Multimodal constructs – multimodal constructions? The role of constructions in the working memory

TLDR

Language is a symbolic system of arbitrary form‑meaning pairings, and Construction Grammar holds that all grammatical levels—from morphemes to discourse patterns—are such constructions. The paper investigates multimodal usage‑events (multimodal constructs) to assess their potential entrenchment as multimodal constructions and their cognitive implications, arguing that constructionist approaches must attend to working memory’s role in assembling and interpreting constructions. Drawing on verbal and gesture constructions, the author distinguishes entrenched long‑term memory constructions from online working‑memory constructions. Once this distinction is made, the precise role of multimodal constructs and the nature of multimodal constructions can be disentangled.

Abstract

Abstract Language is a symbolic system, whose basic units are arbitrary and conventionalized pairings of form and meaning. In fact, in light of substantive empirical evidence, Construction Grammar approaches advocate the view that not only words but all levels of grammatical description – from morphemes, words, and idioms to abstract phrasal patterns as well as larger discourse patterns – comprise form-meaning pairings, which are collectively referred to as constructions. In this paper, I will discuss the status of multimodal usage-events (multimodal constructs) for the potential entrenchment of multimodal constructions and their implications for human cognition in general. As I will argue, constructionist approaches need to pay more attention to the role of the working memory in assembling and interpreting constructions. Drawing on verbal as well as gesture constructions, I will show that it is essential to distinguish entrenched constructions that are stored in the long-term memory from form-meaning pairings that are assembled in the working memory (online constructions). Once this distinction is made, the precise role of multimodal constructs and the nature of multimodal constructions can finally be disentangled.