A usage-based study of the just me construction

Abstract

AbstractA number of recent studies have emphasized the need for Construction Grammar to address the discourse-pragmatic characteristics of grammatical constructions. Much of how Construction Grammar incorporates pragmatic considerations of contextual factors into its descriptions of speakers’ linguistic knowledge remains to be worked out. In order to take a step towards that goal, this corpus-based study presents the just me construction and analyzes it from compositional, semantic and pragmatic perspectives. The study first delivers an in-depth description of the constrained and conventionalized composition of the construction. Then it proposes that the intricate semantic content is the result of formal and conceptual blending of the alternative question construction and the truncated it-cleft construction. Third, the pragmatic aspects of the just me construction are analyzed in terms of its hedging function, possible response patterns, and the conventionalized nature of its non-compositional meaning. All contribute to the recognition of the just me construction as a symbolic unit in the grammar of English. In conclusion, after a summary of the points made in previous sections, the insights gleaned from the present case study will be used to reflect in more general terms on the role of pragmatic considerations of contextual factors in Construction Grammar.