Pattern, Construction, System : A Unified Approach to Grammar and Lexis

Written by a highly esteemed scholar, this book is essential reading for researchers in Construction Grammar, Systemic Grammar and Corpus Linguistics. It is the first to bring these three specialised areas together, finding common ground between them systematically. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Construction Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar take different approaches to the study of lexico-grammar, based on language as a cognitive and as a social phenomenon respectively. This is the first book to bring the two approaches together, using corpus-based Pattern Grammar as an underlying descriptive framework, in order to present a comprehensive and original treatment of verb-based patterns in English. It describes in detail two processes: deriving over 800 verb argument constructions from 50 verb complementation patterns; and using those constructions to populate systemic networks based on 9 semantic fields. The result is an approach to the lexis and grammar of English that unifies disparate theories, finding synergies between them and offering a challenge to each. Pattern Grammar, Construction Grammar and Systemic-Functional Grammar are introduced in an accessible way, making each approach accessible to readers from other backgrounds. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.