Allostructions re-revisited

Abstract

This paper critically reflects on the concept of ‘allostructions’ as proposed in Cappelle (2006) and further developed in Perek (2012, 2015), among others, as a crucial and influential notion for any constructionist approach to (syntactic) alternations. The main focus here is on open questions that persist regarding the specific theoretical assumptions underlying the idea of allostructions and constructemes, as well as empirical challenges that might be met when discussing alternation phenomena in allostructional terms.