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Part of
Perspectives on Language Structure and Language Change: Studies in honor of Henning Andersen
Edited by Lars Heltoft, Iván Igartua, Brian D. Joseph, Kirsten Jeppesen Kragh and Lene Schøsler
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 345] 2019
► pp. 151–178

Word order as grammaticalised semiotic systems

Meillet (1921 [1912]: 147-48) briefly states that word order is grammatical and that word order change is an alternative way of grammaticalisation, a stance that has had few followers within mainstream grammaticalisation studies. In the context of Henning Andersen’s view of morphology and the principles of its analysis, I propose a typology of the ways word order can grammaticalise, i.e. organise in closed paradigms, built on the distinction between symbolic, indexical and iconic meaning.

Keywords: grammaticalisation, paradigms, word order, iconic meaning, indexical meaning, symbolic meaning; Old English
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: The neglect of word order
  • 2.Symbolic and indexical signs in morphology
    • 2.1Andersen’s analysis of Latin cucurristi
    • 2.2Indexicality in the analysis of case and word order
    • 2.3The symbolic function of constructional case
  • 3.Word order systems as diagrams of morphosyntactic structure
    • 3.1Valency, construction and topological diagrams: Danish direct objects and prepositional objects
    • 3.2The semantic change of several and diagrammatic mappings
  • 4.Word order differences as symbolic signs
    • 4.1Diagrammatic representations of information structure
    • 4.2Germanic V2 examples
  • 5.The example of Old English
    • 5.1Old English V2 order and SOV order
    • 5.2Topological integrity of pronominal forms
    • 5.3Examples for topological generalisation
      • 5.4The grammatical function of the second position in Old English
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • Appendix
Published online: 18 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.345.06hel
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Hansen, Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard
2021. From case to topology. NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution 74:2 ► pp. 278 ff. DOI logo
Juul Nielsen, Peter & Lars Heltoft
2023. Indexicality across the boundaries of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. In Ditransitives in Germanic Languages [Studies in Germanic Linguistics, 7], ► pp. 150 ff. DOI logo

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