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- Volume 24, Issue 3, 2019
International Journal of Corpus Linguistics - Volume 24, Issue 3, 2019
Volume 24, Issue 3, 2019
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A corpus perspective on the development of verb constructions in second language learners
Author(s): Ute Römerpp.: 268–290 (23)More LessAbstractThis article reports initial findings from a study that uses written data from second language (L2) learners of English at different proficiency levels (CEFR A1 to C1) in a large-scale investigation of verb-argument construction (VAC) emergence. The findings provide insights into first VACs in L2 learner production, changes in the learners’ VAC repertoire from low to high proficiency levels, and changes in learners’ dominant verb-VAC associations from low to high proficiency levels. The article also addresses the question what role formulaic sequences play in the L2 acquisition of VACs. Data analyses indicate that, from lowest to highest proficiency levels, the VAC repertoire of L2 English learners shows an increase in VAC types, growth in VAC productivity and complexity, and a development from predominantly fixed sequences to more flexible and productive ones. The findings help to expand our understanding of the processes that underlie construction acquisition in an L2 context.
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Construction Grammar and the corpus-based analysis of discourses
Author(s): Nicholas Groompp.: 291–323 (33)More LessAbstractConstruction grammar (CxG) initially arose as a usage-based alternative to nativist theoretical accounts of language, and remains to this day strongly associated with cognitive linguistic theory and research. In this paper, however, I argue that CxG can be seen as offering an equally viable general framework for socially-oriented linguists whose work focuses on the corpus-based analysis of discourses (CBADs). The paper begins with brief reviews of CxG and CBADs as distinctive research traditions, before going on to identify synergies (both potential and actual) between them. I then offer a more detailed case study example, focusing on a usage-based analysis of a newly identified construction, the WAY IN WHICH construction, as it occurs in corpora representing six different academic discourses. The paper concludes by rebutting some anticipated objections to the approach advocated here, and by proposing a new conceptual model for constructionist approaches to CBADs.
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Patterns, constructions, and applied linguistics
Author(s): Susan Hunstonpp.: 324–353 (30)More LessAbstractThis paper proposes an alignment between aspects of pattern grammar (Francis, 1993; Hunston & Francis, 2000) and construction grammar (Goldberg, 2006). Pattern Grammar describes the grammatical behaviour of individual words at a specific level of generality. The paper claims that grammar patterns and the groups of words identified as occurring with them can be used to propose candidate constructions. This claim is illustrated with verbs and with adjectives. The paper proposes that the term ‘construction’ be used to refer to a sub-set of instances of a grammar pattern, that sub-set identified by the occurrence of a limited set of node words. It also proposes that the Pattern Grammar reference resources that are already available be reconfigured as a constructicon. The paper discusses how constructions could be presented to (English) language teachers and learners and how a constructicon might be organised.
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Towards an English Constructicon using patterns and frames
Author(s): Florent Perek and Amanda L. Pattenpp.: 354–384 (31)More LessAbstractRecent research in construction grammar has been marked by increasing efforts to create constructicons: detailed inventories of form-meaning pairs to describe the grammar of a given language, following the principles of construction grammar. This paper describes proposals for building a new constructicon of English, based on the combination of the COBUILD Grammar Patterns and the semantic frames of FrameNet. In this case study, the valency information from FrameNet was automatically matched to the verb patterns of COBUILD, in order to identify the frames that each pattern is associated with. We find that the automatic procedure must be complemented by a good deal of manual annotation. We examine the “V that” pattern in particular, illustrating how the frame information can be used to describe this pattern in terms of constructions.
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15 years of collostructions
Author(s): Stefan Th. Griespp.: 385–412 (28)More LessAbstractThis paper discusses a variety of potential shortcomings of most of the most widely-used association measures as used in collocation research and collostructional analyses. To address these shortcomings, I then discuss a research program called tupleization, an approach that does away with the usual kinds of information conflation by keeping relevant corpus-linguistic dimensions of information – e.g. frequency, association/contingency, dispersion, entropy, etc. – separate and analyzing them in a multidimensional way; I conclude with pointers towards how these dimensions could, if deemed absolutely necessary, be conflated for the simplest kinds of of rankings as well as strategies for future research.
Volumes & issues
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Volume 29 (2024)
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Volume 28 (2023)
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Volume 27 (2022)
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Volume 26 (2021)
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Volume 25 (2020)
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Volume 24 (2019)
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Volume 23 (2018)
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Volume 22 (2017)
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Volume 21 (2016)
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Volume 20 (2015)
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Volume 19 (2014)
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Volume 18 (2013)
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Volume 17 (2012)
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Volume 16 (2011)
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Volume 15 (2010)
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Volume 14 (2009)
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Volume 13 (2008)
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Volume 12 (2007)
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Volume 11 (2006)
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Volume 10 (2005)
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Volume 9 (2004)
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Volume 8 (2003)
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Volume 7 (2002)
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Volume 6 (2001)
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Volume 5 (2000)
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Volume 4 (1999)
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Volume 3 (1998)
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Volume 2 (1997)
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Volume 1 (1996)
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