On multiple paths and change in the language network

Recent work in Diachronic Construction Grammar (DCxG) has foregrounded the importance of multiple sources of a particular construction, as well as promoting the idea that constructions are organised as a network of knowledge. The research presented in this article explores the ways in which multiple sources play a role at various stages in constructional change, and the effects of this on the structure of the language network. We aim to show how an account of language structure that focuses on links between constructions may be useful in tracking the various stages in the development of a new construction

Cycles and continua:On unidirectionality and gradualness in language change

Abstract The history of English exhibits numerous instances of changes that proceed along crosslinguistically recurrent pathways, notably the life cycle of phonological processes and grammaticalization clines. These pathways of change bear striking resemblances to each other: both are predominantly unidirectional, and both produce ‘layering’ effects in which old and new patterns come to coexist in the synchronic grammar. We provide English examples of key stages in the life cycle of phonological processes, including the rise of new gradient processes of phonetic implementation, their stabilization as categorical phonological rules, and the narrowing of their morphosyntactic domains. Understanding this life cycle enables us to rethink classic problems, such as the history of word-final prevocalic consonants. We also examine the grammaticalization cycles in the development of grammatical words, clitics and affixes in English, and the micro-steps involved in the creation of new grammatical constructions. As with the discussion of phonological change, we explore continua (within and between morphosyntactic categories), and directionality, and show how such rethinking is relevant for our understanding of classic problems in the history of English morphosyntax, such as the development of markers of negation, and the s-genitive. The parallels between phonological and morphosyntactic change which we address suggest new ways of thinking about the nature of grammatical change.</jats:p

On schemas and word types in English from the perspective of construcionalization and constructional change

This squib considers some of the issues surrounding the growth and contractions of contentful schemas in the history of English, and the appearance of new word types. An outcome of recent research into language change from the perspective of construction grammar has been the clearer articulation of the relationship between expansion and contraction in both the ‘lexical' and ‘grammatical' domains. Assuming that (i) linguistic knowledge is knowledge of a network of conventionalized and entrenched symbolic pairings of form and meaning (Goldberg 2013), (ii) there is no essential difference between morphological constructions and syntactic constructions (Croft 2001; Booij 2010), and (iii) like syntactic strings, morphological expressions can be positioned on a continuum, ranging from substantive to schematic, I consider the constructional nature of schemas and word types in the history of English