Disentangling constructional networks: integrating taxonomic effects into the description of grammatical alternations

Abstract This study considers an approach to alternations in which constructions are understood as non-binary choices between non-discrete usage patterns. To these ends, it seeks to develop usage-based methods for the identification and description of constructions without presupposing their level of formal granularity. Instead of deciding a priori what level of granularity is best for making generalizations about grammatical structure, the study aims to integrate the dimension of taxonomic variation into the analysis by treating constructions as combinatory emergent patterns, rather than predetermined discrete objects. Using the behavioural profile approach, we examine a 12-way lexico-constructional choice in Polish arising from the combinatory possibilities of three paradigmatic relations: grammatical aspect (perfective vs. imperfective); grammatical prefix ( wy- , za- , na- ); and predicate choice from the semantic frame of “stuff-fill” (- pchać /- pychać ‘push’, - pełnić /- pełniać ‘fill’). We analyse the combinations in a sample of 765 examples extracted from the National Corpus of Polish. The results reveal patterns in the use of the prefix-aspect-verb composites, interpretable as speaker choice, and show how those combinatory patterns can be accounted for without the need for positing discrete alternations. Furthermore, although only exploratory, such results call into question the descriptive validity of the traditional grammatical alternation.