Word Frequency and Lexical Diffusion

Word Frequency and Lexical Diffusion PDF Author: B. Phillips
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230286615
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study of word frequency effects on sound change provides a resolution of the Neogrammarian controversy. Betty S. Phillips discusses the implications for phonology and historical linguistics of certain types of change affecting the most frequent words first and other types of change affecting the least frequent words first.

Word Frequency and Lexical Diffusion

Word Frequency and Lexical Diffusion PDF Author: B. Phillips
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230286615
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Get Book Here

Book Description
This study of word frequency effects on sound change provides a resolution of the Neogrammarian controversy. Betty S. Phillips discusses the implications for phonology and historical linguistics of certain types of change affecting the most frequent words first and other types of change affecting the least frequent words first.

Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure

Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure PDF Author: Joan L. Bybee
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027298033
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 502

Get Book Here

Book Description
A mainstay of functional linguistics has been the claim that linguistic elements and patterns that are frequently used in discourse become conventionalized as grammar. This book addresses the two issues that are basic to this claim: first, the question of what types of elements are frequently used in discourse and second, the question of how frequency of use affects cognitive representations. Reporting on evidence from natural conversation, diachronic change, variability, child language acquisition and psycholinguistic experimentation the original articles in this book support two major principles. First, the content of people’s interactions consists of a preponderance of subjective, evaluative statements, dominated by the use of pronouns, copulas and intransitive clauses. Second, the frequency with which certain items and strings of items are used has a profound influence on the way language is broken up into chunks in memory storage, the way such chunks are related to other stored material and the ease with which they are accessed to produce new utterances.

Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure

Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure PDF Author: Joan L. Bybee
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027229489
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 508

Get Book Here

Book Description
A mainstay of functional linguistics has been the claim that linguistic elements and patterns that are frequently used in discourse become conventionalized as grammar. This book addresses the two issues that are basic to this claim: first, the question of what types of elements are frequently used in discourse and second, the question of how frequency of use affects cognitive representations. Reporting on evidence from natural conversation, diachronic change, variability, child language acquisition and psycholinguistic experimentation the original articles in this book support two major principles. First, the content of people s interactions consists of a preponderance of subjective, evaluative statements, dominated by the use of pronouns, copulas and intransitive clauses. Second, the frequency with which certain items and strings of items are used has a profound influence on the way language is broken up into chunks in memory storage, the way such chunks are related to other stored material and the ease with which they are accessed to produce new utterances.

The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Volume II

The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Volume II PDF Author: Richard D. Janda
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 111873226X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 705

Get Book Here

Book Description
An entirely new follow-up volume providing a detailed account of numerous additional issues, methods, and results that characterize current work in historical linguistics. This brand-new, second volume of The Handbook of Historical Linguistics is a complement to the well-established first volume first published in 2003. It includes extended content allowing uniquely comprehensive coverage of the study of language(s) over time. Though it adds fresh perspectives on several topics previously treated in the first volume, this Handbook focuses on extensions of diachronic linguistics beyond those key issues. This Handbook provides readers with studies of language change whose perspectives range from comparisons of large open vs. small closed corpora, via creolistics and linguistic contact in general, to obsolescence and endangerment of languages. Written by leading scholars in their respective fields, new chapters are offered on matters such as the origin of language, evidence from language for reconstructing human prehistory, invocations of language present in studies of language past, benefits of linguistic fieldwork for historical investigation, ways in which not only biological evolution but also field biology can serve as heuristics for research into the rise and spread of linguistic innovations, and more. Moreover, it: offers novel and broadened content complementing the earlier volume so as to provide the fullest available overview of a wholly engrossing field includes 23 all-new contributed chapters, treating some familiar themes from fresh perspectives but mostly covering entirely new topics features expanded discussion of material from language families other than Indo-European provides a multiplicity of views from numerous specialists in linguistic diachrony. The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Volume II is an ideal book for undergraduate and graduate students in linguistics, researchers and professional linguists, as well as all those interested in the history of particular languages and the history of language more generally.

Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language

Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language PDF Author: Joan Bybee
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190293845
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 374

Get Book Here

Book Description
The volume collects three decades of articles by the distinguished linguist Joan Bybee. Her articles essentially argue for the importance of frequency of use as a factor in the analysis and explanation of language structure. Her work has been very influential for a broad range of researchers in linguistics, particularly in discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, phonology, phonetics and historical linguistics.

Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language

Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language PDF Author: Joan Bybee
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195301560
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 374

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is a collection of three decades of articles by the linguist Joan Bybee. Her articles argue for the importance of frequency of use as a factor in the analysis and explanation of language structure.

The Emergence of Phonology

The Emergence of Phonology PDF Author: Marilyn M. Vihman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781108790673
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
How well have classic ideas on whole-word phonology stood the test of time? Waterson claimed that each child has a system of their own; Ferguson and Farwell emphasized the relative accuracy of first words; Menn noted the occurrence of regression and the emergence of phonological systematicity. This volume brings together classic texts such as these with current data-rich studies of British and American English, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Finnish, French, Japanese, Polish and Spanish. This combination of classic and contemporary work from the last thirty years presents the reader with cutting-edge perspectives on child language by linking historical approaches with current ideas such as exemplar theory and usage-based phonology, and contrasting state-of-the-art perspectives from developmental psychology and linguistics. This is a valuable resource for cognitive scientists, developmentalists, linguists, psychologists, speech scientists and therapists interested in understanding how children begin to use language without the benefit of language-specific innate knowledge.

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Phonology

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Phonology PDF Author: Patrick Honeybone
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191643645
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 817

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents a comprehensive and critical overview of historical phonology as it stands today. Scholars from around the world consider and advance research in every aspect of the field. In doing so they demonstrate the continuing vitality and some continuing themes of one of the oldest sub-disciplines of linguistics. The book is divided into six parts. The first considers key current research questions, the early history of the field, and the structuralist context for work on segmental change. The second examines evidence and methods, including phonological reconstruction, typology, and computational and quantitative approaches. Part III looks at types of phonological change, including stress, tone, and morphophonological change. Part IV explores a series of controversial aspects within the field, including the effects of first language acquisition, the status of lexical diffusion and exceptionless change, and the role of individuals in innovation. Part V considers theoretical perspectives on phonological change, including those of evolutionary phonology and generative historical phonology. The final part examines sociolinguistic and exogenous factors in phonological change, including the study of change in real time, the role of second language acquisition, and loanword adaptation. The authors, who represent leading proponents of every theoretical perspective, consider phonological change over a wide range of the world's language families. The handbook is, in sum, a valuable resource for phonologists and historical linguists and a stimulating guide for their students.

Studies in the History of the English Language VII

Studies in the History of the English Language VII PDF Author: Don Chapman
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 311049423X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book looks at how historical linguists accommodate the written records used for evidence. The limitations of the written record restrict our view of the past and the conclusions that we can draw about its language. However, the same limitations force us to be aware of the particularities of language. This collection blends the philological with the linguistic, combining questions of the particular with generalizations about language change.

The Dialect Laboratory

The Dialect Laboratory PDF Author: Gunther De Vogelaer
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027273472
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book Here

Book Description
Much theorizing in language change research is made without taking into account dialect data. Yet, dialects seem to be superior data to build a theory of linguistic change on, since dialects are relatively free of standardization and therefore more tolerant of variant competition in grammar. In addition, as compared to most cross-linguistic and diachronic data, dialect data are unusually high in resolution. This book shows that the study of dialect variation has indeed the potential, perhaps even the duty, to play a central role in the process of finding answers to fundamental questions of theoretical historical linguistics. It includes contributions which relate a clearly formulated theoretical question of historical linguistic interest with a well-defined, solid empirical base. The volume discusses phenomena from different domains of grammar (phonology, morphology and syntax) and a wide variety of languages and language varieties in the light of several current theoretical frameworks.