Language as a Complex Adaptive System

Editorial and Dedications (Nick C. Ellis & Diane Larsen-Freeman). Language is a complex adaptive system: Position paper. 'The Five Graces Group' (Clay Beckner, Richard Blythe, Joan Bybee, Morten H. Christiansen, William Croft, Nick C. Ellis, John Holland, Jinyun Ke, Diane Larsen-Freeman, & Tom Schoenemann) A usage-based account of constituency and reanalysis (Clay Beckner & Joan Bybee). The speech community in evolutionary language dynamics (Richard A. Blythe & William A. Croft). Linking rule acquisition in novel phrasal constructions (Jeremy K. Boyd, Erin A. Gottschalk, & Adele E. Goldberg). Constructing a second language: Analyses and computational simulations of the emergence of linguistic constructions from usage (Nick C. Ellis & Diane Larsen-Freeman). A usage-based approach to recursion in sentence processing (Morten H. Christiansen, & Maryellen C. MacDonald). Evolution of brain and language (P. Thomas Schoenemann). Complex adaptive systems and the origins of adaptive structure: what experiments can tell us (Hannah Cornish, Monica Tamariz, & Simon Kirby). Meaning in the making: meaning potential emerging from acts of meaning (Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen). Individual differences: Interplay of learner characteristics and learning environment (Zoltan Dornyei). If language is a complex adaptive system, what is language assessment? (Robert J. Mislevy & Chengbin Yin).