Stability, Variation and Change of Word-Order Patterns over Time

Stability, Variation and Change of Word-Order Patterns over Time
Author: Rosanna Sornicola
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2000-12-21
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027284717

The issue of permanence and change of word-order patterns has long been debated in both historical linguistics and structural theories. The interest in this theme has been revamped by contemporary research in typology with its emphasis on correlation or ‘harmonies’ of structures of word-order as explicative principles of both synchronic and diachronic processes. The aim of this book is to stimulate a critical reconsideration of perspectives and methods in the study of continuities and discontinuities of word-order patterns. Bringing together contributions by specialists of various theoretical backgrounds and with expertise in different language families or groups (Caucasian, Hamito-Semitic, and — among Indo-European — Hittite, Greek, Celtic, Germanic, Slavonic, Romance), the book addresses issues like the notions of stability, variation and change of word-order and their interrelations, the interplay of syntactic and pragmatic factors, and the role of internal and external factors in synchronic and diachronic dynamics of word-order. The book contains a selection of papers presented at a workshop held at the XIII International Conference on Historical Linguistics (Düsseldorf, August 1997) and additonal invited contributions.

Stability, Variation, and Change of Word-order Patterns Over Time

Stability, Variation, and Change of Word-order Patterns Over Time
Author: Rosanna Sornicola
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2000
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027237204

The issue of permanence and change of word-order patterns has long been debated in both historical linguistics and structural theories. The interest in this theme has been revamped by contemporary research in typology with its emphasis on correlation or 'harmonies' of structures of word-order as explicative principles of both synchronic and diachronic processes. The aim of this book is to stimulate a critical reconsideration of perspectives and methods in the study of continuities and discontinuities of word-order patterns. Bringing together contributions by specialists of various theoretical backgrounds and with expertise in different language families or groups (Caucasian, Hamito-Semitic, and among Indo-European Hittite, Greek, Celtic, Germanic, Slavonic, Romance), the book addresses issues like the notions of stability, variation and change of word-order and their interrelations, the interplay of syntactic and pragmatic factors, and the role of internal and external factors in synchronic and diachronic dynamics of word-order. The book contains a selection of papers presented at a workshop held at the XIII International Conference on Historical Linguistics (Dusseldorf, August 1997) and additonal invited contributions.

The Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics

The Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics
Author: Robert Bayley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 913
Release: 2015
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0190233745

This major new survey of sociolinguistics identifies gaps in our existing knowledge base and provides directions for future research.

Synchrony and Diachrony

Synchrony and Diachrony
Author: Anna Giacalone Ramat
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2013-05-31
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027272077

The focus of this volume is on the relation between synchrony and diachrony. It is examined in the light of the most recent theories of language change and linguistic variation. What has traditionally been treated as a dichotomy is now seen rather in terms of a dynamic interface. The contributions to this volume aim at exploring the most adequate tools to describe and understand the manifestations of this dynamic interface. Thorough analyses are offered on hot topics of the current linguistic debate, which are all involved in the analysis of the synchrony-diachrony interface: gradualness of change, synchronic variation and gradience, constructional approaches to grammaticalization, the role of contact-induced transfer in language change, analogy. Case studies are discussed from a variety of languages and dialects including English, Welsh, Latin, Italian and Italian dialects, Dutch, Swedish, German and German dialects, Hungarian. This volume is of great interest to a broad audience within linguistics, including historical linguistics, typology, pragmatics, and areal linguistics.

The Bloomsbury Companion to Historical Linguistics

The Bloomsbury Companion to Historical Linguistics
Author: Silvia Luraghi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2013-03-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 144114966X

Originally published as the Continuum Companion to Historical Linguistics, this book brings together a number of leading scholars who provide a combination of different approaches to current and new issues in historical linguistics, while supplying an exhaustive and up-to-date coverage of sub-fields traditionally regarded as central to historical linguistics research. The editors aim to build a solid background for further discussion and to indicate directions for new research on relevant open questions. The book includes coverage of key terms, a list of resources, and sections on: - history of research- methodology- phonology- morphology- grammatical categories- syntax- grammaticalization- semantics - etymology- language contact- sociolinguistics- causes of language change It is a complete resource for researchers working on historical linguistics.

Ditransitives in Germanic Languages

Ditransitives in Germanic Languages
Author: Eva Zehentner
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2023-08-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027249717

This volume brings together twelve empirical studies on ditransitive constructions in Germanic languages and their varieties, past and present. Specifically, the volume includes contributions on a wide variety of Germanic languages, including English, Dutch, and German, but also Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian, as well as lesser-studied ones such as Faroese. While the first part of the volume focuses on diachronic aspects, the second part showcases a variety of synchronic aspects relating to ditransitive patterns. Methodologically, the volume covers both experimental and corpus-based studies. Questions addressed by the papers in the volume are, among others, issues like the cross-linguistic pervasiveness and cognitive reality of factors involved in the choice between different ditransitive constructions, or differences and similarities in the diachronic development of ditransitives. The volume’s broad scope and comparative perspective offers comprehensive insights into well-known phenomena and furthers our understanding of variation across languages of the same family.

Structural-Functional Studies in English Grammar

Structural-Functional Studies in English Grammar
Author: Mike Hannay
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2007-03-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027292590

This collection presents a number of studies in the lexico-grammar of English which focus on the one hand on close reading of language in context and on the other hand on current functional theoretical concerns. The various contributions represent distinct functionalist models of language, including Functional Grammar and Functional Discourse Grammar, Systemic-Functional Grammar, Role and Reference Grammar, Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar. Taken together, however, they typify current work being conducted from the grammatical perspective within the functionalist enterprise, emphasizing on the relation between structure and usage. A fundamental goal of the enterprise is to identify linguistic structures which are constrained by specific features of use, or which actually encode specific features of use, as many of the contributions here show.

Manual of Romance Morphosyntax and Syntax

Manual of Romance Morphosyntax and Syntax
Author: Andreas Dufter
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 1104
Release: 2017-09-25
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110393425

This volume offers theoretically informed surveys of topics that have figured prominently in morphosyntactic and syntactic research into Romance languages and dialects. We define syntax as being the linguistic component that assembles linguistic units, such as roots or functional morphemes, into grammatical sentences, and morphosyntax as being an umbrella term for all morphological relations between these linguistic units, which either trigger morphological marking (e.g. explicit case morphemes) or are related to ordering issues (e.g. subjects precede finite verbs whenever there is number agreement between them). All 24 chapters adopt a comparative perspective on these two fields of research, highlighting cross-linguistic grammatical similarities and differences within the Romance language family. In addition, many chapters address issues related to variation observable within individual Romance languages, and grammatical change from Latin to Romance.

The Noun Phrase in English

The Noun Phrase in English
Author: Alex Ho-Cheong Leung
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2018-06-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027264066

Building on a substantial earlier literature, the chapters in this volume further advance knowledge and understanding of properties of the noun phrase in English. The empirical material for the papers includes both historical and present-day data, with the two often shedding light on each other in a process of mutual illumination. The topics addressed are: the structure of nounless NPs like the poor and the obvious; the article/zero alternation in expressions like go to (the) church; developments in the early history of adjective stacking; the semantics of N + clause units in present-day English; the history of N + BE + clause constructions; and the decline of two anaphoric NPs in Early Modern English. The volume will appeal to scholars working in this area and will also help those interested in the general field of English grammar to keep abreast of recent methods and results in NP-related work.

Argument Structure in Flux

Argument Structure in Flux
Author: Elly van Gelderen
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 588
Release: 2013-06-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 902727228X

The present volume is centered around five linguistic themes: argument structure and encoding strategies; argument structure and verb classes; unexpressed arguments; split intransitivity; and existential and presentational constructions. The articles also cover a variety of typologically different languages, and they offer new data from under-researched languages on the issues of event and argument structure. In some cases novel perspectives from widely discussed languages on highly debated topics are offered, also addressing more theoretical aspects concerning the predictability and derivation of linking. Several contributions apply current models of the lexicon–syntax interface to synchronic data. Other contributions focus on diachrony and are based on extensive use of corpora. Yet others, although empirically and theoretically grounded, privilege a methodological discussion, presenting analyses based on thorough and long-standing fieldwork.