network model of grammar in which all aspects of linguistic structure, including core concepts of syntax (e.g. phrase structure, word classes, grammatical relations), are analyzed in terms of associative connections between different types of linguistic elements. These associations are shaped by domain-general learning processes that are operative in language use and sensitive to frequency of occurrence. Drawing on research from usage-based linguistics and cognitive psychology, the book provides an overview of frequency effects in grammar and analyzes these effects within the framework of a dynamic network model.
Author(s): Holger Diessel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: xvii, 289
City: Cambridge ; New York
Cover
Half-title page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
List of Abbreviations
1 Introduction
1.1 Preliminary Remarks
1.2 Three General Principles of Usage-Based Linguistics
1.3 Goal and Scope of the Book
Part I. Foundations
2 Grammar as a Network
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Some General Properties of Networks
2.3 A Nested Network Model of Grammar
2.4 Signs as Networks
2.5 Networks of Signs
2.6 Summary
3 Cognitive Processes and Language Use
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Linguistic Decisions
3.3 Social Cognition
3.4 Conceptualization
3.5 Memory-Related Processes
3.6 Competing Motivations
3.7 Acquisition and Change
3.8 Summary
Part II. Signs as Networks
4 The Taxonomic Network
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Taxonomic Organization of Constructions
4.3 Schema Extraction in Infancy
4.4 Statistical Patterns in the Ambient Language
4.5 The Acquisition of Constructional Schemas
4.6 The Emergence of Constructional Schemas in Language History
4.7 Conclusion
5 Sequential Relations
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Lexical Prefabs and Idiomaticity
5.3 Words, Clitics and Morphemes
5.4 Morphological Gradience
5.5 The Suffixing Preference
5.6 Syntactic Predictions
5.7 Syntactic Constituents
5.8 Conclusion
6 Symbolic Relations
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The Creation of Symbolic Associations in L1 Acquisition
6.3 The Network Approach to Lexical Semantics
6.4 The Structure of the Knowledge Network
6.5 The Role of the Context
6.6 The Meaning of Constructions
6.7 Conclusion
Part III. Filler–Slot Relations
7 Argument Structure and Linguistic Productivity
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Theories of Argument Structure
7.3 The Network Approach to Argument Structure
7.4 Semantically Motivated Extensions of Verb-Argument Schemas
7.5 Frequency and the Internal Structure of Verb-Argument Schemas
7.6 Grammatical Ecology
7.7 Conclusion
8 A Dynamic Network Model of Parts of Speech
8.1 Introduction
8.2 The Network Approach to Grammatical Word Classes
8.3 Nouns and Verbs
8.4 Adjectives
8.5 Subclasses
8.6 Grammatical Function Words
8.7 Conclusion
9 Phrase Structure
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Constituent Types
9.3 The Conceptual Foundations of Compound Phrases
9.4 Grammatical Phrases
9.5 Word Order Correlations
9.6 Other Cognitive Processes That Influence Word Order
9.7 Filler–Slot Relations
9.8 Conclusion
Part IV. Constructional Relations
10 Construction Families
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Horizontal Relations
10.3 The Mental Lexicon
10.4 Structural Priming
10.5 Sentence Processing
10.6 Language Acquisition
10.7 Language Change
10.8 Conclusion
11 Encoding Asymmetries of Grammatical Categories
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Cross-Linguistic Asymmetries in the Encoding of Grammatical Categories
11.3 Frequency, Economy and Social Cognition
11.4 Grammatical Relations
11.5 Optional and Differential Object Marking
11.6 The Diachronic Evolution of Object Case Marking
11.7 Case Marking and Semantic Maps
11.8 Conclusion
12 Conclusion
12.1 Grammar as a Network
12.2 Cognitive Processes and Language Use
References
Author Index
Subject Index
