Graeme Trousdale
Biographic Data
| ID | 603857 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Graeme Trousdale |
| GIVEN NAMES | Graeme |
| FAMILY NAME | Trousdale |
| SIGNATURE | TROUSDALE G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4148-166X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 5 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
On the relationship between linguistic creativity and change in morphological constructions
In this article, we consider the relationship between conceptual blending, creativity and morphological change, within the framework of Diachronic Construction Morphology (DCxM; Norde & Trousdale 2023). In particular, we suggest that a refinement to models of creativity in the literature might help to account better for different types of morphological change (Norde & Trousdale 2024). This is achieved via a contrastive analysis of two different s…
Investigating diachronic shifts within a domain of English modality: A study of collocates with well
The English modals have been used as case studies in many domains of linguistic enquiry. Their diachronic development and patterns of synchronic variation in historical and contemporary corpora have been used to develop theories of linguistic representation, to further understanding of correlations between structure and use, and to investigate relationships between form and meaning. However, much of this research explores only the modals themselv…
The syntactic constraint on English auxiliary contraction
We offer a new explanation for the difference between cases where an auxiliary verb can and cannot contract, such as Kim is coming versus Kim is. Rather than a banning constraint, we argue that there is a positive syntactic licensing constraint. We consider, and reject, both the familiar Gap Restriction and a range of phonological explanations. Our analysis rests on the category of grammatical relations, valent , which includes all non-adjuncts (…
Grammatical unidirectionality is not reflected in individual preferences when performing artificial semantic extension
Grammaticalization is the process whereby lexical items change into grammatical items. This phenomenon is widely attested, while the change from grammatical to lexical is far less common. We ran two experiments to test whether this unidirectional tendency originates with a preference for extending lexical meanings to grammatical ones rather than vice versa. We focus on body parts and spatial relations. In Experiment 1, participants were told the …
Creativity, paradigms and morphological constructions: Evidence from Dutch pseudoparticiples
Pseudoparticiples follow phonotactic, morphological, and syntactic rules for regular participles, but they are special in that they lack corresponding verbal forms. This article offers a constructionist account of two types of pseudoparticiples in Dutch, i.e., those with a nominal base and the prefix ont- or be-, e.g., ontkoeid 'de-cowed' or bedauwd 'bedewed'. Their properties raise interesting questions regarding the nature of morphological crea…
Issues in Diachronic Construction Morphology
Recent years have seen an increasing interest in Diachronic Construction Grammar (DCxG), a cognitive approach to language change that is concerned with how form-meaning pairings, of various degrees of abstraction and complexity, come to be conventionalised, adapted and lost in a linguistic community. Recently, there has been particular interest in the ways in which constructions are organised in networks (see, e.g., the articles in Barðdal et al.…
English Historical Linguistics: Change in structure and meaningPapers from the XXth Icehl
This volume contains a set of articles based on papers selected from those delivered at the 20th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL, Edinburgh 2018). It focuses on cutting-edge research in the history of English, while reflecting the diversity that exists in the current landscape of English historical linguistics. Chapters showcase traditional as well as novel methodologies in historical linguistics (the latter made…
English Historical Linguistics: Change in Structure and Meaning. Papers from the XXth Icehl
On Multiple Paths and Change in the Language Network
Recent work in Diachronic Construction Grammar (DCxG) has foregrounded the importance of multiple sources of a particular construction, as well as promoting the idea that constructions are organised as a network of knowledge. The research presented in this article explores the ways in which multiple sources play a role at various stages in constructional change, and the effects of this on the structure of the language network. We aim to show how …
Creativity, reuse, and regularity in music and language
A recent strand in research in historical linguistics has argued that language change often involves constructional routinization (e.g., Traugott and Trousdale 2013), while recent psycholinguistic work has also suggested parallels between alignment, routinization, and change (Garrod and Pickering 2013) — such routines have been shown to emerge in conversational flow as a product of interaction between speakers and hearers. Similar claims have bee…
The Sebeok-Love Award for the best article in language science 2019
Language sciences: Half a century on the linguistic frontiers
Response to Wärnsby
Preview this article: Response to Wärnsby, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/cf.8.1.04tro-1.gif
Constructionalization and Constructional Changes
This title develops an approach to language change based on construction grammar in order to reconceptualise grammaticalisation and lexicalisation. The authors show that language change proceeds by micro-steps involving every aspect of grammar including pragmatics and discourse functions.
The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar
This handbook presents a comprehensive account of current work on Construction Grammar, its theoretical foundations, and its applications to and relationship with other kinds of linguistic enquiry. This volume is divided into five sections. The first section highlights the fundamental assumptions shared by all constructionist approaches; the second describes the particular frameworks in which the notion of constructions plays a central role; the …
Construction- Based Historical-Comparative Reconstruction
This chapter examines the application of the constructional approach to syntactic reconstruction. It argues that a constructional approach to language is an optimal theoretical framework for reconstructing syntax, and explains that a constructional approach overcomes some of the alleged difficulties with syntactic reconstruction. The chapter outlines the basic premises of historical-comparative reconstruction and how the comparative method works …
Multiple inheritance and constructional change
Language as a network of dependencies or constructions is a central feature of many cognitive theories of grammar. In this network, inheritance relationships are used to describe synchronic facts about a language whereby members of a less abstract set inherit properties from a more general set, and in the case of multiple inheritance, from more than one general set. This article explores some of the ways in which the language network may change o…
Embodied Construction Grammar
This chapter focuses on Embodied Construction Grammar (ECG), another computational implementation of Construction Grammar. It points out that the driving question of this framework is how language is used in actual physical and social contexts, and explains that ECG is an attempt to computationally model the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie human linguistic behavior. The chapter evaluates the role of mental simulation in processing a…
Construction Grammar and Second Language Acquisition
This chapter analyzes second language acquisition in the context of Construction Grammar. It provides evidence for the psychological reality of constructions in a second language and presents a psychological analysis of the effects of form, function, frequency, and contingency that are common to both first and second language construction learning following statistical learning processes which relate input and learner cognition. The chapter also …
Degrammaticalization and constructionalization: Two Case Studies
Theory and data in diachronic Construction Grammar: The case of the what with construction
Constructionalization (the diachronic creation of conventional symbolic units at different levels of schematicity and complexity) is a process which involves a series of micro-changes at different linguistic levels. The development of what with constructions in English is argued to be a case of grammatical constructionalization, whereby aspects of a construction become more general, productive, and less compositional. Equally, parts of the constr…
The Language Detective: A Course for Young Linguists
This article reports on a residential course, held at the Villiers Park Educational Trust centre in Foxton, Cambridgeshire, which introduces linguistics to students who are in their final two years of school education. Both students and tutors find the course challenging and fun. Students find the experience of developing their own linguistic investigations hugely rewarding. This is clearly indicated in feedback questionnaires and informal discus…
Variation, change and constructions in English
All human languages are characterised by inherent synchronic variability (Hudson, Cognitive Linguistics 8: 73–108, 1997, English Language and Linguistics 11: 383–405, 2007a) and are subject to change over time. Consequently, due to this central role of variation and change, any explanatorily adequate cognitive theory of language should aim to account for both of these phenomena. The present special issue explores how usage-based Construction Gram…
Simplification and redistribution: An account of modal verb usage in Tyneside English
This article considers patterns of modal verb usage, based on data collected from twenty informants from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north-east of England, which show differences from material taken from the Survey of English Usage , used as data in Coates (1983, 1995). The paper therefore attempts to describe and explain differences in the use of the modals between authoritative accounts of Standard English on the one hand and the informal spoken…
The sociolinguistics reader volume 1: Multilingualism and variation
Variation, change and constructions in English
All human languages are characterised by inherent synchronic variability (Hudson, Cognitive Linguistics 8: 73–108, 1997, English Language and Linguistics 11: 383–405, 2007a) and are subject to change over time. Consequently, due to this central role of variation and change, any explanatorily adequate cognitive theory of language should aim to account for both of these phenomena. The present special issue explores how usage-based Construction Gram…
Construction Grammar and Second Language Acquisition
This chapter analyzes second language acquisition in the context of Construction Grammar. It provides evidence for the psychological reality of constructions in a second language and presents a psychological analysis of the effects of form, function, frequency, and contingency that are common to both first and second language construction learning following statistical learning processes which relate input and learner cognition. The chapter also …
The Language Detective: A Course for Young Linguists
This article reports on a residential course, held at the Villiers Park Educational Trust centre in Foxton, Cambridgeshire, which introduces linguistics to students who are in their final two years of school education. Both students and tutors find the course challenging and fun. Students find the experience of developing their own linguistic investigations hugely rewarding. This is clearly indicated in feedback questionnaires and informal discus…
Simplification and redistribution: An account of modal verb usage in Tyneside English
This article considers patterns of modal verb usage, based on data collected from twenty informants from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north-east of England, which show differences from material taken from the Survey of English Usage , used as data in Coates (1983, 1995). The paper therefore attempts to describe and explain differences in the use of the modals between authoritative accounts of Standard English on the one hand and the informal spoken…
Degrammaticalization and constructionalization: Two Case Studies
Creativity, paradigms and morphological constructions: Evidence from Dutch pseudoparticiples
Pseudoparticiples follow phonotactic, morphological, and syntactic rules for regular participles, but they are special in that they lack corresponding verbal forms. This article offers a constructionist account of two types of pseudoparticiples in Dutch, i.e., those with a nominal base and the prefix ont- or be-, e.g., ontkoeid 'de-cowed' or bedauwd 'bedewed'. Their properties raise interesting questions regarding the nature of morphological crea…
Language sciences: Half a century on the linguistic frontiers
The sociolinguistics reader volume 1: Multilingualism and variation
The sociolinguistics reader volume 1: Multilingualism and variation
The sociolinguistics reader volume 2: Gender and discourse
Simplification and redistribution: An account of modal verb usage in Tyneside English
This article considers patterns of modal verb usage, based on data collected from twenty informants from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north-east of England, which show differences from material taken from the Survey of English Usage , used as data in Coates (1983, 1995). The paper therefore attempts to describe and explain differences in the use of the modals between authoritative accounts of Standard English on the one hand and the informal spoken…
Variation, change and constructions in English
All human languages are characterised by inherent synchronic variability (Hudson, Cognitive Linguistics 8: 73–108, 1997, English Language and Linguistics 11: 383–405, 2007a) and are subject to change over time. Consequently, due to this central role of variation and change, any explanatorily adequate cognitive theory of language should aim to account for both of these phenomena. The present special issue explores how usage-based Construction Gram…
Theory and data in diachronic Construction Grammar: The case of the what with construction
Constructionalization (the diachronic creation of conventional symbolic units at different levels of schematicity and complexity) is a process which involves a series of micro-changes at different linguistic levels. The development of what with constructions in English is argued to be a case of grammatical constructionalization, whereby aspects of a construction become more general, productive, and less compositional. Equally, parts of the constr…
The Language Detective: A Course for Young Linguists
This article reports on a residential course, held at the Villiers Park Educational Trust centre in Foxton, Cambridgeshire, which introduces linguistics to students who are in their final two years of school education. Both students and tutors find the course challenging and fun. Students find the experience of developing their own linguistic investigations hugely rewarding. This is clearly indicated in feedback questionnaires and informal discus…
Constructionalization and Constructional Changes
This title develops an approach to language change based on construction grammar in order to reconceptualise grammaticalisation and lexicalisation. The authors show that language change proceeds by micro-steps involving every aspect of grammar including pragmatics and discourse functions.
The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar
This handbook presents a comprehensive account of current work on Construction Grammar, its theoretical foundations, and its applications to and relationship with other kinds of linguistic enquiry. This volume is divided into five sections. The first section highlights the fundamental assumptions shared by all constructionist approaches; the second describes the particular frameworks in which the notion of constructions plays a central role; the …
Construction- Based Historical-Comparative Reconstruction
This chapter examines the application of the constructional approach to syntactic reconstruction. It argues that a constructional approach to language is an optimal theoretical framework for reconstructing syntax, and explains that a constructional approach overcomes some of the alleged difficulties with syntactic reconstruction. The chapter outlines the basic premises of historical-comparative reconstruction and how the comparative method works …
Multiple inheritance and constructional change
Language as a network of dependencies or constructions is a central feature of many cognitive theories of grammar. In this network, inheritance relationships are used to describe synchronic facts about a language whereby members of a less abstract set inherit properties from a more general set, and in the case of multiple inheritance, from more than one general set. This article explores some of the ways in which the language network may change o…
Embodied Construction Grammar
This chapter focuses on Embodied Construction Grammar (ECG), another computational implementation of Construction Grammar. It points out that the driving question of this framework is how language is used in actual physical and social contexts, and explains that ECG is an attempt to computationally model the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie human linguistic behavior. The chapter evaluates the role of mental simulation in processing a…
Construction Grammar and Second Language Acquisition
This chapter analyzes second language acquisition in the context of Construction Grammar. It provides evidence for the psychological reality of constructions in a second language and presents a psychological analysis of the effects of form, function, frequency, and contingency that are common to both first and second language construction learning following statistical learning processes which relate input and learner cognition. The chapter also …
Degrammaticalization and constructionalization: Two Case Studies
Response to Wärnsby
Preview this article: Response to Wärnsby, Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/cf.8.1.04tro-1.gif
Language sciences: Half a century on the linguistic frontiers
Creativity, reuse, and regularity in music and language
A recent strand in research in historical linguistics has argued that language change often involves constructional routinization (e.g., Traugott and Trousdale 2013), while recent psycholinguistic work has also suggested parallels between alignment, routinization, and change (Garrod and Pickering 2013) — such routines have been shown to emerge in conversational flow as a product of interaction between speakers and hearers. Similar claims have bee…
The Sebeok-Love Award for the best article in language science 2019
English Historical Linguistics: Change in structure and meaningPapers from the XXth Icehl
This volume contains a set of articles based on papers selected from those delivered at the 20th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL, Edinburgh 2018). It focuses on cutting-edge research in the history of English, while reflecting the diversity that exists in the current landscape of English historical linguistics. Chapters showcase traditional as well as novel methodologies in historical linguistics (the latter made…
English Historical Linguistics: Change in Structure and Meaning. Papers from the XXth Icehl
On Multiple Paths and Change in the Language Network
Recent work in Diachronic Construction Grammar (DCxG) has foregrounded the importance of multiple sources of a particular construction, as well as promoting the idea that constructions are organised as a network of knowledge. The research presented in this article explores the ways in which multiple sources play a role at various stages in constructional change, and the effects of this on the structure of the language network. We aim to show how …
Issues in Diachronic Construction Morphology
Recent years have seen an increasing interest in Diachronic Construction Grammar (DCxG), a cognitive approach to language change that is concerned with how form-meaning pairings, of various degrees of abstraction and complexity, come to be conventionalised, adapted and lost in a linguistic community. Recently, there has been particular interest in the ways in which constructions are organised in networks (see, e.g., the articles in Barðdal et al.…
Creativity, paradigms and morphological constructions: Evidence from Dutch pseudoparticiples
Pseudoparticiples follow phonotactic, morphological, and syntactic rules for regular participles, but they are special in that they lack corresponding verbal forms. This article offers a constructionist account of two types of pseudoparticiples in Dutch, i.e., those with a nominal base and the prefix ont- or be-, e.g., ontkoeid 'de-cowed' or bedauwd 'bedewed'. Their properties raise interesting questions regarding the nature of morphological crea…
On the relationship between linguistic creativity and change in morphological constructions
In this article, we consider the relationship between conceptual blending, creativity and morphological change, within the framework of Diachronic Construction Morphology (DCxM; Norde & Trousdale 2023). In particular, we suggest that a refinement to models of creativity in the literature might help to account better for different types of morphological change (Norde & Trousdale 2024). This is achieved via a contrastive analysis of two different s…
Investigating diachronic shifts within a domain of English modality: A study of collocates with well
The English modals have been used as case studies in many domains of linguistic enquiry. Their diachronic development and patterns of synchronic variation in historical and contemporary corpora have been used to develop theories of linguistic representation, to further understanding of correlations between structure and use, and to investigate relationships between form and meaning. However, much of this research explores only the modals themselv…
The syntactic constraint on English auxiliary contraction
We offer a new explanation for the difference between cases where an auxiliary verb can and cannot contract, such as Kim is coming versus Kim is. Rather than a banning constraint, we argue that there is a positive syntactic licensing constraint. We consider, and reject, both the familiar Gap Restriction and a range of phonological explanations. Our analysis rests on the category of grammatical relations, valent , which includes all non-adjuncts (…
Linguistics (22 works) · Philosophy (20 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (14 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (9 works) · Grammar (8 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (8 works) · Construction Grammar (6 works)