A Middle English Syntax

A Middle English Syntax
Author: Tauno F. Mustanoja
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 714
Release: 2016-08-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027266387

For a good orientation into the history of English grammar, several books are indispensable. One of those is Mustanoja’s A Middle English Syntax. However, for a long time this work was not readily available; the present edition changes that. This is a fac simile reprint from the 1960 publication which appeared as volume XXIII in ‘Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki’, with a new Introduction by Elly van Gelderen. Compared to Old English, Middle English has fewer grammars and textbooks devoted to it. This book provides an interesting supplement by going deeper into certain questions and, especially, into exceptions. The book points out differences with Old English and certain peculiarities of the Middle English system. It was originally written for students of Middle English literature but serves a linguist well in detailed descriptions of the parts of speech, the use of the various cases, gender, and number. Word order, complex sentences, and conjunctions were meant to be dealt with in a second volume, which was never published.

Language Change at the Syntax-Semantics Interface

Language Change at the Syntax-Semantics Interface
Author: Chiara Gianollo
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2014-12-12
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110352303

Bringing together diachronic research from a variety of perspectives, notably typology, formal syntax and semantics, this volume focuses on the interplay of syntactic and semantic factors in language change - an issue so far largely neglected both in (mostly lexical) historical semantics as well as historical syntax, but recently brought into focus by grammaticalization theory as well as Minimalist diachronic syntax. The contributions draw on data from numerous Indo-European languages including Vedic Sanskrit, Middle Indic, Greek as well as English and German, and discuss a range of phenomena such as change in negation markers, indefinite articles, quantifiers, modal verbs, argument structure among others. The papers analyze diachronic evidence in the light of contemporary syntactic and semantic theory, addressing the crucial question of how syntactic and semantic change are linked, and whether both are governed by similar constraints, principles and systematic mechanisms. The volume will appeal to scholars in historical linguistics and formal theories of syntax and semantics.

English Historical Linguistics. Volume 1

English Historical Linguistics. Volume 1
Author: Alexander Bergs
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 1196
Release: 2012-05-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110251590

No detailed description available for "HIST. LINGUISTICS (BERGS/BRINTON) 1.TLBD HSK 34.1 E-BOOK".

Semantic Plurality

Semantic Plurality
Author: Laure Gardelle
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2019-11-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027261741

This monograph proposes a comparative approach to all the ways of denoting ‘more than one’ entity, from collective and aggregate nouns (with the first-ever typology), to count plurals, partly substantivised adjectives and conjoined NPs. This semantic feature approach to plurality, which cuts across number, the count/non-count distinction, and lexical/NP levels, reveals a very consistent Scale of Unit Integration, which establishes clear-cut boundaries for collective nouns, and accommodates cases such as three elephant, cattle or a chain of islands. The study also offers a refined understanding of aggregate nouns (a category nearly as large as that of collective nouns) and quantification in pseudo-partitives, develops Guillaume’s notion of ‘internal plurality’, and proposes the innovative concept of ‘hyperonyms of plural classes’ (e.g. furniture). The Animacy Hierarchy is also found to be influential, beyond hybrid agreement. The book aims to be accessible to scholars of any theoretical background interested in these topics.

Variation and Change in French Morphosyntax

Variation and Change in French Morphosyntax
Author: Anna Tristram
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1351537857

Collective nouns such asmajorite or foulehave long been of interest to linguists for their unusual semantic properties, and provide a valuable source of new data on the evolution of French grammar. This book tests the hypothesis that plural agreement with collective nouns is becoming more frequent in French. Through an analysis of data from a variety of sources, including sociolinguistic interviews, gap-fill tests and corpora, the complex linguistic and external factors which affect this type of agreement are examined, shedding new light on their interaction in this context. Broader questions concerning the methodological challenges of studying variation and change in morphosyntax, and the application of sociolinguistic generalisations to the French of France, are also addressed.