Grammatical Constructions as Relational Categories. (26th June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goldwater, Micah B.
• Is Part Of: Topics in cognitive science. Volume 9:Number 3(2017:Jul.)
• Page Start: 776
• Page End: 799
• Publication Date: 2017-06-26
• Subjects: Grammatical constructions -- Relational categories -- Analogy -- Language development -- Construction grammar -- Structural priming; Cognitive science -- Periodicals; Cognitive Science -- Periodicals; 153.05
• DOI: 10.1111/tops.12272
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1756-8757

Abstract

Abstract: This paper argues that grammatical constructions, specifically argument structure constructions that determine the "who did what to whom" part of sentence meaning and how this meaning is expressed syntactically, can be considered a kind of relational category. That is, grammatical constructions are represented as the abstraction of the syntactic and semantic relations of the exemplar utterances that are expressed in that construction, and it enables the generation of novel exemplars. To support this argument, I review evidence that there are parallel behavioral patterns between how children learn relational categories generally and how they learn grammatical constructions specifically. Then, I discuss computational simulations of how grammatical constructions are abstracted from exemplar sentences using a domain‐general relational cognitive architecture. Last, I review evidence from adult language processing that shows parallel behavioral patterns with expert behavior from other cognitive domains. After reviewing the evidence, I consider how to integrate this account with other theories of language development. Abstract : This paper documents parallel behavioral patterns between how children learn relational categories generally, and how they learn grammatical constructions specifically. Computational simulations illustrate how grammatical constructions can be abstracted from exemplar sentences using a domain general relational cognitive architecture. Evidence from adult language processing shows parallel behavioral patterns with expert behavior from other cognitive domains. This account readily integrates with other theories of language development.