Constructions and Compositionality
Cognitive and Computational Explorations

This Element explores the constructionist language theory, with compositionality and analogical inferences in new meanings.

Giulia Rambelli (Author)

9781009517393, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 January 2025

102 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.8 cm, 0.287 kg

How do we understand any sentence, from the most ordinary to the most creative? The traditional assumption is that we rely on formal rules combining words (compositionality). However, psycho- and neuro-linguistic studies point to a linguistic representation model that aligns with the assumptions of Construction Grammar: there is no sharp boundary between stored sequences and productive patterns. Evidence suggests that interpretation alternates compositional (incremental) and noncompositional (global) strategies. Accordingly, systematic processes of language productivity are explainable by analogical inferences rather than compositional operations: novel expressions are understood 'on the fly' by analogy with familiar ones. This Element discusses compositionality, alternative mechanisms in language processing, and explains why Construction Grammar is the most suitable approach for formalizing language comprehension.

1. Introduction
2. The problem of compositionality as a processing principle
3. Accessing meaning non-compositionally: insights from experimental data
4. Explaining productivity through analogy
5. Rethinking compositionality: a constructionist perspective
6. Conclusive remarks
References.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK]