Research topics
- Cognitive linguistics (Construction Grammars, Cognitive Grammar, Blending)
- Language change
- Emergence modeling
- Sociolinguistics
- Cognitive Pragmatics (theories of the subject, politeness, directive speech acts)
- Corpus linguistics with R
Research projects
Constructional flexibility and identity
Language interaction and its correlated linguistic forms are not given entities, despite their conventional nature. The most mundane construction holds layers of meanings which have been entrenched throughout its development. Some of these strata are more accessible than others, but most of them can be activated synchronically so as to match the social conditions which shape utterances . This constant gap between conventional and individual usage creates a space in which identities are constructed, blurred, or (re)negotiated.
New perspectives in sociopragmatics
The long-standing sociolinguistic tradition considers that variation is the vital complement of standard language usage. A variable appears when there are at least two different ways of saying the same thing (Labov), for either stylistic or sociological reasons. Far from being considered an imperfection or an accident, variation (be it geographic, historical, or social), is central to language since it opens up a sphere where individual and collective identities may emerge. From a usage-based perspective, form/meaning pairings are flexible and subject to change, which makes Construction Grammar a perfect framework for sociolinguistic studies.
Many linguistic innovations stem from attempts to conform to the norm. Acquiring a language means not only mastering its rules and codes and also asserting ourselves as individuals by a to-ing and fro-ing between our linguistic attempts and their effects on the linguistic communities which we come to integrate in the course of our lifetimes. Those attempts create a degree of instability which is visible at the constructional level, especially at the crossroads of form and meaning.
PhD dissertation
A cognitive model of variation and language change based on an examination of some emerging constructions in contemporary English. Manuscript in French (pdf, 2,95Mo), Abstract in English. (Highest Distinction). Advisor: Jean-Rémi Lapaire (Bordeaux 3).
Jury : Ronald W. Langacker (University of California, San Diego), Michel de Fornel (EHESS, Paris), Wilfrid Rotgé (Paris 10), Jean-Rémi Lapaire (Bordeaux 3, advisor).
