A Typological Approach to Grammaticalization and Lexicalization

A Typological Approach to Grammaticalization and Lexicalization
Author: Janet Zhiqun Xing
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2020-01-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110641283

Based on comparative analyses of diachronic data, the articles in this volume address both theoretical and methodological issues in the study of grammaticalization and lexicalization in both Eastern and Western languages. The central question raised and discussed in this volume is how, if any, typological properties of the two genetically unrelated language families interact with the processes of grammaticalization and lexicalization.

The Limits of Grammaticalization

The Limits of Grammaticalization
Author: Anna Giacalone Ramat
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 309
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 902722935X

The earliest use of the term “grammaticalization” was to refer to the process whereby lexical words of a language (such as English keep in “he keeps bees”) become grammatical forms (such as the auxiliary in “he keeps looking at me”). Changes of this kind, which involve semantic fading and a downshift from a major to a minor category, have generally been agreed to come under the heading of grammaticalization. But other changes that equally contribute to new grammatical forms do not involve this kind of fading. In recent years, a debate has arisen over how to constrain the term theoretically. Is grammaticalization to be distinguished from “lexicalization”, the creation and fixing of new words out of older patterns of compounding? If so, how is the line to be drawn between a form that is grammatical and one that is lexical? Should the term “grammaticalization” be extended to the study of the origins of grammatical constructions in general? If so, it will have to include broader issues such as word order change and the reanalysis of phrases. What principles govern these processes? Is grammaticalization a unidirectional event, or can change occur in the reverse direction? The authors of the papers in this volume approach these important questions from a variety of data types, including historical texts, creoles, and a typologically broad sample of modern and ancient languages.

New Reflections on Grammaticalization

New Reflections on Grammaticalization
Author: Ilse Wischer
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2002-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9789027229557

The contributions in this volume cover a wide range of theoretical and methodological issues and raise a number of new questions that indicate the future direction of grammaticalization studies. The volume focuses on issues such as grammaticalization and lexicalization; the unidirectionality hypothesis; the issue of the relevance of contexts for grammaticalization; the description of grammaticalization paths. Much of the current work concentrates on such categories, as discourse markers, honorifics or classifiers, which have not previously been central to works on grammaticalization. Other studies take a new perspective on known grammaticalization paths by applying concepts adopted from other linguistic fields, such as prototype theory, morphocentricity, or by discussing their findings from a comparative or typological angle, presenting data from a large number of languages, often based on extensive empirical investigations of written and spoken text corpora.

Lexicalization and Language Change

Lexicalization and Language Change
Author: Laurel J. Brinton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2005-10-27
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781139445733

Lexicalization, a process of language change, has been conceptualized in a variety of ways. Broadly defined as the adoption of concepts into the lexicon, it has been viewed by syntacticians as the reverse process of grammaticalization, by morphologists as a routine process of word-formation, and by semanticists as the development of concrete meanings. In this up-to-date survey, Laurel Brinton and Elizabeth Traugott examine the various conceptualizations of lexicalization that have been presented in the literature. In light of contemporary work on grammaticalization, they then propose a new, unified model of lexicalization and grammaticalization. Their approach is illustrated with a variety of case studies from the history of English, including present participles, multi-word verbs, adverbs, and discourse markers, as well as some examples from other Indo-European languages. The first review of the various approaches to lexicalization, this book will be invaluable to students and scholars of historical linguistics and language change.

Grammaticalization Scenarios from Europe and Asia

Grammaticalization Scenarios from Europe and Asia
Author: Walter Bisang
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 648
Release: 2020-09-21
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110560445

This volume intends to fill the gap in the grammaticalization studies setting as its goal the systematic description of grammaticalization processes in genealogically and structurally diverse languages. To address the problem of the limitations of the secondary sources for grammaticalization studies, the editors rely on sketches of grammaticalization phenomena from experts in individual languages guided by a typological questionnaire.

Grammaticalization

Grammaticalization
Author: Heiko Narrog
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2021-03-31
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0191065080

This textbook introduces and explains the fundamental issues, major research questions, and current approaches in the study of grammaticalization - the development of new grammatical forms from lexical items, and of further grammatical functions from existing grammatical forms. Grammaticalization has been a vibrant research field in recent years, and has proven effective in explaining a wide range of phenomena; it has even been claimed that the only true language universals are diachronic, and are related to cross-linguistic processes of grammaticalization. The chapters provide a detailed account of the major issues in the field: foundational questions such as directionality, criteria and parameters of grammaticalization, and phases and cycles; the much-debated issue of the motivations behind grammaticalization, including the role of language contact and typological influences; the advantages and disadvantages of different theoretical approaches; and the relationship between grammaticalization and process such as lexicalization, exaptation, and the development of discourse markers. Each chapter offers guidance on further reading, and concludes with study questions to encourage further discussion; there is also a glossary of key terminology in the field. Thanks to its comprehensive approach, the volume will serve as both a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students and a valuable reference work for researchers in the field.

Corpus Approaches to Grammaticalization in English

Corpus Approaches to Grammaticalization in English
Author: Hans Lindquist
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2004
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781588115232

Grammaticalization is an important concept in general and typological linguistics and a prominent type of explanation in historical linguistics. For historical corpus linguists, grammaticalization theory provides a frame of orientation in their effort to analyze and systematize a fast-accumulating mass of data. Students of grammaticalization have become increasingly aware of the potential of existing corpora and established corpus-linguistic methodology for their work. This book continues and develops the dialogue between the two fields. All the contributions are based on extensive use of various electronic corpora. Relating corpus practices to recent theoretical concerns of grammaticalization studies they deal with grammaticalization and historical sociolinguistics, lexicalization and grammaticalization, layering, frequency, grammaticalization and dialects, degrammaticalization and grammaticalization in a contrastive perspective. The papers show that a synthesis of corpus methodology and grammaticalization studies leads to new and interesting insights about the mechanisms of language change and the communicative functions of language.

The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia

The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia
Author: Paul Sidwell
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 983
Release: 2021-08-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110558149

The handbook will offer a survey of the field of linguistics in the early 21st century for the Southeast Asian Linguistic Area. The last half century has seen a great increase in work on language contact, work in genetic, theoretical, and descriptive linguistics, and since the 1990s especially documentation of endangered languages. The book will provide an account of work in these areas, focusing on the achievements of SEAsian linguistics, as well as the challenges and unresolved issues, and provide a survey of the relevant major publications and other available resources. We will address: Survey of the languages of the area, organized along genetic lines, with discussion of relevant political and cultural background issues Theoretical/descriptive and typological issues Genetic classification and historical linguistics Areal and contact linguistics Other areas of interest such as sociolinguistics, semantics, writing systems, etc. Resources (major monographs and monograph series, dictionaries, journals, electronic data bases, etc.) Grammar sketches of languages representative of the genetic and structural diversity of the region.

Complementarity Between Lexis and Grammar in the System of Person

Complementarity Between Lexis and Grammar in the System of Person
Author: Pin Wang
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2016-10-04
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1315469278

This book investigates the lexico-grammatical complementarity in language in its construal of person as a semantic system. Given the vast and wide spectrum of resources for expressing distinctions in the assignment of person roles in language, this book presents person-related system networks covering a rich range of semantic features. It also studies the system of person in relation to other major semantic systems instead of regarding it as one isolated component of language parallel to gender, number, case, etc. Systemic features of person are in turn realized by lexicogrammar, whose components, lexis and grammar form a relationship of complementarity in the process of transforming human experience into meaning. Person-related meaning can be either realized by lexical means, i.e. entity, process, quality, or grammatical means, i.e. pronouns, clitics, affixes, zero forms. Besides, such meaning is also found to be realized at some indeterminate areas along the lexis-grammar continuum. A special feature of this book is that it observes the lexicalization and grammaticalization of person based on evidence from a variety of languages. Readers will be presented a comprehensive look into the meaning of person and will be encouraged to reflect on its realization in their own languages.

The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization

The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization
Author: Heiko Narrog
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 948
Release: 2011-10-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0199586780

This book presents a critical assessment of research on grammaticalization, a central element in the process by which grammars are created. Leading scholars discuss its core theoretical and methodological bases, report on work in the field, and point to directions for new research. They represent every relevant theoretical perspective and approach.