FLL research profile

Research aim

The main concern of the FLL research group is with the description of linguistic categories as form-function correlations at the level of the phrase and the clause as well as that of clause combining, and with the integration of grammatical categorization with lexical classification. The approach is eclectic in that it tries to integrate compatible and complementary aspects of functional and cognitive approaches.

Research developments

Earlier work tended to focus on the representational semantics of different clausal construction types, such as transitive vs. ergative construals, existential clauses and clefts, and the locative alternation. Gradually an interest emerged in the interpersonal structure and semantics of constructions, such as nominalizations, coordinated clauses, and reported speech constructions. Along with the inclusion of more interpersonal concerns, the scope of the research of the FLL group has also broadened from clausal to nominal construction types, including nominal reference point constructions, quantity nouns and adjectives of comparison.

In current research, the study of English construction types that has until recently been the main focus of research carried out by the FLL research group is being extended in the direction of diachrony as well as typology.

Research methodology

The FLL group has always stressed that descriptive and theoretical discussion has to be based on extensive and sound analysis of data. The importance of corpus analysis and ‘usage-based’ description is currently emphasized strongly in functional and cognitive linguistics. With regard to corpus-based linguistic description, the FLL group has always been particularly interested in the development and application of ‘pattern-revealing’ heuristics.

Representative publications

Brems, Lieselotte (2003) Measure Noun constructions: an instance of semantically-driven grammaticalization. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 8 (2) : 283-312.

Davidse, Kristin (1999) The semantics of cardinal versus enumerative existential constructions. Cognitive Linguistics 10 (3): 203-250.

Davidse, Kristin (2000) A constructional approach to clefts. Linguistics 38: 1101-1131.

Heyvaert, Liesbet (2003) A cognitive-functional approach to nominalization in English (Cognitive Linguistics Research 26). Berlin: Mouton.

Laffut, An (2006) Three-participant constructions in English: A functional-cognitive approach to caused relations (Studies in Language Companion Series 79). Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Vandelanotte, Lieven (2004) From representational to scopal 'distancing indirect speech or thought': A cline of subjectification. TEXT 24 (4): 547-585.

Verstraete, Jean-Christophe (2005) Two types of coordination in clause combining. Lingua 115 (4) : 611-626.

Verstraete, Jean-Christophe (2005) Scalar quantity implicatures and the interpretation of modality: Problems in the deontic domain. Journal of Pragmatics 37: 1401-1418.

Willemse, Peter (2004) Esphoric reference and pseudo-definiteness. In K. Aijmer and B. Altenberg (eds.) Advances in corpus linguistics: Papers from the 23rd International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 23). Amsterdam: Rodopi. 117-132.