The Transmission of Anglo-Norman
Language history and language acquisition
Birmingham City University
This investigation contributes to issues in the study of second language transmission by considering the well-documented historical case of Anglo-Norman. Within a few generations of the establishment of this variety, its phonology diverged sharply from that of continental French, yet core syntactic distinctions continued to be reliably transmitted. The dissociation of phonology from syntax transmission is related to the age of exposure to the language in the experience of ordinary users of the language. The input provided to children acquiring language in a naturalistic communicative setting, even though one of a school institution, enabled them to acquire target-like syntactic properties of the inherited variety. In addition, it allowed change to take place along the lines of transmission by incrementation. A linguistic environment combining the ‘here-and-now’ aspects of ordinary first language acquisition with the growing cognitive complexity of an educational meta-language appears to have been adequate for this variety to be transmitted as a viable entity that encoded the public life of England for centuries.
[Language Faculty and Beyond, 9]
2012.
xii, 179 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Hardbound – Available
ISBN
9789027208262
|
EUR
99.00
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USD
149.00
e-Book – Sold by e-book platforms
ISBN
9789027273345
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EUR
99.00
|
USD
149.00
Table of Contents
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Preface
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ix–xii
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1. Introduction to key issues
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1–12
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2. Anglo-Norman and L2 varieties of medieval French
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13–26
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3. The context of transmission
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27–38
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4. Rationale and design of the study
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39–52
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5. Anglo-Norman phonology
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53–72
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6. The syntax of quantifiers in Anglo-Norman
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73–88
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7. Noun gender marking in Anglo-Norman
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89–100
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8. Verb second and null subjects in Anglo-Norman
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101–120
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9. The order of Attributive Adjective and Noun in Anglo-Norman
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121–138
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10. The syntax and pragmatics of discourse particles in Anglo-Norman
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139–158
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11. Conclusions
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159–164
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Bibliography
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165–172
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Subject index
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173–???
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Quotes
“This macro study of a dialect of medieval French draws on Anglo-Norman (AN) written texts spanning several centuries to consider the intersection of diachronic change and “exceptional” child language acquisition. [...] Ingham’s study is valuable both as a contribution to theoretical scholarship in diachronic change, language acquisition and transmission, and as a source of documentation of Anglo-Norman corpora, particularly those available in searchable electronic form.”
Julia Herschensohn, University of Washington
Subjects
Benjamins Subject classification
BIC Subject
CFF: Historical & comparative linguistics
BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number: 2012026109