{"title":"Using constructions to measure developmental language complexity","authors":"Robert Nelson","doi":"10.1515/cog-2023-0062","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Models used to explain phenomena are necessarily finer grained than the models used to measure them. In language study, the measures used to assess development (e.g., readability indices) rely on models of language that are too coarse grained to be interpreted in a linguistic framework and so do not participate in linguistic accounts of development. This study argues that the constructionist approaches provide a framework for the development of a practical and interpretable measure of developmental complexity because these approaches feature affordances from which a measurement model may be derived: they describe language knowledge as a comprehensive network of enumerable entities that do not require the imputation of external processes, are extensible to early child language, and hold that the drivers of language development are the learning and generalization of constructions. It is argued here that treating schematic constructions as the unit of language knowledge supports a complexity measure that can reflect developmental changes arising from the learning and productive generalization of these units.","PeriodicalId":51530,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cognitive Linguistics","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2023-0062","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Models used to explain phenomena are necessarily finer grained than the models used to measure them. In language study, the measures used to assess development (e.g., readability indices) rely on models of language that are too coarse grained to be interpreted in a linguistic framework and so do not participate in linguistic accounts of development. This study argues that the constructionist approaches provide a framework for the development of a practical and interpretable measure of developmental complexity because these approaches feature affordances from which a measurement model may be derived: they describe language knowledge as a comprehensive network of enumerable entities that do not require the imputation of external processes, are extensible to early child language, and hold that the drivers of language development are the learning and generalization of constructions. It is argued here that treating schematic constructions as the unit of language knowledge supports a complexity measure that can reflect developmental changes arising from the learning and productive generalization of these units.
期刊介绍:
Cognitive Linguistics presents a forum for linguistic research of all kinds on the interaction between language and cognition. The journal focuses on language as an instrument for organizing, processing and conveying information. Cognitive Linguistics is a peer-reviewed journal of international scope and seeks to publish only works that represent a significant advancement to the theory or methods of cognitive linguistics, or that present an unknown or understudied phenomenon. Topics the structural characteristics of natural language categorization (such as prototypicality, cognitive models, metaphor, and imagery); the functional principles of linguistic organization, as illustrated by iconicity; the conceptual interface between syntax and semantics; the experiential background of language-in-use, including the cultural background; the relationship between language and thought, including matters of universality and language specificity.