The Meaning of Constructions
The Meaning of Constructions
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This Element offers a primer for the study of meaning in a Construction Grammar approach. It reviews the main principles of meaning shared across constructionist frameworks, including its ubiquity in grammatical structure, its usage-based formation, and its nature as the output of cognitive representations. It also reviews the importance given to meaning in construction-based explanations of sentence composition, innovative language use, and language change. Paradoxically, the Element shows that there is no systematic framework delineating the rich structure of constructional meaning, which has led to theoretical disagreements and inconsistencies. It therefore proposes an operational model of meaning for practitioners of Construction Grammar. It details the characteristics of a complex interface of semantic, pragmatic, and social meaning, and shows how this framework sheds light on recent theoretical issues. The Element concludes by considering ways in which this framework can be used for future descriptive and theoretical research questions.
Reviews & endorsements
‘The synthesis that the authors have managed to compile … is very impressive. It is a monumental task to have to make a selection of the most relevant concepts in cognitive CxG, and what constitutes the foundational concepts is of course different for every cognitive grammarian. Still, despite the conceptual breadth of the book, there is an abundance of examples which really contributes to the clarity of the explanations given.’ Anthe Sevenants, Folia Linguistica
‘'The Meaning of Constructions' is a concise yet dense contribution that successfully bridges the gap between cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistics.… Leclercq and Morin provide a systematic framework that Construction Grammar has long needed to fully account for the ‘entirety of language’. While some of their proposals regarding the semantics-pragmatics interface may spark debate among cognitive linguists, the operational clarity that they offer is undeniable. This book will likely serve as a starting point for future descriptions of the constructicon, thereby providing a descriptive apparatus aiming to attain every nook and cranny of linguistic knowledge.’ Pedro Ivorra Ordines, Journal of Linguistics
Product details
- Published: May 2025
- Format: Hardback
- ISBN: 9781009499637
- Length: 84 pages
- Dimensions: 235 × 160 × 10 mm
- Weight: 0.264kg
- Availability: Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The meaning-based assumption
- 3. Meaning in use
- 4. A framework of constructional meaning
- 5. Conclusion and outlook
- References.
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