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Title:
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Dynamics of Morphological Productivity: A Synchronic Analysis and Diachronic Explanation of the Productivity of Nominal Inflection Classes from Archaic Latin to Old Italian in Terms of Natural Morphology
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Author:
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Francesco Gardani
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Homepage:
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http://www.wu.ac.at/roman/mitarbeiter/gardani
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Degree Awarded:
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Vienna University
, Department of Linguistics
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Degree Date:
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2009
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Historical Linguistics
Linguistic Theories
Morphology
Typology
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Director(s):
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Wolfgang Dressler
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Abstract:
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The present dissertation is a theoretical synchronic and diachronic study
on inflectional productivity with empirical work on language data from
Latin throughout its history and from Old Italian. Given the central role
of productivity for morphological theory, a wealth of discussions has been
conducted on the topic within the most different frameworks. Yet,
productivity still remains one of the most controversial issues in current
linguistic trends. Particularly, very little of work has been done in the
literature on productivity of inflectional classes and rules from a
diachronic perspective. The theoretical framework of the present thesis is
the model of inflection morphology of Natural Morphology as developed by
Dressler. This approach represents a new theoretical, empirical and
methodological account of tracing changes in inflectional diachronic
productivity. Within this model productivity is assumed to be a
constitutive primitive property of inflectional patterns and assigned to
the level of grammatical competence, thus distinguished from type and token
frequency. Furthermore morphological productivity is viewed as gradual. In
order to measure the degrees of productivity of the nominal inflection of
Latin and Old Italian, a hierarchical scale of criteria, originally
proposed by Dressler and now presented in a thoroughly modified outline, is
applied. The present work establishes an innovative theoretical basis for
viewing productivity from an evolutionary and typological perspective which
can be operationalised through the measurement of productivity over time in
historical corpora. The thesis overcomes a striking gap in linguistic
research by exploring diachronic changes in inflectional productivity and
detecting the role of typological shift in the process of increase and
decrease of morphological productivity in inflection systems.
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