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.
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
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Notes
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Sources
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Appendix
References (49)
Sources
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Scanian Ecclesiastical Law. Text from GL.
SkL = Scanian Law. Text from GL.
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Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Juul Nielsen, Peter & Lars Heltoft
Hansen, Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard
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