COGNITIVE–FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE IN MULTILINGUAL SPEAKERS: REASSESSING THE ROLE OF CONSTRUCTIONAL SCHEMAS IN CROSS-LINGUISTIC TRANSFER
Keywords:
Construction Grammar; Cross-linguistic transfer; Multilingual cognition; Usage-based linguistics; Argument-structure constructions; Conceptual metaphors; Information-packaging schemas; Cognitive salience; Entrenchment; Uzbek–English–Russian multilinguals; Constructional alignment; Cognitive–functional linguistics.Abstract
This paper investigates how multilingual speakers activate and restructure constructional schemas during cross-linguistic transfer, offering a cognitive–functional account of how syntactic and semantic patterns migrate across languages. Building on Construction Grammar (CxG) and usage-based approaches, the study argues that transfer is not merely the replication of surface structures but a dynamic process shaped by cognitive salience, entrenchment, and discourse-functional pressures. Drawing on cross-linguistic data from Uzbek–English–Russian trilinguals, the paper demonstrates that multilinguals rely on abstract constructions—argument-structure frames, conceptual metaphors, and information-packaging schemas—rather than lexical items alone. The findings provide new insights into the architecture of multilingual grammars and the gradient nature of constructions in the mind.
