Grammatical Constructions: Their Form and Meaning

In recent years there has been a resurgance of interest in grammatical contructions - units of grammar representing form-meaning correspondences. The movement, in which Construction Grammar as developed by Charles Fillmore and Paul Kay has played a significant role, has arisen in part as a response to the Chomskyan modular approach, which treats grammatical contructions as epiphenomenal, dismantling their component features and attributing these to general principles of grammar. This volume is the first collection to focus on grammatical constructions per se, and is dedicated to Charles Fillmore in recognition of his leadership in the field. The papers all reflect or elaborate on his work, which shows how lexicon, syntax, semantics and pragmatics interact in giving constructions their individual holistic characters as basic units of grammar. Several approaches to constructions are represented here, dealing with topics that range from idiomatized constructions to traditional forms such as conditionals, relative clauses, and benefactive constructions. A unifying thread is the shared conviction that close examination of the nature of grammatical constructions, functions, meanings, and uses in ordinary speech and writing provides a rich foundation upon which to build a theory of cognition, memory, and grammar.