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2 results

  • 6 - Constructional Variation and Change

  • Thomas Hoffmann
  • Book:
    Construction Grammar
    Published online:
    20 September 2023
    Print publication:
    28 July 2022, pp 236-255

  • Summary

    In this chapter, we will explore constructionist approaches to language variation and change in English. As part of this, we will see how classic sociolinguistic studies can be accounted for by a usage-based constructionist perspective. Then, we will look at how Construction Grammar offers a cognitive explanation of the evolution of new first and second language varieties of English around the world. Finally, you will learn how Construction Grammar approaches analyse diachronic linguistic change.

The Cognitive Foundation of Post-colonial Englishes

The Cognitive Foundation of Post-colonial Englishes
  • Construction Grammar as the Cognitive Theory for the Dynamic Model
  • Thomas Hoffmann
  • Published online:
    10 November 2021
    Print publication:
    09 December 2021
  • Varieties of English are spoken all over the world from Africa to Asia, from Europe to America. In addition to its use as a foreign language, English in many of these countries is a first or second language variety that initially arose in a colonial setting. Currently, the most influential sociolinguistic model for the evolution of these 'Post-Colonial Englishes' is the Dynamic Model. In this Element, I outline how Construction Grammar, the most prominent cognitive syntactic theory, can provide a cognitive foundation for the assumptions made by the Dynamic Model. As I shall argue, Construction Grammar naturally complements the Dynamic Model and, in addition to that, a 'Constructionist Grammar Approach to the Dynamic Model' approach generates new research questions concerning the productivity of syntactic patterns across Dynamic Model phases.