Diachronic Clues to Synchronic Grammar
Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University / University of Stuttgart
This volume emphasizes a new line of thinking in generative grammar which acknowledges that certain synchronic properties of languages can only be fully understood if diachronic data is taken into consideration. The central topics addressed in this collection of papers are (1) a critical assessment of the hypothesis that certain apparently synchronic generalizations are actually the result of the mechanisms of language change, (2) an inquiry into how diachronic data can be used to evaluate and shape formal analyses of particular synchronic phenomena. Reviving the interest in diachronic explanations for synchronic data, the contributions provide novel and original diachronic accounts of phenomena that up to now have escaped a deeper synchronic explanation, including the nature of EPP features, gaps in the distribution of complementizer agreement, and counterexamples to the generalization that rich verbal inflection correlates with verb movement.
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 72]
2004.
viii, 228 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Hardbound – Available
ISBN
9789027227966
(Eur)
|
EUR
99.00
ISBN
9781588115874
(USA)
|
USD
149.00
e-Book – Sold by e-book platforms
ISBN
9789027295200
|
EUR
99.00
|
USD
149.00
Table of Contents
|
Preface
|
vii
|
|
Introduction
|
1–29
|
|
On the development of possessive determiners: Consequences for DP structure
|
31–58
|
|
Diachronic Clues to Pro-drop and complementizer agreement in Bavarian
|
59–100
|
|
Syntactic effects of inflectional morphology and competing Grammars
|
101–130
|
|
Language change versus grammar change: What diachronic data reveal about the distinction between core grammar and periphery
|
131–160
|
|
The EPP, fossilized movement and reanalysis
|
161–189
|
|
Restructuring and the development of functional categories
|
191–217
|
|
Index
|
219–226
|
Quotes
“This is a fine collection. Historical morphosyntacticians will find much of interest in the volume, both in terms of novel empirical contributions and theoretical innovations.”
Brady Zack Clark,
Northwestern University, on Linguist List 16.2250, 2005
Subjects
Benjamins Subject classification
BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number: 2004057651