ABSTRACT
Proponents of usage-based linguistics (UBL) have argued that language use forms and drives the emergence of linguistic structure and language learning. For example, Tomasello (1992) argued that ‘[a] language is composed of conventional symbols shaped by their social-communicative functions’ (p. 67), and N. Ellis (2015) stated that ‘[the] functions of language in discourse determine its usage and learning’ (p. 49). Larsen-Freeman (2006) further underscored the social foundations of language, arguing that ‘language is social in nature’ and that ‘it is used for social action within a context of use’ (p. 593). Despite such viewpoints put forth by some of the most prominent and outspoken researchers, second language acquisition (SLA) research from a usage-based perspective has largely ignored the social aspects of language learning. Focus has been on one of the key assumptions within that framework, namely that language is an inventory of what is variously known as symbolic units, form–meaning pairings, or constructions. While this constitutes an important step away from syntactocentric approaches to L2 development, usage-based research on how L2 inventories develop still predominantly focuses on decontextualized instances of language use in the form of constructions rather than on the use of these constructions per se.
