The Paradox of Grammatical Change

Perspectives from Romance

Editors
Ulrich Detges | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Richard Waltereit | Newcastle University
HardboundAvailable
ISBN 9789027248084 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00
 
e-Book
ISBN 9789027291639 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00
 
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Recent years have seen intense debates between formal (generative) and functional linguists, particularly with respect to the relation between grammar and usage. This debate is directly relevant to diachronic linguistics, where one and the same phenomenon of language change can be explained from various theoretical perspectives. In this, a close look at the divergent and/or convergent evolution of a richly documented language family such as Romance promises to be useful. The basic problem for any approach to language change is what Eugenio Coseriu has termed the paradox of change: if synchronically, languages can be viewed as perfectly running systems, then there is no reason why they should change in the first place. And yet, as everyone knows, languages are changing constantly. In nine case studies, a number of renowned scholars of Romance linguistics address the explanation of grammatical change either within a broadly generative or a functional framework.
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 293] 2008.  vi, 252 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Table of Contents
“U. Detges et R. Waltereit ont réussi dans ce volume la gageure de faire dialoguer des spécialistes de la linguistique diachronique d'inspiration fonctionnaliste et formaliste, ce qui permet à chaque lecteur/lectrice d'évaluer soi-même l'impact des deux types d'argumentation en particulier face à la question délicate du locus de changement linguistique: au cours de l'acquisition ou au long de l'usage.”
“[...] a volume that is very successful both in presenting a fairly comprehensive view of language change by confronting theoretically different approaches, and in achieving a high degree of coherence across the individual contributions.”
Cited by

Cited by 8 other publications

Balla-Johnson, William
2022. An emerging scripta explains variation in the negative particles pas and mie in Old French. Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 8:1  pp. 113 ff. DOI logo
Béguelin, Marie-José
2014. Deux points de vue sur le changement linguistique. Langages N° 196:4  pp. 13 ff. DOI logo
CAPPELLE, BERT
2017. Changing the system from within – a response to Hoffmann. English Language and Linguistics 21:2  pp. 375 ff. DOI logo
Di Caro, Vincenzo Nicolò
2023. Strategies of Indefiniteness Marking in Central Sicilian—Evidence from the Dialect of Delia. Languages 8:4  pp. 227 ff. DOI logo
Levon, Erez & Isabelle Buchstaller
2015. Perception, cognition, and linguistic structure: The effect of linguistic modularity and cognitive style on sociolinguistic processing. Language Variation and Change 27:3  pp. 319 ff. DOI logo
Oesterreicher, Wulf
2015. Zum Status der romanistischen Linguistik – Gegen ihre ‚Verächter‘. In Historische Sprachwissenschaft als philologische Kulturwissenschaft,  pp. 15 ff. DOI logo
Waltereit, Richard
2020. Parallels between the negative cycle and the rise of interrogative marking in French. Journal of Historical Pragmatics 21:2  pp. 263 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2013. Lessons Learned from Research on Quotation. In Quotatives,  pp. 245 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects

Main BIC Subject

CFK: Grammar, syntax

Main BISAC Subject

LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
ONIX Metadata
ONIX 2.1
ONIX 3.0
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number:  2007044470 | Marc record