Lectures on "Constructions or Rules" by Professor John Taylor

On 19 October, at 2:30p.m., professor John Taylor, the world famous linguist and Dean of the Cognitive Linguistics Research Institute of OTAGO, New Zealand gave a lecture
Constructions or Rules" in the simulation court of Guizhou University, which was chaired by Professor Ning Mei, deputy dean of College of International Studies. 

Leaders like Professor Wang Jianfang, dean of the College of International Studies and professor Hong Yun, the deputy dean were presented there. Teachers and students of the College and those from other universities such as Guizhou Normal University, Guizhou University for Nationalities and Guiyang University also took part in and shared the cultural feast.

The lecture focused on the development of Cognitive Linguistics with a start from the corpus linguistics, which was made well-understandable by Professor Taylor. Then he directed to the traditional grammar rules. He pointed out that "The belief that language is the dictionary plus grammar in traditional grammar was inappropriate”. And in his mind, construction should be regarded as a category from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics. Later, he made explains to “Three Means of Syntax Comprehension" and "Difference between Rules and Construction”. In his lecture, Professor Taylor combined theory with practice and illustrated his viewpoints with rich examples. Finally, he made active interaction with the seated audience by answering their questions respectively and patiently.