Construct types in language change

Abstract

AbstractThis article combines ideas and concepts deriving from grammaticalization studies, cognitive linguistics and construction grammar. Specifically, it takes three important ideas developed within grammaticalization research, namelyuntypical context, bridgingorcritical contextandisolatingorswitch context(Evans & Wilkins 2000, 2006;Heine 2002), and remodels them with the conceptsconstructandconstruction. This enables the definition of three salient construct types present in historical corpora that are placed in the continuum between individual variation and language change:extensional constructs, ambiguous constructsandadaptive constructs. Each construct type characterizes a specific phase in language change. The data presented as illustration of the construct types stem from historical and contemporary corpora of written French, Italian and Spanish.