Constructicon in progress : A short introduction to the constructionist approach to syntactic analysis (CASA)

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Over the last forty years, Construction Grammar has emerged as the leading syntactic theory in cognitive linguistics. Usage-based versions of Construction Grammar have successfully been used to explain language acquisition, change, and variation. How the theory can be applied in foreign language teaching, however, has only recently attracted scholarly attention (De Knop and Gilquin 2016; Boas 2022). As part of this enterprise, the Constructionist Approach to Syntactic Analysis (CASA; Herbst and Hoffmann 2018, 2024) offers a new model that enables language teachers and students to analyse the most complex naturally occurring sentences. In the present paper, I will provide a short introduction to the CASA model. In addition to this, I will illustrate how this approach not only allows for a descriptive analysis of sentences, but how it offers teachers and students important theoretic insights into the cognitive nature of language.