The Interplay of Synonymy and Polysemy

2.3.3 Constructions 
The final approach to language comes from cognitive linguistics. Cognitive linguists 
disagree with generative views on many of their most basic assumptions. Generativists view 
the lexicon and syntax as strictly separate and distinct modules of language. Meaning is also 
separated into semantic and pragmatic meaning: semantics being relevant to the structure of 
language and the lexicon, while pragmatics, which is more context dependent, is considered 
peripheral to the lexicon. Cognitive linguists mostly disagree with this view, believing there 
to be a continuum between the lexicon and grammar and a continuum between semantics and 
pragmatics. (See Croft 2007, Langacker 2007, and Goldberg 2003 for an overview of the 
views shared by the various cognitive linguistics theories).
Goldberg (1995) and Langacker (2008) posit the existence of 
constructions
(called 
symbolic structures in Langacker 2008). Constructions are pairings of phonological and 
syntactic form with meaning. Different types of entities are constructions: morphemes, 
independent words, idiomatic phrases, noun phrases, sentence types, etc. The lexicon and 
grammar are not strictly distinct entities. The difference between lexical items and syntactic 
items lies in the internal complexity and the extent of phonologically specified form 
(Goldberg 1995:7). That is, what is normally thought of as syntax includes constructions that 
are internally complex and which have little, if any, pre-specified phonological form.
An important concept in both theories is 
motivation
. In many generative views, there 
is a strict division between aspects of language that are predictable and those that are 
arbitrary. Goldberg (1995) and Langacker (2008) focus on motivation, which lies between 
1
It is important to note that Murphy (2003:241) states that her Relation by Contrast principle (in its various 
subforms) is compatible with construction-based approaches such as Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995). 

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predictability and arbitrariness (Goldberg 1995:69). It is not always possible to predict all 
aspects of language, but it is possible to motivate or make sense of a system (Lakoff 
1987:96). Even though language is not always predictable, that does not mean it is arbitrary; 
speakers can find a certain amount of justification for why their language is the way it is.
Motivation plays an important role in their conceptions of the relations that exist 
among the constructions of a language. Both posit links or connections between 
constructions. For both, polysemy is captured by connecting the various senses of a lexical 
item. These connections signal the variations that a single form can adopt. They differ on 
their view on synonymy. Goldberg (1995) limits synonymy within her system, and only a few 
types of synonymy can be captured by links. Though Langacker (2008) does not discuss the 
topic, the same theoretical tools used for polysemy can also capture synonymic relations.