Construction Grammar and Corpus-based Discourse Analysis

• English Language research seminar
• Speaker: Nick Groom

Abstract:

Construction grammar was initially developed as a usage-based alternative to nativist theoretical accounts of language. This being the case, it is not surprising that construction grammar remains to this day most strongly associated with cognitive linguistic theory and with psycholinguistic research into first and second language acquisition. In this talk, however, I aim to demonstrate that construction grammar offers equally exciting opportunities to corpus-based discourse researchers, particularly those whose work focuses on identifying and analysing the meanings and values associated with particular discourse communities. The argument will be illustrated by a case study example focusing on the analysis of a newly identified construction, the WAY IN WHICH construction (as in This may have affected the way in which religious ideas were disseminated), as it occurs in a range of academic written discourses.