This paper examines a Mandarin construction that involves the general classifier, ge, when the element to its right is not a N(P). Through usage-based investigation, V-ge-Comp is identified as a construction in vernacular Mandarin that expresses the attainment of an unusual resultant state. It is argued that the meaning of the construction relies critically on a reanalysis of the Comp as a noun...

The construction grammar framework provides a rich formalism for the characterization of development in language acquisition, in part because it allows for a graceful transition from idiom-like holophrases, to fully abstract argument constructions. From the perspective of learning complexity, this means that rather than mastering the grammar used by an adult to generate or understand an utteran...

Phrasal semantics is concerned with how the meaning of a sentence is composed both from the meaning of the constituent words, and from extra meaning contained within the structural organization of the sentence itself. In this context, grammatical constructions correspond to form-meaning mappings that essentially capture this “extra” meaning and allow its representation. The current research exa...