Syntax and Variation
Reconciling the Biological and the Social
Editors
Leonie Cornips | Meertens Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of SciencesKaren P. Corrigan | University of Newcastle
The papers in this collection share a common interest in the empirical, theoretical and meta-theoretical aspects of the ‘internal-external’ (‘formal-functional’) debate in linguistic theory. The primary aim of this volume is to initiate cooperation between internationally renowned generative and variationist linguists with a view to developing an innovative and more cohesive approach to syntactic variation. The present volume contains treatments incorporating the analysis of external factors into accounts focusing on the internal linguistic conditioning of syntactic variation and change cross-linguistically. As such, it offers novel approaches to three key areas of current linguistic debate, viz. (1) Methodological practices, (2) Theoretical applications and (3) Modularity. The volume is, therefore, an important achievement for the progress of linguistic theory more generally and it is an even more crucial milestone in the coming-of-age of ‘Socio-Syntax’ as a discipline in its own right.
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 265] 2005. vi, 312 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
-
Toward an integrated approach to syntactic variation: A retrospective and prospective synopsisLeonie Cornips and Karen P. Corrigan | pp. 1–27
-
Part 1: Aspects of modularity
-
A modular approach to sociolinguistic variation in syntax: The gerund in Ecuadorian SpanishPieter Muysken | pp. 31–53
-
Selective optionality in language developmentAntonella Sorace | pp. 55–80
-
Syntactic variation and spoken languageJenny Cheshire | pp. 81–106
-
Part 2: Individual speaker variability and methodological innovation
-
Idiolectal variation and syntactic theoryAlison Henry | pp. 109–122
-
Focus raising: A paradigmatic example of the treatment of syntactic variationJudit Gervain and Gábor Zemplén | pp. 123–145
-
Part 3: Syntactic variability, social stratification and real/apparent time
-
Variation and the minimalist programDavid Adger and Jennifer Smith | pp. 149–178
-
Principles and parameters in changeElly van Gelderen | pp. 179–198
-
Morphosyntactic variation and theory: Subject-verb agreement in Acadian FrenchRuth King | pp. 199–229
-
Part 4: Syntactic variability across geographical space
-
Word order variation in three-verb clusters and the division of labour between generative linguistics and sociolinguisticsSjef Barbiers | pp. 233–264
-
The third dimension of person featuresPaola Benincà and Cecilia Poletto | pp. 265–299
-
Index | pp. 301–309
“This vital collection launches a badly needed venture into largely uncharted linguistic terrain. It should be read by every researcher concerned with bridging the gap between sociolinguistic and biolinguistic approaches to variation in syntax. [...] It ought to be a catalyst for direct exchange and debate between variationists and theorists.”
Jeffrey K. Parrott, Georgetown University
Cited by
Cited by 23 other publications
No author info given
2013.
In Varieties of English,
► pp. 1 ff. 
Abtahian, Maya Ravindranath & Jonathan Kasstan
2020.
In The Handbook of Language Contact,
► pp. 221 ff.
Balari, Sergio & Guillermo Lorenzo
2018. The internal, the external and the hybrid: The state of the art and a new characterization of language as a natural object.
Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 3:1
Brandner, Ellen
2012. Syntactic Microvariation.
Language and Linguistics Compass 6:2 ► pp. 113 ff.
BUCHSTALLER, ISABELLE, KAREN P. CORRIGAN, ANDERS HOLMBERG, PATRICK HONEYBONE & WARREN MAGUIRE
2013. T-to-R and the Northern Subject Rule: questionnaire-based spatial, social and structural linguistics.
English Language and Linguistics 17:1 ► pp. 85 ff.
Burnett, Heather, Hilda Koopman & Sali A. Tagliamonte
2018. Structural explanations in syntactic variation: The evolution of English negative and polarity indefinites.
Language Variation and Change 30:1 ► pp. 83 ff.
Christensen, Tanya Karoli & Torben Juel Jensen
2022.
In Explanations in Sociosyntactic Variation,
► pp. 1 ff.
Comeau, Philip
2016. An extension of the comparative sociolinguistics approach for sociosyntax.
Linguistic Variation 16:2 ► pp. 183 ff.
Cornips, Leonie
2008. Bernd Kortmann (ed.), Dialectology meets typology: Dialect grammar from a cross-linguistic perspective. (Trends in Linguistics.) Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004. Pp. vi, 541. Hb $157.00..
Language in Society 37:4 ► pp. 604 ff.
Cornips, Leonie
2022.
In Explanations in Sociosyntactic Variation,
► pp. 144 ff.
Cornips, Leonie M.E.A.
2014.
In The Sociolinguistics of Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series, 154],
► pp. 67 ff.
Habib, Rania
2014. Vowel variation and reverse acquisition in rural Syrian child and adolescent language.
Language Variation and Change 26:1 ► pp. 45 ff.
Hall, Damien, Jonathan R. Kasstan & David Hornsby
2019. Beyond obsolescence: a twenty-first century research agenda for the langues régionales.
Journal of French Language Studies 29:2 ► pp. 155 ff.
Hazen, Kirk
2017.
In The Handbook of Linguistics,
► pp. 519 ff.
Hinskens, Frans
2017.
In The Handbook of Dialectology,
► pp. 88 ff.
HUDSON, RICHARD
2007. Inherent variability and Minimalism: Comments on Adger's ‘Combinatorial variability’.
Journal of Linguistics 43:3 ► pp. 683 ff.
Lacoste, Véronique & Lisa Green
2016. Child language variation.
Linguistic Variation 16:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
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.
Romaine, Suzanne
2017.
In The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Syntax,
► pp. 534 ff.
Rupp, Laura & David Britain
2019.
In Linguistic Perspectives on a Variable English Morpheme,
► pp. 321 ff.
Tagliamonte, Sali A. & R. Harald Baayen
2012. Models, forests, and trees of York English: Was/were variation as a case study for statistical practice.
Language Variation and Change 24:2 ► pp. 135 ff.
Terkourafi, Marina
2011. The pragmatic variable: Toward a procedural interpretation.
Language in Society 40:3 ► pp. 343 ff.
Åfarli, Tor A. & Brit Maehlum
2014.
In The Sociolinguistics of Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series, 154],
► pp. 1 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 01 november 2022. 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 & Metadata
BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General