construction (n.)

In its most general sense in LINGUISTICS, ‘construction’ refers to the overall process of internal organization of a GRAMMATICAL UNIT – a SENTENCE, for example, being built up (constructed) out of a set of MORPHEMES by the application of a set of RULES. More specifically, it refers to the SYNTAGMATIC result of such a process, a particular type of construction (a constructional type or pattern) being defined as a sequence of units which has a FUNCTIONAL identity in the grammar of a LANGUAGE, such as SUBJECT+VERB+ OBJECT (with reference to CLAUSES), or DETERMINER+NOUN (with reference to PHRASES). Most specifically, it refers to a token of a constructional type, in the sense of STRING, e.g. the + man + is + walking. It is constructions of this last kind which are analyzed into CONSTITUENTS, as in IMMEDIATE-CONSTITUENT analysis. Constituents forming a syntactic relationship are said to be ‘in construction with’ each other. Constructional homonymity refers to a grammatical string with more than one interpretation in terms of the patterns of construction it contains (as defined, say, by a PHRASE-STRUCTURE grammar). In more traditional grammatical terms, the string would be said to be ‘structurally ambiguous’. For example, men and women in coats could be analyzed as men and [women in coats] (i.e. only the women have coats) or as men and women [in coats] (they all have coats).

In PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, the term is often used as part of a theory of COMPREHENSION, to refer to the psychological process of arriving at an interpretation of sentences, based on the ability to identify and interrelate the various ELAMENTS and LEVELS of MEANING involved (meaning construction).