Form and Function Mapping in English Syntax: A Construction Grammar Perspective (Routledge Studies in Linguistics)

This book presents a construction-based approach to understanding English syntactic constructions that challenge traditional form-function relationships, exploring complex linguistic phenomena that have posed empirical and analytical puzzles in grammatical research. The volume establishes theoretical foundations before examining how unusual mapping relations between form and function manifest in complex English constructions.Drawing exclusively on attested data, the book investigates constructions with unpredictable form-meaning relationships, developing an innovative framework that enables broader predictions about specific phenomena and related grammatical structures.The approach advances understanding of English grammar while maintaining methodological rigor through emphasis on empirical evidence.The book offers a mathematically robust grammar from a construction-based perspective while minimizing formal representations to ensure accessibility across theoretical frameworks.It provid