LINGUIST List 17.3574
Sat Dec 02 2006
Books: Historical Linguistics/Linguistic Theories: Thomsen (Ed)
Editor for this issue: Maria Moreno-Rollins
<marialinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Paul
Peranteau,
Competing Models of Linguistic Change: Thomsen (Ed)
Message 1: Competing Models of Linguistic Change: Thomsen (Ed)
Date: 01-Dec-2006
From: Paul Peranteau <paulbenjamins.com>
Subject: Competing Models of Linguistic Change: Thomsen (Ed)
Title: Competing Models of Linguistic Change
Subtitle: Evolution and beyond
Series Title: Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 279
Published: 2006
Publisher: John Benjamins
http://www.benjamins.com/
Book URL: http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=CILT%20279
Editor: Ole Nedergaard Thomsen
Hardback: ISBN: 9027247943 Pages: 344 Price: U.S. $ 144.00
Hardback: ISBN: 9027247943 Pages: 344 Price: Europe EURO 120.00
Abstract:
The articles of this volume are centered around two competing views onlanguage change originally presented at the 2003 International Conferenceon Historical Linguistics in the two important plenary papers by HenningAndersen and William Croft. The latter proposes an evolutionary model oflanguage change within a domain-neutral model of a 'generalized analysis ofselection', whereas Henning Andersen takes it that cultural phenomena couldnot possibly be handled, i.e. observed, described, understood, in the sameway as natural phenomena. These papers are models of succinct presentationof important theoretical framework. The other papers present and discussadditional models of change, e.g. invisible hand-processes, system-internalmodels, functional and cognitive models. Most papers do not subscribe tothe evolutionary model; instead, they focus on functional factors in theselection and propagation of variants (as opposed to factors of codeefficiency), or on cognitive and pragmatic perspectives. Several papers areinspired by the late Eugenio Coseriu and by Henning Andersen's theories onlanguage change. In particular, the volume contains articles proposinginteresting grammaticalization studies and extended models ofgrammaticalization. The languages referred to in the papers includeCantonese, the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages, Danish, English, Eskimolanguages, German, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.
Table of contents
IntroductionOle Nedergaard Thomsen 1-15I: General considerations of language changeThe non-linear nature of diachronic changeMichael Fortescue 17-31Explanations, or…? Some metatheoretical reflections on a prevalenttradition within historical linguisticsBrit Maehlum 33-42Quantifying the functional load of phonemic oppositions, distinctivefeatures, and suprasegmentalsDinoj Surendran and Sourabh Niyogi 43-58II: The concept of 'evolution' as an explanatory model of language change:Pro et contra synchrony, diachrony, and evolutionSynchrony, Diachrony, and EvolutionHenning Andersen 59-90The relevance of an evolutionary model to historical linguisticsWilliam Croft 91-132III: Functional factors in 'evolution': Functional motivation of selectionGrammaticalization of indirect object cross-reference in Spanish as a caseof driftSilvia Becerra Bascuñán 133-161The role of functional factors in language change: An evolutionary approachGuido Seiler 163-182Computational modelling of prototypicality in language change:Neutralization to schwa, default logic, and the history of the German nounMiguel Vázquez-Larruscaín 183-210IV: Cognitive perspectives on semantico-syntactic change: Mental Grammar,Cognitive Grammar, and Dynamic SyntaxFrom propositional syntax in Old Russian to situational syntax in ModernRussianPer Durst-Andersen 211-234Construal operations in semantic change: The case of abstract nounsLena B. Ekberg 235-252Clitic Placement in Old and Modern Spanish: A Dynamic AccountMiriam Bouzouita and Ruth Kempson 253-268V: Grammaticalization studies: Content and evolutionGrammaticalisation as content reanalysis: The modal character of the Danishs-passiveLars Heltoft 269-288Aspect and animacy in the history of Russian: Developing the idea ofparallel grammaticalizationJens Norgard-Sorensen 289-305VI: Towards an integrated functional-pragmatic theory of language andlanguage changeTowards an integrated functional-pragmatic theory of language and languagechange: In commemoration of Eugenio Coseriu (1921-2002)Ole Nedergaard Thomsen 307-337Index 339-342Contributors 343-344
Linguistic Field(s):
Historical Linguistics
Linguistic Theories
Subject Language(s): Danish (dan)
English (eng)
German, Standard (deu)
Norwegian, Bokmål (nob)
Russian (rus)
Spanish (spa)
Swedish (swe)
Language Family(ies): Eskimo
Northern Chukotko-Kamchatkan
Southern Chukotko-Kamchatkan
Written In: English (eng )
See this book announcement on our website:
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=22719
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