One discussion that comes up from time to time among CI teachers is how to choose the language chunks, or "items", or "structures", that we teach. Martina Bex has a very useful description of "language chunks" on her blog here. In addition, for extra perspective, I would like to describe here what Usage-based Linguistics researchers call "constructions".
Constructions are not simply language written on a page, but are a psychological construct, measured in the human mind through corpus research. A construction is defined as any linguistic symbol of any length that the mind connects with meaning. A word is a construction because it is a sound (or written string of writing, or sign language signs) that represents meaning. A morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that represents meaning, and so it is also a construction. The more interesting constructions in the Usage-based Linguistics literature are those that help explain grammar in the mind. As VanPatten often says on his podcast, Tea with BVP, language is shaped by Universal Grammar and general learning architecture. Usage-based linguists seeks to better understand this general learning architecture, holding to what we call the "cognitive commitment". This means assuming that Universal Grammar is not real, and instead looking to exhaust all possible other learning mechanisms before allowing for which parts of language may indeed be shaped by Universal Grammar. Usage-based linguists seek to explain grammar as general pattern recognition and human categorization processes, which will be explained below as we look at phrase-length constructions. To be clear, both Usage-based AND Universal Grammar models of language view input as central to language development. Neither of these research camps argue that learners should learn an explicit rule, and then practice that rule, nor should they use problem solving abilities to master a rule. Input as raw language data (hearing and reading the language itself) is still necessary and central to acquisition in Usage-based models. So what is a multi-word construction? A multi-word construction consists of multiple slots in a particular order, that together represent meaning. Each slot can be either fixed, or open but limited to certain categories. For example, "wants to X" is a construction with two fixed words and an open slot. The open slot in this construction is limited to the verbs category. Another example is "put X Loc", where "put" is a fixed word, the X slot is limited to grammatical objects (the cat, the car, a fork), and Loc = locative phrase, is composed of a preposition (on, into, under) and a location (the table, the cave, the bed). So a construction contains not only the known words, but also the open slots for a limited selection of other words. Corpus research has shown that some words are more common in each construction than are other words, but that's for another post. Does it make much difference whether teachers plan to input only fixed "language chunks" or we plan for the fixed words plus open slots together in constructions? Maybe not, because teachers will fill in those open slots anyways when giving input to students. But human categorization needs exposure to a limited number of different examples in those slots before a category unconsciously develops in the mind. So if we are going to teach "sees a movie", the acquirer's mind is more likely to unconsciously build a category of "things we can see" in the construction's X slot (in a "sees X" construction), compared to if they only hear "sees a movie" (all words fixed) hundreds of times. This is one of the beautiful features of Circling, in which the slot openness is automatically built into the input. There is a lot more to be said about Cognitive Science, Cognitive Linguistics, Usage-based Linguistics, and Construction Grammar. I recognize that I have done them all very little justice in writing such a short post, but I hope this basic concept might offer a new perspective on the language we choose to offer our learners in their input.
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Reed Riggs (Author)
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