The performance-competence interplay in the [V until ADJ]-construction

While formalist approaches to language distinguish sharply between performance and competence in their modeling of language competence, performance and competence are considered to be in a mutually influential relation in usage-based models of language. Language competence, in the latter approach, is held to be experientially based in the sense that language learners establish their competence through inductive cognitive processes like extraction, schematization, and prototype categorization.

This paper explores the interplay between performance and competence, in a construction grammar perspective in which grammatical constructions are considered meaningful symbolic units on par with lexemes, in relation to the [V until ADJ]-construction, as seen in the following examples:

(1) Meanwhile, grill onions until soft.
(2) Stir frequently until fragrant.
(3) Microwave milk on High 2 minutes or until warm.

The present study takes into account empirically observed patterns of usage in the description of this linguistic phenomenon, providing a usage-based constructional network model of the competence pertaining to this construction.

The purpose of the present study is thus two-fold, as I aim to provide a cognitively plausible account of this particular phenomenon and to make a case for the usage-based approach to language competence.