Diasystematic Construction Grammar

a Usage Based Acquisitional Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to address the discussion on L1 and L2 acquisition, from the theoretical principles of Diasystematic Construction Grammar (GCxD) - (HÖDER, 2018) - and of Usage-Based Construction Grammar (UBCG) - (GOLDBERG, 2019): both models of constructionist assumptions about the processing and psychological reality of L1 and L2 linguistic knowledge. For this discussion, we have divided the text into two parts. In the first, we review some principles of the models. In the second, we illustrate theoretical issues, based on data and results from research focused on the grammatical knowledge of non-native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (L2PB) and English (L2E). Data instantiate the patterns (i) [(ESP) N] - the nominal specification construction - in the context of L2PB acquisition and (ii) [(X) VSN] - the focalization through postponed subject construction - in the context of L2E acquisition.