关键词: 构式语法, 结构意义, 语言共性, 认知语言学, 转换生成语法

Abstract: On the basis of our own research experiences of Chinese language, this paper addresses advances and limitations of Construction Grammar (CG henceforth); also, the background of the age in which CG took shape has been discussed. We claim that CG supports the principle of cognitive linguistics about the relationship between semantics and syntax; its analysis is based on empirical data and thus objective; constructions with different frequencies have been paid equal attention to; language universals have been successfully explained; its research objects are clear and concrete; and its generalizations can be applied to explain child language acquisition. In addition, CG sees a synchronic system of grammar as a dynamic process, which can explain motivations for grammaticalization. The limitations of CG are as follows: the improper extension of the term ’construction’ obscures the distinction between word formation and syntax and consequently makes grammatical analysis unnecessarily complicated; the reasons for ambiguity of construction have not been successfully explored; the resources of the meaning of a const ruction have not been successfully identified; its theory can only be used to deal with a limited group of constructions.