Part II - Constructions and meanings
Summary
[E]ven within a single language, grammar provides a set of options for schematizing experience for the purposes of verbal expression. Any utterance is multiply determined by what I have seen or experienced, my communicative purpose in telling you about it, and the distinctions that are embodied in my grammar.
Dan I. Slobin 1996Words are not coined in order to extract the meanings of their elements and compile a new meaning from them. The meaning is there FIRST, and the coiner is looking for the best way to express it without going to too much trouble.
Dwight Bolinger 1975Chapter 7: First combinations, first constructions ▪ 151
Chapter 8: Modulating word meanings ▪ 176
Chapter 9: Adding complexity within clauses ▪ 199
Chapter 10: Combining clauses: More complex constructions ▪ 229
Chapter 11: Constructing words ▪ 254
The focus in these chapters is on the steps children take as they express more elaborate meanings, beyond one word at a time. They must find out which constructions to use for particular meanings and which words go in each construction. They work out which inflections can be applied to different word-types (nouns, verbs, and adjectives) and what meaning each one adds; how to present information to the addressee and what perspective to use as speaker; how to combine clauses in talking about complex events; how to analyze complex words and coin new ones.
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- Information
- First Language Acquisition , pp. 149 - 150Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009