Johanna Nichols
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198723813
- eISBN:
- 9780191791154
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198723813.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Language Families, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
The sociolinguistics of language contact is known to effect levels of phonological and grammatical complexity of the languages involved, and linguistic features are known to have different levels of ...
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The sociolinguistics of language contact is known to effect levels of phonological and grammatical complexity of the languages involved, and linguistic features are known to have different levels of stability and different propensities of borrowing and diffusion. This chapter lays out basic taxonomies of demographic and geographical histories of areas, stability or instability or linguistic variables, and ages of areas, and raises hypotheses about correlations among them. Pilot studies of ten areas worldwide support the expected correlations.Less
The sociolinguistics of language contact is known to effect levels of phonological and grammatical complexity of the languages involved, and linguistic features are known to have different levels of stability and different propensities of borrowing and diffusion. This chapter lays out basic taxonomies of demographic and geographical histories of areas, stability or instability or linguistic variables, and ages of areas, and raises hypotheses about correlations among them. Pilot studies of ten areas worldwide support the expected correlations.
Francesca Di Garbo
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198861287
- eISBN:
- 9780191893346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198861287.003.0008
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter investigates the evolution of grammatical gender agreement, taken as an instance of paradigmatic and syntagmatic morphological complexity, in a sample of thirty-six languages, organized ...
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This chapter investigates the evolution of grammatical gender agreement, taken as an instance of paradigmatic and syntagmatic morphological complexity, in a sample of thirty-six languages, organized per sets of closely related languages with different sociolinguistic profiles. Both loss and emergence of gender agreement occur in areas of intense language contact between diverse speech communities. However, given similar contact scenarios, asymmetries in the structure of the bilingual population and/or in the prestige dynamics between the languages in contact tend to favour one development over the other. Loss of gender agreement occurs when the demographically dominant and/or more prestigious language lacks grammatical gender. Conversely, borrowing of gender agreement is favoured when the demographically dominant and/or more prestigious language has grammatical gender. Finally, the data suggest that patterns of gender marking may have important ties to the way in which speakers construe their linguistic identity in opposition to that of their neighbours.Less
This chapter investigates the evolution of grammatical gender agreement, taken as an instance of paradigmatic and syntagmatic morphological complexity, in a sample of thirty-six languages, organized per sets of closely related languages with different sociolinguistic profiles. Both loss and emergence of gender agreement occur in areas of intense language contact between diverse speech communities. However, given similar contact scenarios, asymmetries in the structure of the bilingual population and/or in the prestige dynamics between the languages in contact tend to favour one development over the other. Loss of gender agreement occurs when the demographically dominant and/or more prestigious language lacks grammatical gender. Conversely, borrowing of gender agreement is favoured when the demographically dominant and/or more prestigious language has grammatical gender. Finally, the data suggest that patterns of gender marking may have important ties to the way in which speakers construe their linguistic identity in opposition to that of their neighbours.
Joan Ramon Resina (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846318337
- eISBN:
- 9781846317880
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846318337.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
Of late the term Iberian Studies has been gaining academic currency, but its semantic scope still fluctuates. For some it is a convenient way of combining the official cultures of two states, ...
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Of late the term Iberian Studies has been gaining academic currency, but its semantic scope still fluctuates. For some it is a convenient way of combining the official cultures of two states, Portugal and Spain; yet for others the term opens up disciplinary space, altering established routines. A relational approach to Iberian Studies shatters the state's epistemological frame and complexifies the field through the emergence of lines of inquiry and bodies of knowledge hitherto written off as irrelevant. This book brings together contributions from leading international scholars who demonstrate the cultural and linguistic complexity of the field by reflecting on the institutional challenges to the practice of Iberian Studies.Less
Of late the term Iberian Studies has been gaining academic currency, but its semantic scope still fluctuates. For some it is a convenient way of combining the official cultures of two states, Portugal and Spain; yet for others the term opens up disciplinary space, altering established routines. A relational approach to Iberian Studies shatters the state's epistemological frame and complexifies the field through the emergence of lines of inquiry and bodies of knowledge hitherto written off as irrelevant. This book brings together contributions from leading international scholars who demonstrate the cultural and linguistic complexity of the field by reflecting on the institutional challenges to the practice of Iberian Studies.
Erich R. Round
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198723769
- eISBN:
- 9780191791109
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198723769.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Theoretical Linguistics
Morphomes (Aronoff 1994) exemplify extreme complexity within inflectional morphology. This chapter argues that morphomic categories come in three types. Rhizomorphomes pertain to morphological roots, ...
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Morphomes (Aronoff 1994) exemplify extreme complexity within inflectional morphology. This chapter argues that morphomic categories come in three types. Rhizomorphomes pertain to morphological roots, dividing the lexicon into classes (e.g. declensions, conjugation classes) whose members share similar paradigms. Meromorphomes pertain to sets of word‐formation operations, which derive the pieces of individual word forms; thus meromorphomes inhere in the organization of a morphological exponence system. Metamorphomes pertain to distributions of meromorphomes across a paradigm. Rhizomorphomes and metamorphomes are well described, but meromorphomes much less so. Arguments are presented for the existence of MEROMORPHOMES, drawing on evidence from Kayardild (Round 2013). It is observed that in given languages, all three kinds of morphomic category may divide into subcategories, adding more complexity to the picture. Nevertheless, the architecture of this linguistic complexity, in an autonomous layer of representation with subcategories, is familiar and qualitatively similar to other domains of grammar.Less
Morphomes (Aronoff 1994) exemplify extreme complexity within inflectional morphology. This chapter argues that morphomic categories come in three types. Rhizomorphomes pertain to morphological roots, dividing the lexicon into classes (e.g. declensions, conjugation classes) whose members share similar paradigms. Meromorphomes pertain to sets of word‐formation operations, which derive the pieces of individual word forms; thus meromorphomes inhere in the organization of a morphological exponence system. Metamorphomes pertain to distributions of meromorphomes across a paradigm. Rhizomorphomes and metamorphomes are well described, but meromorphomes much less so. Arguments are presented for the existence of MEROMORPHOMES, drawing on evidence from Kayardild (Round 2013). It is observed that in given languages, all three kinds of morphomic category may divide into subcategories, adding more complexity to the picture. Nevertheless, the architecture of this linguistic complexity, in an autonomous layer of representation with subcategories, is familiar and qualitatively similar to other domains of grammar.
