Areal Linguistics within the Phonological Atlas of Europe

Areal Linguistics within the Phonological Atlas of Europe PDF

Author: Thomas Stolz

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-08-23

Total Pages: 694

ISBN-13: 311067260X

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In contrast to many other levels of language, there is as yet no comprehensive areal-linguistic description of the segmental phonological properties of the languages of Europe. To complement the synchronic picture of the languages of Europe, it is time to take stock of their phoneme inventories to provide an empirical basis for generalizations about the similarities and dissimilarities of the languages of Europe. The best way to visualize the areal phonology of Europe is that of the Phonological Atlas of Europe (Phon@Europe) which features the isoglosses of phonological phenomena on a plethora of maps. As a prequel to Phon@Europe, this study not only outlines the goals, methodology, sample, and theory of the project but also focuses on loan phonemes whose diffusion across the 210 doculects of the sample yields meaningful patterns. The patterns are indicative of recent processes of convergence which have transformed a diverse phonological mosaic into a superficially homogeneous linguistic area. The developments which have led to the present situation are traced back through the history of the sample languages.

Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European

Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European PDF

Author: Götz Keydana

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-06-08

Total Pages: 605

ISBN-13: 3110641321

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The ability to compare is fundamental to human cognition. Expressing various types of comparison is thus essential to any language. The present volume presents detailed grammatical descriptions of how comparison and gradation are expressed in ancient Indo-European languages. The detailed chapters devoted to the individual languages go far beyond standard handbook knowledge. Each chapter is structured the same way to facilitate cross-reference and (typological) comparison. The data are presented in a top-down fashion and in a format easily accessible to the linguistic community. The topics covered are similatives, equatives, comparatives, superlatives, elatives, and excessives. Each type of comparison is illustrated with glossed examples of all its attested grammatical realizations. The book is an indispensable tool for typologists, historical linguists, and students of the syntax and morphosyntax of comparison.

Manual of Deixis in Romance Languages

Manual of Deixis in Romance Languages PDF

Author: Konstanze Jungbluth

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2015-10-16

Total Pages: 788

ISBN-13: 3110393565

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Deixis as a field of research has generated increased interest in recent years. It is crucial for a number of different subdisciplines: pragmatics, semantics, cognitive and contrastive linguistics, to name just a few. The subject is of particular interest to experts and students, philosophers, teachers, philologists, and psychologists interested in the study of their language or in comparing linguistic structures. The different deictic structures – not only the items themselves, but also the oppositions between them – reflect the fact that neither the notions of space, time, person nor our use of them are identical cross-culturally. This diversity is not restricted to the difference between languages, but also appears among related dialects and language varieties. This volume will provide an overview of the field, focusing on Romance languages, but also reaching beyond this perspective. Chapters on diachronic developments (language change), comparisons with other (non-)European languages, and on interfaces with neighboring fields of interest are also included. The editors and authors hope that readers, regardless of their familiarity with Romance languages, will gain new insights into deixis in general, and into the similarities and differences among deictic structures used in the languages of the world.

Perspectives on Maltese Linguistics

Perspectives on Maltese Linguistics PDF

Author: Albert Borg

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2014-02-03

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 3050065141

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The contributions included in this collection present different perspectives on various aspects of Maltese Linguistics, thereby enriching a field which has been attracting considerably greater interest in recent years than was the case in the past. The papers focus on the Maltese language itself as well as on Maltese in relation to other languages. They provide a picture of Maltese mainly from a synchronic perspective, descriptions ranging from indepth analyses of morphological and syntactic features to contributions on the lexicon, corpus linguistics and sociolinguistics. A number of papers dealing with diachronic considerations are also included. The topics dealt with in this volume show not only that Maltese is the object of research from a variety of perspectives but also that scholars with diverse backgrounds and of different nationalities are studying this language, thus providing an enriching body of knowl-edge, including findings of interest to general linguistics and various other fields in the humanities. Der vorliegende Band enthält Beiträge mit vielfältigen Herangehensweisen zu unterschiedlichen Aspekten der maltesischen Sprachwissenschaft und erweitert dadurch den Blick auf eine Disziplin, die in den letzten Jahren deutlich mehr Interesse findet als das in der Vergangenheit der Fall war. Der Fokus wird in den einzelnen Beiträgen sowohl auf die maltesische Sprache an sich als auch auf den Sprachkontakt von Maltesisch mit anderen Sprachen gerichtet. Neben synchronen Untersuchungen, die morphologische und syntaktische Eigenschaften sowie lexikalische, korpus- und soziolinguistische Aspekte von Maltesisch eingehend beleuchten, finden sich Analysen mit vorwiegend diachroner Blickrichtung. Die thematische Vielfalt des vorliegenden Bandes, die aus den unterschiedlichen He-rangehensweisen der beteiligten Wissenschaftler unterschiedlicher Nationalität und mit unterschiedlichem Forschungshintergrund resultiert, erweitert nicht nur den Wissensbestand der maltesischen Linguistik, sondern kann auch bereichernde Erkenntnisse für die Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft sowie für andere Zweige der Geisteswissenschaften liefern.

Definiteness across languages

Definiteness across languages PDF

Author: Ana Aguilar-Guevara

Publisher: Language Science Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 3961101922

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Definiteness has been a central topic in theoretical semantics since its modern foundation. However, despite its significance, there has been surprisingly scarce research on its cross-linguistic expression. With the purpose of contributing to filling this gap, the present volume gathers thirteen studies exploiting insights from formal semantics and syntax, typological and language specific studies, and, crucially, semantic fieldwork and cross-linguistic semantics, in order to address the expression and interpretation of definiteness in a diverse group of languages, most of them understudied. The papers presented in this volume aim to establish a dialogue between theory and data in order to answer the following questions: What formal strategies do natural languages employ to encode definiteness? What are the possible meanings associated to this notion across languages? Are there different types of definite reference? Which other functions (besides marking definite reference) are associated with definite descriptions? Each of the papers contained in this volume addresses at least one of these questions and, in doing so, they aim to enrich our understanding of definiteness.

Language Empires in Comparative Perspective

Language Empires in Comparative Perspective PDF

Author: Christel Stolz

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2015-03-10

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 3110408368

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The notion of empire is associated with economic and political mechanisms of dominance. For the last decades, however, there has been a lively debate concerning the question whether this concept can be transferred to the field of linguistics, specifically to research on situations of language spread on the one hand and concomitant marginalization of minority languages on the other. The authors who contributed to this volume concur as to the applicability of the notion of empire to language-related issues. They address the processes, potential merits and drawbacks of language spread as well as the marginalization of minority languages, language endangerment and revitalization, contact-induced language change, the emergence of mixed languages, and identity issues. An emphasis is on the dominance of non-Western languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and, particularly, Russian. The studies demonstrate that the emergence, spread and decline of language empires is a promising area of research, particularly from a comparative perspective.

Word-Formation

Word-Formation PDF

Author: Peter O. Müller

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-01-15

Total Pages: 714

ISBN-13: 3110379082

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This handbook comprises an in-depth presentation of the state of the art in word-formation. The five volumes contain 207 articles written by leading international scholars. The 16 sections of the handbook provide the reader in general articles and individual studies with a wide variety of perspectives. The final section contains 74 portraits of word-formation in the individual languages of Europe and offers an innovative perspective.

Competing Comparative Constructions in Europe

Competing Comparative Constructions in Europe PDF

Author: Thomas Stolz

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2013-10-24

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 3050064994

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This in-depth areal-typological study analyzes the grammatical means which are employed in the languages of Europe to express the comparative of inequality/superiority. The extant theories and hypotheses about the morphosyntactic structure and the cross-linguistic distribution of construction types are reviewed. The behavior of comparatives under the conditions of language contact is discussed. Data from more than 170 standard and nonstandard varieties of European languages are scrutinized systematically. The synchronic picture is complemented by a chapter on the diachrony of comparative constructions. The European facts are compared to those of the geographically adjacent Asian and African regions. It is argued that cross-linguistic investigations must take account also of so-called secondary options. These secondary options suggest strongly that the supposedly dominant role of the particle comparative cannot be upheld for Europe. Moreover, only the secondary options allow us to draw isoglosses which cross the borders between Europe and Asia (and Africa).

Compendium of the Sassarese Language: A Survey of Genesis, Structure, and Language Awareness

Compendium of the Sassarese Language: A Survey of Genesis, Structure, and Language Awareness PDF

Author: Laura Linzmeier

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2019-09-24

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 3000638148

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This compendium of Sassarese offers a comprehensive survey of the current state of research on Sassarese - a variety spoken in north-west Sardinia - and is tied to the attempt to generate more scholarly interest in this idiom. This study attempts to gather the existing scholarly findings and focuses on Sassarese and its varieties, its distribution, its genesis, its structure as well as its original fields of application and the language awareness.