LINGUIST List 22.4876 Tue Dec 06 2011 Books: Historical Linguistics: Hammarström Editor for this issue: Danniella Hornby <daniellalinguistlist.org> New! Visit LL's Multitree project for over 1000 trees dynamically generated from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:             http://multitree.linguistlist.org/ Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers are available at the end of this issue. Directory         1.     Ulrich Lueders , Fundamentals of Diachronic Linguistics: Hammarström Message 1: Fundamentals of Diachronic Linguistics: Hammarström Date: 05-Dec-2011 From: Ulrich Lueders <lincom.europat-online.de> Subject: Fundamentals of Diachronic Linguistics: Hammarström E-mail this message to a friend Title: Fundamentals of Diachronic Linguistics Series Title: Linguistics Edition 84 Published: 2011 Publisher: Lincom GmbH                 http://www.lincom.eu Author: Göran Hammarström Paperback: ISBN: 9783862882359 Pages: 73 Price: Europe EURO 46.80 Abstract: The author advocates a basically new approach to language change. A change begins when a speaker says something new choosing between several possibilities following nothing more complicated than the principle variatio delectat. If other speakers like the new sound or expression, it may become a language innovation. Since it is first used by a group of speakers, it has distinct sociolectal value. In order to communicate messages the old and the new sound or expression function equally well. Traditionally linguists have generally tried to find some weak point which is the cause of the language change. They have tried to find causal explanations where there are none. Language is a branch of human culture. Its changes can no more be explained than changes in literature, music, visual arts or the length of women's skirts. The innovator may choose the new sound or expression because of similarity with some existing feature of the language. The author calls this assumed process a prompt, which is similar to a cause but is not one. The notions of information value and redundancy, borrowed from information theory, can elucidate some aspects of language change. Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics Written In: English (eng ) See this book announcement on our website: http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=58499 Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue -------------------------- Major Supporters -------------------------- Brill http://www.brill.nl Cambridge Scholars Publishing http://www.c-s-p.org Cambridge University Press http://us.cambridge.org Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/ Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd http://www.continuumbooks.com De Gruyter Mouton http://www.degruyter.com/mouton Edinburgh University Press http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/ Elsevier Ltd http://www.elsevier.com/linguistics Emerald Group Publishing Limited http://www.emeraldinsight.com/ Equinox Publishing Ltd http://www.equinoxpub.com/ European Language Resources Association - ELRA http://www.elra.info. Georgetown University Press http://www.press.georgetown.edu Hodder Education http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/ Lincom GmbH http://www.lincom.eu MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/ Morgan & Claypool Publishers Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/ Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/ Oxford University Press http://www.oup.com/us Palgrave Macmillan http://www.palgrave.com Pearson Linguistics http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/linguistics Peter Lang AG http://www.peterlang.com Rodopi http://www.rodopi.nl/ Routledge (Taylor and Francis) http://www.routledge.com/ Springer http://www.springer.com University of Toronto Press http://www.utpjournals.com/ Wiley-Blackwell http://www.wiley.com ---------------------- Other Supporting Publishers ---------------------- Association of Editors of the Journal of Portuguese Linguistics http://www.fl.ul.pt/revistas/JPL/JPLweb.htm Graduate Linguistic Students' Association, Umass http://glsa.hypermart.net/ International Pragmatics Assoc. http://www.ipra.be Linguistic Association of Finland http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/ Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke - LOT http://www.lotpublications.nl/ Pacific Linguistics http://pacling.anu.edu.au/ SIL International http://www.ethnologue.com/bookstore.asp University of Nebraska Press Utrecht institute of Linguistics http://www-uilots.let.uu.nl/ Page Updated: 06-Dec-2011       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.