Syntax and Variation
Reconciling the Biological and the Social
Editors
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
Published online on 1 July 2008
Published online on 1 July 2008
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Toward an integrated approach to syntactic variation: A retrospective and prospective synopsisLeonie Cornips and Karen P. Corrigan | pp. 1–27
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Part 1: Aspects of modularity
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A modular approach to sociolinguistic variation in syntax: The gerund in Ecuadorian SpanishPieter Muysken | pp. 31–53
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Selective optionality in language developmentAntonella Sorace | pp. 55–80
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Syntactic variation and spoken languageJenny Cheshire | pp. 81–106
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Part 2: Individual speaker variability and methodological innovation
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Idiolectal variation and syntactic theoryAlison Henry | pp. 109–122
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Focus raising: A paradigmatic example of the treatment of syntactic variationJudit Gervain and Gábor Zemplén | pp. 123–145
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Part 3: Syntactic variability, social stratification and real/apparent time
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Variation and the minimalist programDavid Adger and Jennifer Smith | pp. 149–178
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Principles and parameters in changeElly van Gelderen | pp. 179–198
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Morphosyntactic variation and theory: Subject-verb agreement in Acadian FrenchRuth King | pp. 199–229
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Part 4: Syntactic variability across geographical space
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Word order variation in three-verb clusters and the division of labour between generative linguistics and sociolinguisticsSjef Barbiers | pp. 233–264
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The third dimension of person featuresPaola Benincà and Cecilia Poletto | pp. 265–299
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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 (31)
Cited by 31 other publications
Wirtz, Mason A., Simon Pickl, Konstantin Niehaus, Stephan Elspaß & Robert Möller
2025. Spatial, occupational, and age-related effects on reported variation in colloquial German. Language Variation and Change ► pp. 1 ff. 
Michnowicz, Jim, Rebecca Ronquest, Sarah Chetty, Georgia Green & Stephanie Oliver
2023. Spanish in the Southeast: What a Swarm of Variables Can Tell Us about a Newly Forming Bilingual Community. Languages 8:3 ► pp. 168 ff.
Villa-García, Julio
2023. Cº realizations along the left edge across English and Spanish. Languages 8:4 ► pp. 268 ff.
Weber, Thilo & Kristin Kopf
2023. Free variation, unexplained variation?. In Free Variation in Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series, 234], ► pp. 1 ff.
Wood, Jim & Raffaella Zanuttini
2023. 11. Variation in Morphosyntax. Publication of the American Dialect Society 108:1 ► pp. 206 ff.
Christensen, Tanya Karoli & Torben Juel Jensen
2022. Introduction: Analysing and Explaining Syntactic Variation. In Explanations in Sociosyntactic Variation, ► pp. 1 ff.
Pescarini, Diego
2022. Expletive Subject Clitics in Northern Italo-Romance. Languages 7:4 ► pp. 265 ff.
Guardiano, Cristina & Melita Stavrou
2021. Modeling Syntactic Change under Contact: The Case of Italiot Greek. Languages 6:2 ► pp. 74 ff.
Abtahian, Maya Ravindranath & Jonathan Kasstan
2020. Contact and Sociolinguistic Variation. In The Handbook of Language Contact, ► pp. 221 ff.
Ayoun, Dalila
2020. A Longitudinal Study in the L2 Acquisition of the French TAM System. Languages 5:4 ► pp. 42 ff.
Hall, Damien, Jonathan R. Kasstan & David Hornsby
2019. Beyond obsolescence: a twenty-first century research agenda for thelangues régionales. Journal of French Language Studies 29:2 ► pp. 155 ff.
Rupp, Laura & David Britain
2019. Conclusion. In Linguistic Perspectives on a Variable English Morpheme, ► pp. 321 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
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.
Hazen, Kirk
2017. Language Variation. In The Handbook of Linguistics, ► pp. 519 ff.
Hinskens, Frans
2017. Dialectology and Formal Linguistic Theory. In The Handbook of Dialectology, ► pp. 88 ff.
Romaine, Suzanne
2017. Social Conditioning. In The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Syntax, ► pp. 534 ff.
Comeau, Philip
2016. An extension of the comparative sociolinguistics approach for sociosyntax. Linguistic Variation 16:2 ► pp. 183 ff.
Lacoste, Véronique & Lisa Green
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.
Habib, Rania
2014. Vowel variation and reverse acquisition in rural Syrian child and adolescent language. Language Variation and Change 26:1 ► pp. 45 ff.
Åfarli, Tor A. & Brit Mæhlum
2014. Introduction. In The Sociolinguistics of Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series, 154], ► pp. 1 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.
Brandner, Ellen
2012. Syntactic Microvariation. Language and Linguistics Compass 6:2 ► pp. 113 ff.
Tagliamonte, Sali A. & R. Harald Baayen
2012. Models, forests, and trees of York English:Was/werevariation 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.
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
2014. Language contact, linguistic variability and the construction of local identities. In The Sociolinguistics of Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series, 154], ► pp. 67 ff.
Cornips, Leonie
2022. The Predictability of Social Stratification of Syntactic Variants. In Explanations in Sociosyntactic Variation, ► pp. 144 ff.
HUDSON, RICHARD
2007. Inherent variability and Minimalism: Comments on Adger's ‘Combinatorial variability’. Journal of Linguistics 43:3 ► pp. 683 ff.
[no author supplied]
2013. Introduction. In Varieties of English, ► pp. 1 ff.
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General