Differentiating a construction into a structure

Abstract

This paper proposes a reconciliation of two opposite perspectives on a syntactic configuration and its associated semantic interpretation. Of these two, one is the view that a syntactic structure maps onto its semantic structure on a strict compositionality condition, and one is the view that a syntactic construction is not strictly compositional but has an inherent, endowed meaning, not compositionally derived. The proposed resolution attempts to settle the disagreement by differentiating an endowed-meaning construction into a compatible compositional-meaning structure, which in reverse is integrated into the original construction. As a result, structure and construction emerge as two sides of the same coin, and the disagreement is resolved.