ACCxG

Applied Cognitive Construction Grammar: A usage-based approach to the teaching

of phrasal verbs (and other constructions) https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2016-0012

The current article El presente artículo aboga Zusammenfassung: Im

presents a case for a por una redefinición vorliegenden Aufsatz lässt
constructionist turn in construccionista de la sich durchaus
pedagogical grammar. gramática pedagógica. argumentieren, dass die
To that end, the Según la Gramática de kognitive
framework termed Construcciones Cognitiva Konstruktionsgrammatik
Applied Cognitive Aplicada (GCCA), los von Adele Goldberg ein
Construction verbos frasales (VPs) kohärentes, linguistisch und
Grammars (ACCxG) is pueden aprenderse a psychologisch plausibles
introduced as a means través de la asociación Modell zur
to arrive at a de las habilidades Fremdsprachrekonstruktion
systematic cognitivas de los anbietet. Auf der Basis
characterization of estudiantes junto con el dieser Vorüberlegung soll
linguistic constructions input. En este zum einem der
in general and of contexto, los VPs se angewandten kognitiven
phrasal verbs (PVs) in definen como asociaciones Konstruktionsgrammatik
particular. Hence, PVs de forma y sentido (AKK) geschärft werden, in
are defined as motivadas por dem Partikelverben als
motivated pairings of construcciones abstractas Form-Funktion Einheiten
form and meaning en virtud de las cuales (Konstruktionen) definiert
(constructions) significados específicos se werden. Hierbei geht es um
embedded in semantic derivan de otros más die semantische
networks in which básicos dentro de redes Vorhersagekraft abstrakter
metaphorical meanings herencia semántica. A fin syntaktischen
are motivated by more de ilustrar dicha propuesta, Konstruktionen bzw.
basic ones. In order to se introduce una Argumentsstrukturkonstruti
illustrate this proposal, clasificación onen in Hinblick auf
a classification of PVs construccionista de los VPs Partikelverbkonstruktionen.
(which is deemed to orientada a potencializar Daraus folgt, dass die
align with L2 learners’ las habilidades cognitivas einschlägige Typologie der
robust category de los estudiantes de L2. Partikelverbkonstruktionen
formation abilities) is Asimismo, se presenta los ein Modell für Task-basierte
introduced. fundamentos de una Rekonstruktion einzieht, die
Furthermore, the pedagogía basada en als Desiderat für zukünftige
tenets of a tareas (Task-based Arbeit gilt.
constructionist task- Language Teaching) como
based type of parte esencial de la GCCA.
pedagogy are outlined
as a proposal for
further research in the
field of pedagogical
construction grammar.

[traducción de la versión auf Deutsch: En el presente ensayo se puede argumentar

que la gramática de construcción cognitiva de Adele Goldberg es un modelo
coherente, lingüística y psicológicamente plausible para la reconstrucción de lenguas
extranjeras.
Sobre la base de esta consideración preliminar, se agudiza la gramática de
construcción cognitiva aplicada (AKK), en la que los verbos de partículas se definen
como unidades de forma-función (construcciones). Esto es sobre el poder predictivo
semántico de las construcciones sintácticas abstractas o Construcciones de
estructuras argumentales con respecto a construcciones de verbos de partículas. De
ello se deduce que la tipología relevante de las construcciones de verbos de
partículas se basa en un modelo para la reconstrucción basada en tareas, que se
considera un desiderátum para el trabajo futuro].

The task undertaken by both frameworks is to open up the

way to explaining the link between language instruction and
the broader cognitive substrate mediating the human
construction of reality. That being said, the next step should
be to lay out an inventory of English constructions to be
analyzed against the backdrop of an applied constructionist
approach.
While the precise neurolinguistic source of difficulty in the
learning of these items is yet to be established (Blais and
Gonnerman 2013: 11), it is clear that one of the obstacles
learners and teachers experience when confronted with
associations of verb and particle is the impossibility to
establish a systematic connection between form and
function. As a result, both the lexical and syntactic variability
of PVs, as well as the unpredictability of the semantic weight
of either the verb or the particle (sometimes particles are
simply “meaningless”) or of the PV and the sentence in
which it appears, conspire against the generalizability of
these constructions during language production.
Traditional classifications of phrasal verbs still view PVs as
separate entities isolated from the lives and experience of
speakers.
To refer briefly to the nature of the constructionist approach
endorsed in this article. Construction Grammar (CxG) is used
as an umbrella term to refer to a family of approaches rather
than to a monolithic theoretical framework.
The view of language as usage-based (i.e. it evolves out of Evoluciona desde
contextualized usage) and therefore as “an integral facet of
cognition”, labels such as Applied Construction Grammar or
Applied Construction Grammar are somewhat slippery for
any systematic use. It is required a framework that brings
psychological plausibility. Cognitive Construction Grammar
lines up explicitly with the goal to “emphasiz[e] that
language relates to our conceptual world and our human
experience in such a way that every grammatical
construction reflects its conceptual experiential value. ACCxG
is not formalistic but essentially descriptive. ACCxG argues
for a usage-based description of language. The source
discipline of ACCxG is psycholinguistics (a sub-field of
cognitive science). psycholinguistic research: its contribution
to language teaching and learning has been ignored.
Linguistics levels associated with specific instructional
artifacts are often arbitrarily assigned on the basis of notions
like interlanguage development in the acquisition and use of
the second language. CCxG: the claim of a psychological
plausibility and not a formal generalization.
CCxG sets apart from other constructionist approaches which
arrive at a grammatical description (Cognitive Grammar) or
observational and descriptive grammar (Construction
Grammar).
The purpose of an ACCxG-inspired pedagogy is a plausible
description of language processing and learning how general
cognitive mechanisms and the input combine to make up
Meaning. Four principles:
1) language is learned through the conjunction of general
cognitive mechanisms and the input in a context of usage;
2) language is made of form-function pairings
(constructions);
3) prototypical exemplars motivate metaphorical extensions
within constructional inheritance networks;
4) syntactic constructions (ASCs = Argument Structure
Constructions) exist independently from the verb’s
semantics.

[1 In contrast to generative SLA approaches [Second

Language Acquisition] ACCxG [Applied Cognitive
Construction Grammars] rejects any sort of “genesis of [an]
internal grammatical system of the learner” (Slabakova, Leal
and Liskin-Gasparro 2014:605).

The important bearings on the characterization of PVs: implicaciones

1. PVs are conceptualized at the level of an abstract,
underspecified PV construction.
2. PVs are constructions (pairings of form and function).
3. PVs are motivated through metaphorical extensions.
4. PVs are embodied: they reflect specific body schemas
entrenched linguistically in specific communities through
usage [meaning is conceptualised from a mind that is an
extension of the body and through a body that is part of the
mind”].
5. Embodied cognition presupposes that PV meanings
overlap those of syntactic constructions by way of a mapping
of words to events or objects. Superponen
6. Mappings are possible because “syntax is meaningful, just
as lexical items are”.
7. PVs are grouped into four main categories defined by
phrasal-verb-ASC attachment patterns:
-- 1) verb-locative (VL),
-- 2) transitive (verb-object, VO),
-- 3) transfer or caused motion (verb-object-locative, VOL),
-- 4) ditransitive (verb-object-object, VOO).

=> PVs are analysed in the light of their attachment to the

syntactic constructions.
This analytical shift requires a clear description of the
abstract syntactic constructions (Argument Structure
Constructions) to which specific PVs attach, which facilitates A los que /
the transition from lexis to syntax for the comprehension El cual
reflect underlying semantic patterns.

This is possible because speakers are prone to conceptualize Propensos

the world through forms of embodied language determined
by the architecture of our bodies: These experiences are
translated linguistically as metaphorical extensions serving
as a reflection of the unique anatomical configuration of
human beings. For example, bipedal locomotion experience
constrains metaphorical extensions in the language: they are Restringir
the echo of literal experiences. This is obvious in languages
which use particles to encode trajectory and direction - Lenguajes
named satellite-framed languages (Talmy 1991, 2000). enmarcados por
{Cinco ejemplos en pág. 6}. satélite

Abstract motion is a productive strategy to embody static

scenes through dynamic conceptualizations. Expressions
such as I'm over the moon and I'm really down illustrate
that positive and negative emotional states are often
associated with high and low positions respectively, while
expressions such as I'm in the doldrums or It's beyond me Capa caída
rely on spatial constructions of containment and current Depender de
‘mental’ position”. Language is “woven into action”. Tejido
Transitive PVs can also express other body schemas.
Regardless of the body schemas involved, the underlying
semantics of PVs can be accessed through a focus on the Indepentem
way these constructions are motivated as part of our
conceptual system.

° Part two offers a definition of constructions and Argument

Structure Constructions (ASCs).
° Part three features an ACCxG-driven classification of PVs
conceived of as the result of the unity of lexis and syntax
(PV-ASC patterns).
° Part four introduces an ACCxG-oriented pedagogy of PVs
fleshed out by PVs Indexical Schema.
° Part five describes at length the role of Task based En detalle
Language Teaching (TBLT) in the development of a
constructionist type of pedagogy.

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