Expanding Construction Grammar and Frame Semantics

Division into competence & performance
“A grammar can be regarded as a theory of a
language; it is descriptively adequate to the
extent that it correctly describes the intrinsic
competence of the idealized native speaker.”
(Chomsky 1965: 24)
• John often kisses Mary.
• Who do you think Mary said John likes?
“Idealized” native speaker sentences occur with
low frequency in natural speech. Other patterns
that occur are typically ignored.
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