"The last thirty years has seen usage-based theories of language development and acquisition -- a field of study that has grown out of advances in cognitive linguistics and corpora analysis--dramatically disrupt traditional beliefs about universal grammar. Asserting that grammar emerges from our cognitive responses to our experiences with language, usage-based language study employs data derived from interdisciplinary studies including sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, experimental linguistics, corpora studies, and language acquisition studies to build a compelling case that grammars must be considered within broad contexts in order to be analysed successfully. The Handbook of Usage-Based Linguistics stands as the first volume of its kind, offering a ground-breaking and interdisciplinary view of the application of usage-based theory to the study of language and linguistics. In six sections covering the development and history of the field, the application of usage-based theory to fields such as phonology, morphosyntax, psycholinguistics, and language variation and change, and the future of usage-based linguistics, this volume brings together work that offers insights into usage-based theory in many languages and disciplines. Essays in this work come from an international group of established and emerging scholars in the field of usage-based theory who offer diverse perspectives on theory, history, and methodology. This work offers a unique and dedicated examination of the contributions of usage-based theory to linguistics and language study. For students and scholars in linguistics -- especially those in psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, corpora analysis, and Hispanic linguistics -- this work is certain to become an essential reference work for this exciting emerging area of research"-- Provided by publisher.