| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
Figures; Tables; Preface; What this book tries to do; Methodological preliminaries: the nature of hypotheses; Authorship; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Special challenges of historical linguistics; Meeting the challenges: the uniformitarian principle; Selection of illustrative examples; Transcription; 1 The nature of human language and language variation; Language is species-specific; A biological parallel: birdsong; Universal Grammar; The Principles and Parameters model; Learning from inadequate evidence; Consequences of the model; 2 Language replication and language change |
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The universality of language changePotential sources of language change; Why the source of any particular change is elusive; The cycle of language replication; Learner errors as a source of language change; The evolution of errors into linguistic changes; Beyond anecdotes: inferential investigation; The fate of linguistic innovations; 3 Language change in the speech community; Change in the context of variation; Longitudinal patterns of variation; Key questions about the progress of real changes; Spread of an innovation as borrowing; Borrowing and/or native learning: the spread of mergers |
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The long-term direction of changeChange by loss of a stylistic register; After variation: going to completion; 4 Language contact as a source of change; Dialect contact and language contact; Transfer by monolingual speakers; Bilingualism and the community; Lexically mediated structural borrowing; Cases from the past: some secure inferences and their consequences; Some general conclusions; 5 Sound change; The trajectory of sound changes and the regularity of sound change; Understanding sound change in phonetic terms; The phonological effects of sound change |
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Patterns of sound change: contrasts and rulesSound change and rule ordering; The limitations of phonological contrast: "functional load" and near-mergers; 6 The evolution of phonological rules; Sound change and formal phonology; Change at the level of structure: abrupt sound changes; Simplification of phonological rules; Reordering of phonological rules and restructuring of underlying forms; Unexpected underlying forms; Rule fragmentation; Rule restriction and loss; Morphological influence on the development of phonological rules; 7 Morphology; Morphological theory and morphological change |
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Morphological patternsSome useful aspects of Distributed Morphology; 8 Morphological change; Resegmentation and reinterpretation of terminal nodes; Fusion, readjustment rules, and empty morphs; Syncretism; Impoverishment, defaults, syncretism, and leveling; Paradigms and suppletion; Concord classes and lexical classes; The loss of morphosyntactic categories; 9 Syntactic change; 10 Reconstruction; Uses of linguistic reconstruction; Goals and limits of linguistic reconstruction; Sound change and sound patterns; Phonological reconstruction by the "comparative method." |
| Summary |
"Bringing the advances of theoretical linguistics to the study of language change, this innovative textbook demonstrates the mutual relevance of historical linguistics and contemporary linguistics. Numerous case studies throughout the book show both that theoretical linguistics can be used to solve problems where traditional approaches to historical linguistics have failed to produce satisfying results, and that the results of historical research can have an impact on theory. The book first explains the nature of human language and the sources of language change in broad terms. It then focuses on different types of language change from contemporary viewpoints, before exploring comparative reconstruction and the problems inherent in trying to devise new methods for linguistic comparison. Positioned at the cutting edge of the field, the book argues that this approach can and should lead to the re-integration of historical linguistics as one of the core areas in the study of language"-- Provided by publisher |
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"Bringing the advances of theoretical linguistics to the study of language change in a systematic way, this innovative textbook demonstrates the mutual relevance of historical linguistics and contemporary linguistics. Numerous case studies throughout the book show both that theoretical linguistics can be used to solve problems where traditional approaches to historical linguistics have failed to produce satisfying results, and that the results of historical research can have an impact on theory. The book first explains the nature of human language and the sources of language change in broad terms. It then focuses on different types of language change from contemporary viewpoints, before exploring comparative reconstruction - the most spectacular success of traditional historical linguistics - and the problems inherent in trying to devise new methods for linguistic comparison. Positioned at the cutting edge of the field, the book argues that this approach can and should lead to the reintegration of historical linguistics as one of the core areas in the study of language"-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Historical linguistics.
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Linguistic change.
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Language and languages -- Variation.
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historical linguistics.
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LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Linguistics -- General.
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FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY -- Ancient Languages.
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LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Linguistics -- Historical & Comparative.
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Historical linguistics
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Language and languages -- Variation
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Linguistic change
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Eska, Joseph F
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| ISBN |
9781139624572 |
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1139624571 |
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9780511980183 |
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0511980183 |
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9781139611558 |
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1139611550 |
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9781139620857 |
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1139620851 |
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9781283943666 |
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1283943662 |
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0521587115 |
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9780521587112 |
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