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Linguistic variation, loosely defined as the wholesale processes whereby patterns of language structures exhibit divergent distributions within and across languages, has traditionally been the object of research of at least two branches of linguistics: variationist sociolinguistics and linguistic typology. In spite of their similar research agendas, the two approaches have only rarely converged in the description and interpretation of variation. While a number of studies attempting to address at least aspects of this relationship have appeared in recent years, a principled discussion on how the two disciplines may interact has not yet been carried out in a programmatic way. This volume aims to fill this gap and offers a cross-disciplinary venue for discussing the bridging between sociolinguistic and typological research from various angles, with the ultimate goal of laying out the methodological and conceptual foundations of an integrated research agenda for the study of linguistic variation.
Grammatiken sind (metaphorisch gesprochen) Anweisungen zum richtigen Gebrauch einer Sprache. Interessanterweise zeigen Grammatiken offenbar Lücken, die dadurch entstehen, dass für bestimmte Bereiche Regeln (bzw. Formen) ganz fehlen oder dass sich einzelne Regeln widersprechen und der daraus resultierende Konflikt deren Anwendung verhindert. Grammatische Lücken, auf deren Relevanz für eine 'realistische' Grammatiktheorie wohl zuerst Marga Reis hingewiesen hat, sind in den letzten Jahren schon vereinzelt in den Fokus der Forschung geraten. Das Sonderheft versammelt Arbeiten zu verschiedenen Arten von Lücken und zeigt damit, wie ertragreich und wichtig die Erforschung grammatischer Lücken...
This volume presents a synchronic investigation of concessive constructions in nine varieties of English, based on data from the International Corpus of English. The structures of interest are complex sentences with a subordinate clause introduced by although, though or even though. Various functional and formal features are taken into account: (i) the semantic/pragmatic relation that holds between the propositions involved, (ii) the position of the subordinate clause, (iii) the conjunction that is used, and (iv) the syntax of the subordinate clause. By exploring patterns of variation from a Construction Grammar perspective, the study works towards an explanatory model, whose point of departure is at the functional (semantic/pragmatic) level, and which makes hierarchically organised predictions for different formal levels (clause position, choice of connective and realisation of the subordinate clause). It treats concessives as complex form-function pairings, and develops arguments and routines that may inform quantitative approaches to constructional variation more generally.
This is the first volume specifically dedicated to competition in inflection and word-formation, a topic that has increasingly attracted attention. Semantic categories, such as concepts, classes, and feature bundles, can be expressed by more than one form or formal pattern. This departure from the ideal principle "one form – one meaning" is particularly frequent in morphology, where it has been treated under diverse headings, such as blocking, Elsewhere Condition, Pāṇini's Principle, rivalry, synonymy, doublets, overabundance, suppletion and other terms. Since these research traditions, despite the heterogeneous terminology, essentially refer to the same underlying problems, this volume unites the phenomena studied in this field of linguistic morphology under the more general heading of competition. The volume features an extensive state of the art report on the subject and 11 research papers, which represent various theoretical approaches to morphology and address a wide range of aspects of competition, including morphophonology, lexicology, diachrony, language contact, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and language acquisition.
Das vorliegende Handbuch bietet eine umfassende Darstellung der Vielfalt der in der Schweiz bis in jüngste Zeit mündlich und schriftlich verwendeten Sprachen und Dialekte und der räumlichen und sozialen Bedingtheit ihres Auftretens. Es bezieht sich nicht ausschliesslich auf die Schweiz als viersprachiges Land, sondern geht neue Wege, indem es darüber hinaus das Englische sowie Sprachen berücksichtigt, deren heutige Präsenz in der Schweiz auf Migration beruht. Auch historische Sprachen und Dialekte, die in der Schweiz und im liechtensteinischen Sprachraum gesprochen werden, sowie die drei Schweizer Gebärdensprachen werden behandelt. Mit Ausblicken über die Schweiz hinaus bietet das Handbuch eine erweiterte Perspektive auf die Räume, die die Sprachen der Schweiz einnehmen. So wird das traditionelle Verständnis von Vielsprachigkeit um neue Aspekte und aktuelle Entwicklungen ergänzt.
Recent years have seen a growing interest in grammatical variation, a core explanandum of grammatical theory. The present volume explores questions that are fundamental to this line of research: First, the question of whether variation can always and completely be explained by intra- or extra-linguistic predictors, or whether there is a certain amount of unpredictable – or ‘free’ – grammatical variation. Second, the question of what implications the (in-)existence of free variation would hold for our theoretical models and the empirical study of grammar. The volume provides the first dedicated book-length treatment of this long-standing topic. Following an introductory chapter by the editors, it contains ten case studies on potentially free variation in morphology and syntax drawn from Germanic, Romance, Uralic and Mayan.
Morphological variation is a rather young, yet fascinating topic to study in its own right because it offers challenging evidence both for the autonomy of morphology (morphomic processes) as well as for its tight interconnection with other grammatical domains, notably phonology and syntax. Covering a wide range of phenomena (e.g. negation structures, form function-mismatches in the verbal and nominal domain, loss of morphosyntactic feature values, etc.), the contributions to this volume combine in-depth empirical studies with the explanatory potential of modern theories of grammar as well as approaches for capturing and modelling microtypological diversity.
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