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Article published In:
The Wealth and Breadth of Construction-Based Research
Edited by Timothy Colleman, Frank Brisard, Astrid De Wit, Renata Enghels, Nikos Koutsoukos, Tanja Mortelmans and María Sol Sansiñena
[Belgian Journal of Linguistics 34] 2020
► pp. 283–294

What is an alternation?

Six answers

| University of Liège
An important subset of the empirical research conducted within usage-based construction grammar is formed by alternation studies. Still, it is not always clear what exactly qualifies as an alternation. This paper takes stock of six possible ways of defining an alternation. Three of these definitions are argued to be particularly suitable for the research program of usage-based construction grammar. The paper zooms in on those and discusses their practical consequences and (dis)advantages.
Keywords: alternation, usage-based, construction grammar, problem of semantic equivalence, variation, allostructions
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Definitions 1–3: Alternations in a decontextualized approach to language
  • 3.Definition 4: The alternation as a choice point of the individual language user
  • 4.Definition 5: The alternation as a methodological setup of the linguist
  • 5.Definition 6: The alternation as two allostructions or otherwise linked constructions
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 28 May 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.00053.pij
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