Understanding Language ChangeHow and why do language changes begin; how and why do they spread; and how can they ultimately be explained? This new textbook sets out to answer these questions in a clear and helpful way that will be accessible to all students with only an elementary knowledge of linguistics. In the first half of the book Dr. McMahon analyzes changes from every area of grammar. In the second she looks at such topics as language contact, linguistic variation, pidgins and Creoles, and language death. Throughout, the discussion is illustrated by a wealth of examples from English and other languages. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
12 Language change and linguistic reconstruction | 6 |
13 Synchrony and diachrony | 9 |
14 The organisation of this book | 11 |
Three views of sound change | 14 |
22 The Neogrammarians | 17 |
23 The Structuralists | 24 |
24 The Generativists | 32 |
Language contact | 200 |
83 Structural borrowing | 209 |
84 Convergence | 213 |
85 Conclusion | 224 |
Linguistic variation | 225 |
92 Dialectology | 226 |
93 Sociolinguistics | 232 |
Pidgins and Creoles | 253 |
25 The question of explanation | 44 |
Sound change 2 the implementation problem | 47 |
33 Lexical Phonology and sound change | 56 |
Morphological change | 69 |
42 Analogy | 70 |
43 Natural Morphology | 97 |
Syntactic change 1 the Transparency Principle | 107 |
53 Lightfoots 1979a theory of syntactic change | 116 |
54 Reactions and criticisms | 123 |
55 Lightfoot and the principles and parameters model | 129 |
Word order change and grammaticalisation language change and general laws | 138 |
62 Typology and consistency in word order | 139 |
63 Grammaticalisation | 160 |
Semantic and lexical change | 174 |
language internal creativity | 190 |
102 Pidgins | 255 |
103 Creoles | 260 |
104 The general relevance of pidgins and creoles | 265 |
105 The Language Bioprogram Hypothesis | 270 |
Language death | 284 |
112 Language suicide | 287 |
four casestudies | 291 |
114 Language death pidginisation and creolisation | 308 |
Linguistic evolution? | 314 |
122 Evolution 1 | 315 |
123 Evolution 2 | 325 |
124 Evolution 3 | 334 |
Bibliography | 341 |
353 | |
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Common terms and phrases
adjectives Aitchison analogy areas argues become Bickerton bilingual bioprogram borrowing century Chapter characteristic claims clauses constructions context creolisation diachronic dialects Dorian Dyirbal example explanation Finally French fricatives Gaelic generalised German gradual grammar grammaticalisation Grimm's Law historical linguistics hypothesis iconicity inflectional innovations instance involves Irish Kannada Kupwar Labov language change language death language murder Latin lexical diffusion lexical items Lightfoot linguistic change marker meaning Middle English Milroy modals Modern English morpheme morphological native Neogrammarian Old English paradigm parameters particular pattern perceptual phoneme phonological pidginisation pidgins and creoles plural predict prepositions principles produce rules Scots semantic change semi-speakers sentences shift social sociolinguistic sound change speakers speech community strategies Structuralist structure substrate suffix superstrate SVLR synchronic syntactic change syntax teleology tend theory Tok Pisin Traugott types variation Vennemann verbs voiceless vowel length vowels word order