Diachronic Syntax

Diachronic Syntax
Author: Susan Pintzuk
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2000
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780198250272

This text reflects developing trends in linguistic research, specifically the study of syntax and its pivotal position in current theories of language acquisition.

Phrase Structures in Competition

Phrase Structures in Competition
Author: Susan Pintzuk
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 292
Release: 1999-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780815332695

This book investigates variation and change in Old English word order, with special emphasis on the position of the verb.

The Development of Latin Clause Structure

The Development of Latin Clause Structure
Author: Lieven Jozef Maria Danckaert
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2017
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0198759525

This book examines Latin word order, and in particular the relative ordering of i) lexical verbs and direct objects (OV vs VO) and ii) auxiliaries and non-finite verbs (VAux vs AuxV). In Latin these elements can freely be ordered with respect to each other, whereas the present-day Romance languages only allow for the head-initial orders VO and AuxV. Lieven Danckaert offers a detailed, corpus-based description of these two word order alternations, focusing on their diachronic development in the period from c. 200 BC until 600 AD. The corpus data reveal that some received wisdom needs to be reconsidered: there is in fact no evidence for any major increase in productivity of the order VO during the eight centuries under investigation, and the order AuxV only becomes more frequent in clauses with a modal verb and an infinitive, not in clauses with a BE-auxiliary and a past participle. The book also explores a more fundamental question about Latin syntax, namely whether or not the language is configurational, in the sense that a phrase structure grammar (with 'higher-order constituents' such as verb phrases) is needed to describe and analyse Latin word order patterns. Four pieces of evidence are presented that suggest that Latin is indeed a fully configurational language, despite its high degree of word order flexibility. Specifically, it is shown that there is ample evidence for the existence of a verb phrase constituent. The book thus contributes to the ongoing debate regarding the status of configurationality as a language universal.

No Contest

No Contest
Author: Alfie Kohn
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1992
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780395631256

Argues that competition is inherently destructive and that competitive behavior is culturally induced, counter-productive, and causes anxiety, selfishness, self-doubt, and poor communication.

Diachronic Clues to Synchronic Grammar

Diachronic Clues to Synchronic Grammar
Author: Eric Fuß
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2004-10-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027295204

This volume emphasizes a new line of thinking in generative grammar which acknowledges that certain synchronic properties of languages can only be fully understood if diachronic data is taken into consideration. The central topics addressed in this collection of papers are (1) a critical assessment of the hypothesis that certain apparently synchronic generalizations are actually the result of the mechanisms of language change, (2) an inquiry into how diachronic data can be used to evaluate and shape formal analyses of particular synchronic phenomena. Reviving the interest in diachronic explanations for synchronic data, the contributions provide novel and original diachronic accounts of phenomena that up to now have escaped a deeper synchronic explanation, including the nature of EPP features, gaps in the distribution of complementizer agreement, and counterexamples to the generalization that rich verbal inflection correlates with verb movement.

Lexical Representations and Sentence Processing

Lexical Representations and Sentence Processing
Author: Maryellen C. MacDonald
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 1997
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780863779626

The papers in this special issue reflect the increased status on lexical representations in sentence processing research.

The Acquisition of Word Order

The Acquisition of Word Order
Author: Marit Richardsen Westergaard
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2009
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027255288

Within a new model of language acquisition, this book discusses verb second (V2) word order in situations where there is variation in the input. While traditional generative accounts consider V2 to be a parameter, this study shows that, in many languages, this word order is dependent on fine distinctions in syntax and information structure. Thus, within a split-CP model of clause structure, a number of "micro-cues" are formulated, taking into account the specific context for V2 vs. non-V2 (clause type, subcategory of the elements involved, etc.). The micro-cues are produced in children s I-language grammars on exposure to the relevant input. Focusing on a dialect of Norwegian, the book shows that children generally produce target-consistent V2 and non-V2 from early on, indicating that they are sensitive to the micro-cues. This includes contexts where word order is dependent on information structure. The children s occasional non-target-consistent behavior is accounted for by economy principles."

Symmetry Breaking in Syntax

Symmetry Breaking in Syntax
Author: Hubert Haider
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2013
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1107017750

A new theory of grammar which explores the old distinction between OV and VO languages and their underlying basic asymmetry.

Syntax Over Time

Syntax Over Time
Author: Theresa Biberauer
Publisher: Oxford Studies in Diachronic a
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2015
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0199687927

This book provides a critical investigation of syntactic change and the factors that influence it. Converging empirical and theoretical considerations have suggested that apparent instances of syntactic change may be attributable to factors outside syntax proper, such as morphology or information structure. Some even go so far as to propose that there is no such thing as syntactic change, and that all such change in fact takes place in the lexicon or in the phonological component. In this volume, international scholars examine these proposals, drawing on detailed case studies from Germanic, Romance, Chinese, Egyptian, Finnic, Hungarian, and Sami. They aim to answer such questions as: Can syntactic change arise without an external impetus? How can we tell whether a given change is caused by information-structural or morphological factors? What can 'microsyntactic' investigations of changes in individual lexical items tell us about the bigger picture? How universal are the clausal and nominal templates ('cartography'), and to what extent is syntactic structure more generally subject to universal constraints? The book will be of interest to all linguists working on syntactic variation and change, and especially those who believe that historical linguistics and linguistic theory can, and should, inform one another.

Discourse-Pragmatic Variation in Context

Discourse-Pragmatic Variation in Context
Author: Alexandra D'Arcy
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2017-09-21
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027265313

Like is a ubiquitous feature of English with a deep history in the language, exhibiting regular and constrained variable grammars over time. This volume explores the various contexts of like, each of which contributes to the reality of contemporary vernaculars: its historical context, its developmental context, its social context, and its ideological context. The final chapter examines the ways in which these contexts overlap and inform current understanding of acquisition, structure, change, and embedding. The volume also features an extensive appendix, containing numerous examples of like in its pragmatic functions from a range of English corpora, both diachronic and synchronic. The volume will be of interest to students and scholars of English historical linguistics, grammaticalization, language variation and change, discourse-pragmatics and the interface of these fields with formal linguistic theory.