LINGUIST List 9.1702

Thu Dec 3 1998

Books: Morphophonemics/Slavic Languages

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Christoph Eyrich, Morphophonemics/Slavic Languages

 			 Marta Harasowska

	 Morphophonemic Variability, Productivity, and Change
			 The Case of Rusyn

 1998. 23 x 15,5 cm. XV, 266 pages
		 Cloth DM 198,-/approx. US$ 124.00
			 ISBN 3-11-015761-6
	 Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 110

 Mouton de Gruyter * Berlin * New York

This volume presents an in-depth investigation of processes
influencing morphophonemic variability, productivity, and change. The
author adopts the Labovian approach to the study of language and
examines both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors which bear on
language use. Bybee's analogy-based model of morphology provides the
`psychologically real' theoretical framework for representing the
linguistic processes under scrutiny.

The language chosen for the study is Rusyn, a Slavic minority language
in Serbia's autonomous province of Vojvodina. Sharing historical
roots with Polish, Slovak, and Ukrainian, present-day Rusyn functions
within a language contact area dominated by Serbo-Croatian. As a
micro-language in a macro-linguistic environment, Rusyn offers the
ideal microcosm for a study of linguistic variability and change.

The data for the study were collected during the course of field work
in Vojvodina. They are interpreted using `Response Coincidence
Analysis', an analytical technique which identifies the `linguistic'
groupings in the data and is thus neutral with regard to the `social'
groupings apparent in the speech community.

What emerges is a unique view of morphophonemics as a transitional
level not only between phonology and morphology, but also between
phonology, morphology, and semantics. Moreover, the examined
morphophonemic patterns in Rusyn are found to be in the process of
change which can indeed be attributed to both linguistic and
extra-linguistic factors.

The findings for Rusyn will be of relevance to the study of other
linguistic communities, particularly those functioning in language
contact areas.

_______________________________________________________________________
Mouton de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 
Postfach 30 34 21 200 Saw Mill River Road 
D-10728 Berlin Hawthorne, NY 10532 
Germany USA 
Fax: +49 (0)30 26005-351 Fax: +1 914 747-1326 
email: moutondegruyter.de

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 http://www.deGruyter.com

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