From cradle to control verbs Extending constructivist models beyond simple syntax

In recent years, several computational models (Alishahi & Stevenson 2008, Chang 2008, Bannard, Lieven & Tomasello 2009) have begun fulfilling the promise of usage-based construction grammar (Tomasello 2003, Goldberg 2006) as a computationally testable account of the acquisition of grammar.1 In simulating specific developmental patterns, such as the generalization of argument structure constructions, constructionist models seem to focus on a limited part of the childs development, namely the acquisition of so-called simple syntax (Tomasello 2003, Ambridge & Lieven 2011), i.e. word order in declarative sentences and argument structure. This focus has left the models conceptually ill-equipped to account for the grammatical development on either developmental side of the acquisition of simple syntax.