Referential Null Subjects in Early English

Referential Null Subjects in Early English PDF Author: Kristian A. Rusten
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192535765
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This book offers a large-scale quantitative investigation of referential null subjects as they occur in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English. Using corpus linguistic methods, and drawing on five corpora of early English, it empirically examines the occurrence of subjectless finite clauses in more than 500 early English texts, spanning nearly 850 years. On the basis of this substantial data, Kristian A. Rusten re-evaluates previous conflicting claims concerning the occurrence and distribution of null subjects in Old English. He explores the question of whether the earliest stage of English can be considered a canonical or partial pro-drop language, and provides an empirical examination of the role played by central licensors of null subjects proposed in the theoretical literature. The predictions of two important pragmatic accounts of null arguments are also tested. Throughout, the book builds its arguments primarily by means of powerful statistical tools, including generalized fixed-effects and mixed-effects logistic regression modelling. The volume is the most comprehensive examination of null subjects in the history of English to date, and will be of interest to syntacticians, historical linguists, and those working in English and Germanic linguistics more widely.

Unexpressed Subjects in English

Unexpressed Subjects in English PDF Author: Amy M. Lindstrom
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793604622
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
Unexpressed Subjects in English: An Empirical Analysis of Narrative and Conversational Discourse challenges previous assumptions of what is grammatically possible in English through an examination of contexts in which speakers omit subjects, demonstrating how language structure is influenced by communicative needs. Through corpus-based analysis of both interactive conversations and monologic narratives, Amy M. Lindstrom reveals how the discourse/pragmatic factors of accessibility and chronological ordering, the prosodic effect of linking, and the mechanical effect of priming intersect to provide a rigorous account of subject (un)expression in spoken American English. Higher degrees of linking, cohesion, and connection lead to more unexpressed subjects. Lindstrom also analyzes frequent constructions with unexpressed subjects vis-à-vis paths of grammaticalization. The author presents a measurement of discourse connectedness that shows how the intersection of prosody and pragmatics illustrates the powerful effect of spontaneous discourse in shaping grammar. This study adds to our understanding of language and cognition by contributing to our knowledge of the conceptualization, categorization, and representation of experience and memory.

Referential Null Subjects in Early English

Referential Null Subjects in Early English PDF Author: Kristian A. Rusten
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192535765
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book offers a large-scale quantitative investigation of referential null subjects as they occur in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English. Using corpus linguistic methods, and drawing on five corpora of early English, it empirically examines the occurrence of subjectless finite clauses in more than 500 early English texts, spanning nearly 850 years. On the basis of this substantial data, Kristian A. Rusten re-evaluates previous conflicting claims concerning the occurrence and distribution of null subjects in Old English. He explores the question of whether the earliest stage of English can be considered a canonical or partial pro-drop language, and provides an empirical examination of the role played by central licensors of null subjects proposed in the theoretical literature. The predictions of two important pragmatic accounts of null arguments are also tested. Throughout, the book builds its arguments primarily by means of powerful statistical tools, including generalized fixed-effects and mixed-effects logistic regression modelling. The volume is the most comprehensive examination of null subjects in the history of English to date, and will be of interest to syntacticians, historical linguists, and those working in English and Germanic linguistics more widely.

Aspects of Old English Poetic Syntax

Aspects of Old English Poetic Syntax PDF Author: Mary Eva Blockley
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252026065
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
"Distinguished by a remarkable combination of erudition and lucidity, Aspects of Old English Poetic Syntax provides new insight into the rules that govern syntactic relationships and indicates how these rules differ for prose and verse. Blockley considers the functions of four of the most common and most syntactically important words in Old English, as well as such features of clauses as verb-initial order, negative contraction, and unexpressed but understood subjects. Picking up where Bruce Mitchell's classic Old English Syntax left off, Blockley shows how such common words and structures mark the relationships between phrases and clauses.".

Introduction to Old English

Introduction to Old English PDF Author: Peter S. Baker
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444354205
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
Featuring numerous updates and additional anthology selections, the 3rd edition of Introduction to Old English confirms its reputation as a leading text designed to help students engage with Old English literature for the first time. A new edition of one of the most popular introductions to Old English Assumes no expertise in other languages or in traditional grammar Includes basic grammar reviews at the beginning of each major chapter and a 'minitext' feature to aid students in practicing reading Old English Features updates and several new anthology readings, including King Alfred's Preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care

Good English, Oral and Written, Book One-three

Good English, Oral and Written, Book One-three PDF Author: William Harris Elson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description


Good English, Oral and Written ...

Good English, Oral and Written ... PDF Author: William Harris Elson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 498

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Book Description


Bilingual Language Acquisition

Bilingual Language Acquisition PDF Author: Carmen Silva-Corvalán
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107024269
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
An in-depth and meticulous study of the English-Spanish bilingual development of two siblings from their first word to age six.

Bilingualism in the Community

Bilingualism in the Community PDF Author: Rena Torres Cacoullos
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108244955
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Does the use of two languages by bilinguals inevitably bring about grammatical change? Does switching between languages serve as a catalyst in such change? It is widely held that linguistic code-switching inherently promotes grammatical convergence - languages becoming more similar to each other through contact; evidence for this, however, remains elusive. A model of how to study language contact scientifically, Bilingualism in the Community highlights variation patterns in speech, using a new bilingual corpus of English and Spanish spontaneously produced by the same speakers. Putting forward quantitative diagnostics of grammatical similarity, it shows how bilinguals' two languages differ from each other, aligning with their respective monolingual benchmarks. The authors argue that grammatical change through contact is far from a foregone conclusion in bilingual communities, where speakers are adept at keeping their languages together, yet separate. The book is compelling reading for anyone interested in bilingualism and its importance in society.

Linguistic Variation

Linguistic Variation PDF Author: Rena Torres Cacoullos
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317688171
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Linguistic Variation: Confronting Fact and Theory honors Shana Poplack in bringing together contributions from leading scholars in language variation and change. The book demonstrates how variationist methodology can be applied to the study of linguistic structures and processes. It introduces readers to variation theory, while also providing an overview of current debates on the linguistic, cognitive and sociocultural factors involved in linguistic patterning. With its coverage of a diverse range of language varieties and linguistic problems, this book offers new quantitative analyses of actual language production and processing from both top experts and emerging scholars, and presents students and practitioners with theoretical frameworks to meaningfully engage in accountable research practice.

The Influence of Text Type on Word Order of Old Germanic Languages

The Influence of Text Type on Word Order of Old Germanic Languages PDF Author: Anna Cichosz
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783631613153
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
The book examines the word order of two Old Germanic languages, Old English and Old High German, using a corpus containing samples of three text types: poetry, original prose and translated prose. Thanks to this methodology, it is possible to compare word order patterns in Old English and Old High German, eliminating differences which may be due to stylistic or technical reasons (rhythm, rhyme, Latin influences), as well as to see to what extent text type determines word order and to check whether this phenomenon is universal (triggering similar behaviour in both analysed languages). The book also disproves the hypothesis of the West Germanic syntax, presenting data which show that the word order of the two languages started to diversify already during the Old English/High German period, i. e. before the 11th century AD.