Constructional and Cognitive Explorations of Contrastive Linguistics

This book approaches the field of contrastive linguistics from a comparative and robust perspective that combines the tenets of construction grammar and cognitive linguistics. In doing so, it shows how their integration can help to successfully enhance research on contrastivity, by means of updated theoretical frameworks and applied methodologies that combine language and thought. It compares ten different languages and offers analyses of constructions at all levels of the linguistic organization, identifying the cognitive motivations that instantiate the linguistic data retrieved from corpora. Relevant to both cognitive and non-cognitive linguists interested in variation and contrastive approaches, as well as graduate students in these areas, this book makes a significant contribution to existing work on the various types of constructional and discourse-based phenomena in modern languages.


Annalisa Baicchi is Full Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Genova, Italy. Her main research interests lie on areas of cognitive semantics, construction grammar, contrastive linguistics, and inferential pragmatics. She serves as a peer referee for International Research Projects, e.g., The British Academy (UK), FWO (Bruxelles), DFF and FTP (Denmark), ANEP (Spain), and NSC (Poland). She is a regular reviewer for international journals and book series. Recent publications include the monograph Construction Learning as a Complex Adaptive System (2015, Springer) and the edited volume Sensory Perceptions in Language, Embodiment, and Epistemology (2018, Springer).
Cristiano Broccias is Full Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Genova, Italy, where he serves as the Head of the Department of Modern languages and Cultures. His main research interests include synchronic and diachronic phonology and syntax of English, theories of language (especially Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Grammar). Together with Annalisa Baicchi, he hosted the' 9^th International Contrastive Linguistics Conference' in 2021. He regularly serves as reviewer for international journals and book series. He authored 'The English change network' (de Gruyter).