Continuity and Change in Grammar

Continuity and Change in Grammar PDF

Author: Anne Breitbarth

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 9027255423

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One of the principal challenges of historical linguistics is to explain the "causes" of language change. Any such explanation, however, must also address the actuation problem: why is it that changes occurring in a given language at a certain time cannot be reliably predicted to recur in other languages, under apparently similar conditions? The sixteen contributions to the present volume each aim to elucidate various aspects of this problem, including: What processes can be identified as the drivers of change? How central are syntax-external (phonological, lexical or contact-based) factors in triggering syntactic change? And how can all of these factors be reconciled with the actuation problem? Exploring data from a wide range of languages from both a formal and a functional perspective, this book promises to be of interest to advanced students and researchers in historical linguistics, syntax and their intersection."

The Continuity of Linguistic Change

The Continuity of Linguistic Change PDF

Author: Matilde Vida-Castro

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2024-02-15

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 9027247285

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The Continuity of Linguistic Change presents a collection of selected papers in honour of Professor Juan Andrés Villena-Ponsoda. The essays revolve around the study of linguistic variation and the mechanisms and processes associated with linguistic change, a field to which Villena-Ponsoda has dedicated so many years of research. The authors are researchers of renowned international prestige who have made significant contributions in this field. The chapters cover a range of related topics and provide modern theoretical and methodological perspectives, addressing the structural, cognitive, historical and social factors that underlie and promote linguistic change in varieties of Dutch, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. The reader will find contributions that explore topics such as phonology, acoustic phonetics and processes deriving from the contact between languages or linguistic varieties, specifically levelling, koineisation, standardisation and the emergence of ethnolects.

Language Contact, Continuity and Change in the Genesis of Modern Hebrew

Language Contact, Continuity and Change in the Genesis of Modern Hebrew PDF

Author: Edit Doron

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2019-09-18

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 9027262438

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The emergence of Modern Hebrew as a spoken language constitutes a unique event in modern history: a language which for generations only existed in the written mode underwent a process popularly called “revival”, acquiring native speakers and becoming a language spoken for everyday use. Despite the attention it has drawn, this particular case of language-shift, which differs from the better-documented cases of creoles and mixed languages, has not been discussed within the framework of the literature on contact-induced change. The linguistic properties of the process have not been systematically studied, and the status of the emergent language as a (dis)continuous stage of its historical sources has not been evaluated in the context of other known cases of language shift. The present collection presents detailed case studies of the syntactic evolution of Modern Hebrew, alongside general theoretical discussion, with the aim of bringing the case of Hebrew to the attention of language-contact scholars, while bringing the insights of the literature on language contact to help shed light on the case of Hebrew.

Change and Continuity in the English Language

Change and Continuity in the English Language PDF

Author: Martti Juhani Rudanko

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9780761810391

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While earlier treatments of English verb syntax from a diachronic perspective exist, this book breaks entirely fresh ground with its focus on the detailed study of English predicate complementation over the past three centuries. It draws data from an unprecedented combination of authoritative sources, including computer corpora and H. Poutsma's unpublished dictionary, and offers novel systematizations of predicates and discussions of alternation. By giving ample evidence of both change and continuity in the language over the past three hundred years, the book opens up a new research field in the study of the English language.

Millennia of Language Change

Millennia of Language Change PDF

Author: Peter Trudgill

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-04-16

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 1108477399

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This collection brings together Peter Trudgill's essays on the sociolinguistic aspects of historical linguistics for the first time.

Theoretical Issues in Language Acquisition

Theoretical Issues in Language Acquisition PDF

Author: Juergen Weissenborn

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2013-02-01

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1134746695

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In recent linguistic theory, there has been an explosion of detailed studies of language variation. This volume applies such recent analyses to the study of child language, developing new approaches to change and variation in child grammars and revealing both early knowledge in several areas of grammar and a period of extended development in others. Topics dealt with include question formation, "subjectless" sentences, object gaps, rules for missing subject interpretation, passive sentences, rules for pronoun interpretation and argument structure. Leading developmental linguists and psycholinguists show how linguistic theory can help define and inform a theory of the dynamics of language development and its biological basis, meeting the growing need for such studies in programs in linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science.

Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume 3

Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume 3 PDF

Author: William Labov

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2010-11-01

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 1405112158

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Written by the world-renowned pioneer in the field of modern sociolinguistics, this volume examines the cognitive and cultural factors responsible for linguistic change, tracing the life history of these developments, from triggering events to driving forces and endpoints. Explores the major insights obtained by combining sociolinguistics with the results of dialect geography on a large scale Examines the cognitive and cultural influences responsible for linguistic change Demonstrates under what conditions dialects diverge from one another Establishes an essential distinction between transmission within the community and diffusion across communities Completes Labov’s seminal Principles of Linguistic Change trilogy

Continuity and Variation in Germanic and Romance

Continuity and Variation in Germanic and Romance PDF

Author: Sam Wolfe

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-05-20

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0192578057

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This volume offers a range of synchronic and diachronic case studies in comparative Germanic and Romance morphosyntax. These two language families, spoken by over a billion people today, have played a central role in linguistic research, but many significant questions remain about the relationship between them. Following an introduction that sets out the methodological, empirical, and theoretical background to the book, the volume is divided into three parts that deal with the morphosyntax of subjects and the inflectional layer; inversion, discourse pragmatics, and the left periphery; and continuity and variation beyond the clause. The contributors adopt a diverse range of approaches, making use of the latest digitized corpora and presenting a mixture of well-known and under-studied data from standard and non-standard Germanic and Romance languages. Many of the chapters challenge received wisdom about the relationship between these two important language families. The volume will be an indispensable resource for researchers and students in the fields of Germanic and Romance linguistics, historical and comparative linguistics, and morphosyntax.

Change and Continuity in Applied Linguistics

Change and Continuity in Applied Linguistics PDF

Author: British Association for Applied Linguistics. Meeting

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9781853595264

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The papers in this volume are a selection from those given at the 1999 BAAL Annual Meeting, held at Edinburgh, whose theme was 'Change and Continuity in Applied Linguistics'. As well as offering a varied sample of current applied linguistics research, they provide a stimulating discussion of a wide range of views on fundamental questions about the nature and development of the discipline: What is applied linguistics? Where has it come from? What are its interests, data and methods? Who is it for? And how is it changing, especially in its views of language, learning, society and teaching?

Studies in Historical Linguistics and Language Change. Grammaticalization, Refunctionalization and Beyond

Studies in Historical Linguistics and Language Change. Grammaticalization, Refunctionalization and Beyond PDF

Author: Dorien Nieuwenhuijsen

Publisher: MDPI

Published: 2019-10-23

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 3039215760

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The present volume examines the usefulness of a particular set of concepts and processes of change studying their applicability to a range of linguistic changes in Spanish and Latin that cannot be easily or can only be partially accounted for within the framework of grammaticalization. Rather than challenging the insights of grammaticalization theory, the different contributions to this monograph demonstrate that exaptation, capitalization, refunctionalization and adfunctionalization, as well as changes motivated by rhetorical guidelines, constitute interesting and valuable notions that allow for a better understanding of specific language changes in Spanish and, by extension, of language change in general.