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Constructing Families of Constructions: Analytical perspectives and theoretical challenges
Edited by Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, Alba Luzondo Oyón and Paula Pérez Sobrino
[Human Cognitive Processing 58] 2017
► pp. 301–337

Chapter 10
Multimodal constructional resemblance

The case of English circular motion constructions

| University of Freiburg

This chapter approaches the topic of constructional families by zooming in on five English motion constructions. Contrary to the traditional focus of Construction Grammar on verbal form-meaning pairings, the chapter discusses their multimodal dimension. A study in the NewsScape Library of Television News Broadcasts (Steen and Turner 2013) reveals that all five motion constructions studied therein show high co-occurrence rates with manner and path gestures. It is argued that according to the basic premises of Construction Grammar and the usage-based approach, co-speech motion gesture use is a defining part of these constructions. In support of this view, the chapter focuses on the influence of semantic readings, genre, and the broader discourse sequences’ degree of interactionality on co-speech motion gesture use.

Keywords: Construction Grammar, multimodality, motion constructions, path and manner gestures, manner modulation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Multimodality and Construction Grammar
  • 3.Outline of the chapter
  • 4.The role of gesture in motion event descriptions
  • 5.The data study
    • 5.1Data selection and coding parameters
    • 5.2Results of the data study
      • 5.2.1Overall gesture frequencies and gesture forms
      • 5.2.2Gesture semantics: Path, manner, and conflated gestures
      • 5.2.3Interim summary
      • 5.2.4Constructional semantic readings and gesture frequencies
      • 5.2.5Genre, interactionality, and gesture frequencies
  • 6.Multimodal constructions or manner modulation?
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.58.11zim
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