Construction Morphology

Abstract

The chapter provides an outline of Construction Morphology (Booij 2010), a recent model of morphology. The theory follows the basic tenets of Construction Grammar in treating form–meaning pairs (‘constructions’) as the basic units of language and assuming a continuum rather than a split between grammar and lexicon. Words and multi-word units are stored in memory if they have noncompositional properties and/or are conventionalized and frequent. Lexical items show a rich internal structure and are highly interconnected. Generalizations over stored items are captured in schemas: constructions consisting partly or entirely of variables. If productive, such schemas serve as templates for new words and word forms. Relations between schemas are captured in second-order schemas, which are particularly useful in modelling inflectional paradigms and paradigmatic word formation. The model offers a flexible architecture that complements construction-based syntax and accommodates both regularities and idiosyncrasies, as well as variation and change.