9. Usage-based Grammar

Abstract

This article introduces two major approaches to usage-based study of syntax, Emergent Grammar and Interactional Linguistics. Grammarians studying human languages from these two approaches insist on basing their analyses on data from actual language use, especially everyday conversation in a range of languages. Grammar is viewed as emerging from language use in context, and thus grammatical structure is seen as provisional, negotiable, and ever changing. Linguistic units and categories need to be based on what is found in actual use. Traditional notions are not accepted a priori, unless it is shown that speakers actually orient to them in their everyday use. Findings are stated in terms of both form and function. Since the availability of videotaped data, there has been increasing attention paid to embodied behavior as a component of linguistic communication. Frequently used structures are seen as more basic than rarely used ones, and for this reason, quantitative approaches are common. Building carefully designed, balanced corpora of everyday speech in a range of contexts for multiple languages will be a next major step which would make this usage-based endeavor to human language a viable option.