LINGUIST List 10.801

Sat May 22 1999

Books: Grammaticalization

Editor for this issue: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar <aristarlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Paul Peranteau, The Limits of Grammaticalization.

John Benjamins Publishing announces this new work studying Grammaticalization:

The Limits of Grammaticalization.
Anna G. RAMAT, Anna G. and Paul J. HOPPER (eds.)
Typological Studies in Language 37
US & Canada: 1 55619 649 0 / USD 79.00 (Hardcover) 1 55619 650 4 / USD
29.95 (Paperback)
Rest of world: 90 272 2935 X / NLG 158.00 (Hardcover) 90 272 2936 8 / NLG
60.00 (Paperback)

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.

Contributions by: Walter Bisang, Sonia Cristofaro, Livio Gaeta, Anna
Giacalone Ramat, Sefania Giannini, Paul Hopper, Torsten Leuschner, Silvia
Luraghi, Juan C. Moreno Cabrera, Whitney Tabor and Elizabeth Closs
Traugott, Barbara Turchetta.



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Fax: 		+215 836-1204				+31 20 6739773

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