Continuity and Variation in Germanic and Romance

Continuity and Variation in Germanic and Romance
Author: Sam Wolfe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2021-05-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0192578057

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.

Grammaticalization and Parametric Variation

Grammaticalization and Parametric Variation
Author: Montserrat Batllori
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2005-08-11
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0191534064

In this outstanding collection of new work the methods and theories of formal syntax are focussed on grammatical variation and change. The editors open the volume with an extensive and accessible introduction to the ideas and techniques deployed in the book and the phenomena and issues on which they are brought to bear. Seventeen chapters follow, divided into two parts, the first concerned with grammaticalization and the second with parametric variation. These show what the application of contemporary theories of syntax and language variation can reveal about syntactic change and variation and the processes of parametric change which lie behind them. They also demonstrate the value of testing and constructing synchronic theories on the basis of historical data. The analyses range over many languages and language families, including Germanic, Romance, Greek, and Chinese. This book will interest scholars and students of grammatical change and theory at graduate level and above.

Parametric Variation

Parametric Variation
Author: Theresa Biberauer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2010
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0521886953

Parametric variation in linguistic theory refers to the systematic grammatical variation permitted by the human language faculty. This book is a defence of the parametric approach to linguistic variation, set within the framework of the Minimalist Program.

Parametric Variation

Parametric Variation
Author: Theresa Biberauer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2009-12-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1139485482

Parametric variation in linguistic theory refers to the systematic grammatical variation permitted by the human language faculty. Although still widely assumed, the parametric theory of variation has in recent years been subject to re-evaluation and critique. The Null Subject Parameter, which determines among other things whether or not a language allows the suppression of subject pronouns, is one of the best-known and most widely discussed examples of a parameter. Nevertheless its status in current syntactic theory is highly controversial. This book is a defence of the parametric approach to linguistic variation, set within the framework of the Minimalist Program. It discusses syntactic variation in the light of recent developments in linguistic theory, focusing on issues such as the formal nature of minimalist parameters, the typology of null-subject language systems and the way in which parametric choices can be seen to underlie the synchronic and diachronic patterns observed in natural languages.

Adjectives in Germanic and Romance

Adjectives in Germanic and Romance
Author: Petra Sleeman
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2014-02-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027270686

Although the Germanic and Romance languages are two branches of the same language family and although both have developed the adjective as a separate syntactic and morphological category, the syntax, morphology, and interpretation of adjectives is by no means the same in these two language groups, and there is even variation within each of the language groups. One of the main aims of this volume is to map the differences and similarities in syntactic behavior, morphology, and meaning of the Germanic and Romance adjective and to find an answer to the following question: Are the (dis)similarities the result of autonomous developments in each of the two branches of the Indo-European language family, or are they caused by language contact?

Rethinking Parameters

Rethinking Parameters
Author: Luis Eguren
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2016
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0190461748

This collection of articles provides an overview of current generative theorizing and empirical work on the nature, origin and scope of parameters of linguistic variation. Often taking diverging views, the papers in the volume address some or all of the main debated topics in parametric syntax.