Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English

Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English PDF Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139433172
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
This 2003 study uses evidence from early English verse to reconstruct the course of some central phonological changes in the history of the language. It builds on the premise that alliteration reflects faithfully the acoustic identity and similarity of stressed syllable onsets. Individual chapters cover the history of the velars, the structure and history of vowel-initial syllable onsets, the behaviour of onset clusters, and the chronology and motivation of cluster reduction (gn-, kn-, hr-, hl-, hn-, hw-, wr-, wl-). Examination of the patterns of group alliteration in Old and Middle English reveals a hierarchy of cluster-internal cohesiveness which leads to new conclusions regarding the causes for the special treatment of sp-, st-, sk- in alliteration. The analysis draws on phonetically based Optimality-Theoretic models. The book presents valuable information about the medieval poetic canon and elucidates the relationship between orality and literacy in the evolution of English verse.

Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English

Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English PDF Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139433172
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
This 2003 study uses evidence from early English verse to reconstruct the course of some central phonological changes in the history of the language. It builds on the premise that alliteration reflects faithfully the acoustic identity and similarity of stressed syllable onsets. Individual chapters cover the history of the velars, the structure and history of vowel-initial syllable onsets, the behaviour of onset clusters, and the chronology and motivation of cluster reduction (gn-, kn-, hr-, hl-, hn-, hw-, wr-, wl-). Examination of the patterns of group alliteration in Old and Middle English reveals a hierarchy of cluster-internal cohesiveness which leads to new conclusions regarding the causes for the special treatment of sp-, st-, sk- in alliteration. The analysis draws on phonetically based Optimality-Theoretic models. The book presents valuable information about the medieval poetic canon and elucidates the relationship between orality and literacy in the evolution of English verse.

Historical Phonology of English

Historical Phonology of English PDF Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 074863469X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
A thorough and fascinating exploration of the evolution of English' phonological structure, this book traces the history of individual sounds and their representation through Old, Middle, Early Modern and Present Day English.Written in an engaging and accessible style, the book covers the sounds of English, consonantal histories, Middle English dialects, vowel quality and quantity in Early Modern English, the English stress system and Early English verse forms to demonstrate how the present form of the language is indebted to its past.Key Features: Places linguistic findings into historical, literary and social contextsExplains Modern English's phonological features in terms of its developmentAdditional exercises, references and suggestions for further reading will be available on the book's webpage

The Old English Metrical Calendar (Menologium)

The Old English Metrical Calendar (Menologium) PDF Author: Kazutomo Karasawa
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843844095
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
First modern text and English translation of an important Anglo-Saxon poem dealing with the liturgical year.

Modes of Discourse

Modes of Discourse PDF Author: Carlota S. Smith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139435418
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
In studying discourse, the problem for the linguist is to find a fruitful level of analysis. Carlota Smith offers a new approach with this study of discourse passages, units of several sentences or more. She introduces the key idea of the 'Discourse Mode', identifying five modes: Narrative, Description, Report, Information, Argument. These are realized at the level of the passage, and cut across genre lines. Smith shows that the modes, intuitively recognizable as distinct, have linguistic correlates that differentiate them. She analyzes the properties that distinguish each mode, focusing on grammatical rather than lexical information. The book also examines linguistically based features that appear in passages of all five modes: topic and focus, variation in syntactic structure, and subjectivity, or point of view. Operating at the interface of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, the book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in linguistics, stylistics and rhetoric.

Historical Dialectology in the Digital Age

Historical Dialectology in the Digital Age PDF Author: Rhona Alcorn
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474430554
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Examines how pre-modernist conceptions and social organizations of pleasure have impacted post-WWII film.

The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar

The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar PDF Author: Thomas Hoffmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199376638
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The last decade has seen a rise in popularity in construction-based approaches to grammar. The various approaches within the rubric 'construction grammar' all see language as a network of constructions-pairings of form and meaning. Construction Grammar, as a kind of cognitive linguistics, differs significantly from mainstream generative grammar as espoused by Chomsky and his followers. Advocates of Construction Grammar see it as a psychologically plausible theory of human language. As such, it is capable of providing a principled account of language acquisition, language variation and language change. Research in Construction Grammar also includes multidisciplinary cognitive studies in psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and computational linguistics. The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar is the first authoritative reference work solely dedicated to Construction Grammar. Divided into five sections, the book will be an invaluable resource that students and scholars alike can turn to for a comprehensive account of current work on Construction Grammar, its theoretical foundations, and its applications to and relationship with other kinds of linguistic enquiry.

Revisiting the Medieval North of England

Revisiting the Medieval North of England PDF Author: Anita Auer
Publisher: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 1786833956
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
1. Interdisciplinary nature of the volume 2. Reflection of recent work carried on the North of England in various projects 3. Sheds new light on the North of England (underexplored thus far) and asks new questions / sets out new lines of inquiry for future research (?)

Language and Culture in the Growth of Imperialism

Language and Culture in the Growth of Imperialism PDF Author: Sharron Gu
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786490934
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Political science interpretations of international relations tend to focus on abstract terms of economic interest, domination, rights and justice. Trapped within this limited horizon, the discipline fails to explain why nations of similar economic structure would have variant ideas for their foreign policies, and why nations with different economic structures and ideologies could develop a similar global posture during certain periods of their histories. This innovative study examines imperialism from a cultural and linguistic perspective, portraying the rise and fall of ancient Greek, Roman, medieval Islamic, modern British, Russian and American empires as a part of the natural life of world civilizations. As these imperial cultures matured through centuries of literary accumulation and interaction with other cultures, they finally found their confidence on the world stage and transitioned from an aggressive policy towards others to a more tolerant one.

Lexical Categories

Lexical Categories PDF Author: Mark C. Baker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521001106
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
Table of contents

The Acquisition of Complex Sentences

The Acquisition of Complex Sentences PDF Author: Holger Diessel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139454080
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
This book presents a comprehensive study of how children acquire complex sentences. Drawing on observational data from English-speaking children aged 2 to 5, Holger Diessel investigates the acquisition of infinitival and participial complement clauses, finite complement clauses, finite and nonfinite relative clauses, adverbial clauses, and coordinate clauses. His investigation shows that the development of complex sentences originates from simple non-embedded sentences and that two different developmental pathways can be distinguished: complex sentences including complement and relative clauses evolve from simple sentences that are gradually expanded to multiple-clause constructions, and complex sentences including adverbial and coordinate clauses develop from simple sentences that are integrated in a specific biclausal unit. He argues that the acquisition process is determined by a variety of factors: the frequency of the various complex sentences in the ambient language, the semantic and syntactic complexity of the emerging constructions, the communicative functions of complex sentences, and the social-cognitive development of the child.