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 provides fresh insights into form-meaning mismatches across diverse complex grammatical phenomena. The author strikes an optimal balance between data and theory, grounding analyses in authentic language use to ensure theoretical contributions are empirically sound and practically applicable. Examples illuminate broader insights into complex form-function mappings in English, paving the way for future research in construction grammar and syntactic theory.
This book will interest students and scholars in linguistics, syntax, construction grammar, and theoretical linguistics.
Table of Contents:
Preface
List of abbreviations
1 Theoretical Foundations
1.1 Linguistic signs and constructions
1.2 Inheritance network of constructions
1.3 Why constructions?
1.3.1 Constructional meaning
1.3.2 No core and peripheral distinction
1.3.3 Extraordinary creativity and productivity
1.4 Sign-Based Construction Grammar
1.4.1 Basic architecture: Linguistic objects, modelling, and descriptions
1.4.2 Lexical signs
1.4.3 Phrasal constructions and combinatorial rules
1.4.4 Compositional semantics
1.4.5 Semantic composition and constructional meaning
1.5 Conclusion
2 Mapping between Form and Function
2.1 Mismatches among grammatical components
2.1.1 Extended notion of sign and isomorphic relations
2.1.2 Non-isomorphic mappings: complexity and content mismatch
2.2 Grammatical categories and functions
2.3 Grammatical categories and meaning
2.4 Form and meaning in raising
2.5 Form and meaning in binominal NPs
2.6 More on mismatch phenomena in grammar
2.7 Conclusion
3 Simple and Complex NP Constructions
3.1 NP structures
3.1.1 NP vs. DP hypothesis
3.1.2 Clausal properties of nominals
3.2 Agreement phenomena
3.2.1 Agreement features
3.2.2 Configurational and constraint-based views
3.2.3 Against purely syntactic or semantic agreement
3.3 A construction-based approach
3.3.1 Hybrid agreement
3.3.2 Determiner-head agreement
3.3.3 Subject-verb agreement
3.3.4 Agreement in coordination
3.4 Partitive constructions
3.4.1 Partitive vs. pseudo-partitive
3.4.2 Two subtypes
3.4.3 Welcome consequences
3.5 Pseudo-partitive constructions
3.5.1 Issues in simple syntactic structures
3.5.2 Pseudo-partitives with a measure noun
3.5.3 Pseudo-partitives with a quantity noun
3.5.4 Pseudo-partitives with a collective noun
3.6 Conclusion
4 Verb-Particle Constructions
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Basic grammatical properties
4.2.1 Syntactic patterns
4.2.2 Semantic patterns: compositional vs. idiomatic
4.3 Previous analyses
4.3.1 Transformational analyses
4.3.2 Ternary structure analyses
4.3.3 Small clause analyses
4.3.4 Compound analyses
4.4 A construction-based analysis
4.4.1 Verb-particle sequence as a verb-complex construction
4.4.2 Predicative vs. non-predicative constructions
4.4.3 Extensions of the argument structure constructions
4.4.4 Interacting with information structure
4.5 Conclusion
5 VP Ellipsis and Fronting
5.1 Introduction
5.2 General properties
5.3 Invisible syntactic structures?
5.4 A construction-based analysis
5.5 Antecedent identification and mismatches
5.6 VPE in other environments
5.6.1 VPE with negation
5.6.2 VPE in infinitival clauses
5.7 VP fronting
5.8 Conclusion
6 Free Relative Clause Constructions
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Free relatives and interrogatives
6.3 Externally nominal and internally clausal properties
6.4 Matching effects
6.5 Mismatching effects
6.6 Previous analyses
6.7 A construction-based analysis
6.7.1 Key points of the analysis
6.7.2 Capturing mismatching effects
6.8 Transparent free relative clause
6.8.1 Some key properties
6.8.2 Previous analyses
6.8.3 A construction-based analysis
6.8.4 Welcome consequences
6.9 Conclusion
7 Extraposition Constructions
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Basic properties
7.2.1 Subject extraposition
7.2.2 Object extraposition
7.3 Movement analyses
7.3.1 For subject extraposition
7.3.2 For object extraposition
7.4 A construction-based analysis
7.4.1 Generalizations over lexical classes
7.4.2 Constructional regularities and subject extraposition
7.4.3 Variations in object extraposition
7.4.4 Some further consequences and predictions
7.5 Adjunct extraposition
7.6 Conclusion
8 Cleft Constructions
8.1 Prototypical and non-prototypical clefts
8.2 Key syntactic properties
8.2.1 It-clefts
8.2.2 Pseudo-clefts
8.2.3 Inverted pseudo-clefts
8.3 Semantics/pragmatics and information structure
8.4 Movement-based perspective
8.4.1 Extraposition analysis
8.4.2 Expletive analyses
8.5 Non-derivational perspective
8.5.1 Expletive analysis
8.5.2 Extraposition analysis
8.6 A construction-based analysis
8.6.1 Clefts as a family of copular constructions
8.6.2 It-clefts
8.6.3 Pseudo-clefts
8.6.4 Inverted pseudo-clefts
8.7 Non-prototypical clefts
8.7.1 Inferential clefts
8.7.2 There-clefts
8.7.3 All/Th-clefts
8.8 Conclusion
9 Locative Inversion
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Properties of the preverbal PP
9.2.1 Subject properties
9.2.2 Topic properties
9.3 Properties of the postverbal NP
9.3.1 Subject properties
9.3.2 Object properties
9.3.3 Focus properties
9.3.4 Root phenomena properties
9.4 Derivation-based previous analyses
9.4.1 Topicalization approaches
9.4.2 Unaccusative approaches
9.4.3 Expletive approaches
9.5 Previous non-derivational approaches
9.6 A construction-based approach
9.6.1 Constraints on the mapping relation
9.6.2 Constructional constraints and consequences
9.7 Conclusion
10 Comparative Correlative Construction
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Grammatical properties of the construction
10.2.1 Morphosyntactic properties
10.2.2 Subordination properties
10.2.3 Coordination properties
10.3 Previous approaches
10.3.1 Derivational approaches
10.3.2 Non-derivational analyses
10.4 Lexical and constructional properties
10.4.1 Forming the-comparative phrases
10.4.2 Forming (comparative) correlative constructions
10.4.3 Welcome consequences and further issues
10.5 Conclusion
11 Conclusions and Prospects
11.1 Objectives and key points of the book
11.2 More on nominals: Apposition constructions
11.2.1 Loose apposition
11.2.2 Close apposition
11.3 More on inversion constructions
11.3.1 Predicate inversion
11.3.2 Negative inversion
11.4 More on elliptical constructions
11.4.1 Sluicing
11.4.2 Fragment answers
11.4.3 (Why)-Stripping
11.5 Concluding remarks
Appendix
Bibliography
About the Author :
Jong-Bok Kim is Professor at the Department of English Linguistics and Literature at Kyung Hee University, Seoul. He was Distinguished Research Fellow of the National Research Foundation of Korea and also a winner of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award in 2019.
Review :
"This is an outstanding book on English syntax, remarkable not only for its empirical breadth but also for its analytical depth. It demonstrates how a constructional account of English can be rendered formally precise while encompassing a wide range of phenomena, from well-known puzzles to smaller, idiosyncratic cases that nonetheless deserve just as much attention. With its wealth of attested data, cogent analyses, and extensive references, it should be an invaluable resource for both students and researchers. This advanced textbook sets a high bar for non-constructivist approaches, and I, for one, do not expect to see its equal surface anytime soon."
-Rui P. Chaves, Chair and Professor of Linguistics, University at Buffalo, SUNY
"Why do English sentences so often mean more—or something other—than what their words alone predict? Form and Function Mapping in English Syntax reveals how such mismatches arise and why they matter, presenting a clear and compelling argument that English grammar is best understood as a network of constructions. Drawing on authentic corpus data, Jong-Bok Kim uses Sign-Based Construction Grammar to illuminate both the familiar architecture of English syntax and its most surprising patterns—from verb-particle sequences and VP ellipsis to free relatives, clefts, inversion, and comparative correlatives. The result is a concise, rigorous, and empirically rich account of how form and function interact to produce the expressive range of English."
-Laura A. Michaelis, Professor of Linguistics , University of Colorado Boulder
“This book offers an insightful exploration of both, let’s say, canonical and more intricate English constructions from a constructional standpoint, drawing on the framework of Sign-Based Construction Grammar (SBCG). Two aspects of the book stand out as exceptionally valuable. First, Kim guides the reader – someone likely comfortable with syntactic analysis but not necessarily versed in SBCG – step-by-step through the complexities of a broad set of English constructions, ranging from agreement and ellipsis to verb-particle structures and clefts. Second, the treatment of each construction raises questions that will interest not only those already working within SBCG but also linguists willing to revisit assumptions widely accepted in other theoretical frameworks, making the book a motivator for theoretical reflection. This monograph will be a seminal resource and essential reading for anyone wishing to explore in greater depth the syntax of English from a usage-based perspective, and will provide the perfect incentive to revisit its complex syntax with a critical spirit, grounded in authentic linguistic evidence.”
-Javier Pérez-Guerra (he/him)Professor of English linguistics, Universidade de Vigo
