The term ‘usage-based’ was coined by [[Ronald Langacker]] in 1987, while doing research on [[Cognitive Grammar]]. Langacker identified commonly recurring linguistic patterns (patterns such as those associated with Wh- fronting, subject-verb agreement, the use of present participles, etc.) and represented these supposed rule-governed behaviours on a hierarchical structure. The Cognitive Grammar model represented grammar, semantics and lexicon as associated processes that were laid on a continuum, which provided a theoretical framework that was significant in studying the usage-based conception of language.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murkherjee |first1=J.|DUPLICATE_titlechapter=Corpus Data in a Usage-Based Cognitive Grammar |editor1=K. Aijmer |editor2=B. Altenberg |title=Advances in Corpus Linguistics: Papers from the 23rd International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 23) Göteborg 22-26 May 2002 |series=Language and Computers: Studies in Practical Linguistics |volume=49 |pages=85–100 |___location=Amsterdam |publisher=Rodopi|date=2004}}</ref> Consequently, a usage-based model accounts for these rule-governed language behaviours by providing a representational scheme that is entirely instance-based, and able to recognize and uniquely represent each familiar pattern, which occurs with varying strengths at different instances. His usage-based model draws on the cognitive psychology of schemata,<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Schank, R.C.|last1= Abelson, R.P.|title=Scripts, plans, goals, and understanding: an inquiry into human knowledge structures.|journal=Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.|date=1977}}</ref> which are flexible hierarchical structures that are able to accommodate the complexity of mental stimuli. Similarly, as humans perceive linguistic abstractions as multilayered, ranging from patterns that occur across whole utterances to those that occur in phonetic material, the usage-based model acknowledges the differing levels of granularity in speakers’ knowledge of their language. Langacker’s work emphasizes that both abstract structure and instance-based detail are contained in language, differing in granularity but not in basic principles.
