Parameter-Resetting and Diachronic Changes of English Negation

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 89-107
Author(s):  
Sungkyun Shin
Keyword(s):  
Parameter Resetting ◽  
Diachronic Changes

scholarly journals Formal Syntax, Diachronic Minimalism, and Etymology: The History of French, Chez

2001 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Longobardi
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Diachronic Syntax ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
History Of ◽  
Parameter Resetting ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Diachronic Changes

Current theories place very mild constraints on possible diachronic changes, something at odds with the trivial observation that actual, “language change” represents a tiny fraction of the variation made a priori available by Universal Grammar. Much recent work in diachronic syntax has actually been guided by the aim of describing changes (e.g., parameter resetting), rather than by concerns of genuine explanation. Here I suggest a radically different viewpoint (the Inertial, Theory of diachronic syntax), namely, that syntactic change not provably due to interference should not occur at all as a primitive-that is, unless forced by changes in the phonology, the semantics, or the lexicon, perhaps ultimately by interface or grammar-external pressures, in line with the minimalist enterprise in synchronic linguistics. I concentrate on a single case, the etymology of Modern French chez, showing howthe proposed approach attains a high degree of explanatory adequacy.

scholarly journals Multipronged dental analyses reveal dietary differences in last foragers and first farmers at Grotta Continenza, central Italy (15,500–7000 BP)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessia Nava ◽  
Elena Fiorin ◽  
Andrea Zupancich ◽  
Marialetizia Carra ◽  
Claudio Ottoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dental Plaque ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Abruzzo Region ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Fucino Basin ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Diachronic Changes ◽  
Dental Conditions ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Late Palaeolithic

AbstractThis paper provides results from a suite of analyses made on human dental material from the Late Palaeolithic to Neolithic strata of the cave site of Grotta Continenza situated in the Fucino Basin of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The available human remains from this site provide a unique possibility to study ways in which forager versus farmer lifeways affected human odonto-skeletal remains. The main aim of our study is to understand palaeodietary patterns and their changes over time as reflected in teeth. These analyses involve a review of metrics and oral pathologies, micro-fossils preserved in the mineralized dental plaque, macrowear, and buccal microwear. Our results suggest that these complementary approaches support the assumption about a critical change in dental conditions and status with the introduction of Neolithic foodstuff and habits. However, we warn that different methodologies applied here provide data at different scales of resolution for detecting such changes and a multipronged approach to the study of dental collections is needed for a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of diachronic changes.

The historical composition of the lexicon as a stylistic factor in a text-oriented culture: a case-study from Modern Hebrew

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Reshef
Keyword(s):  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Lexical Analysis ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Lexical Structure ◽  
Modern Hebrew ◽  
Linguistic Characteristic ◽  
Lexical Composition ◽  
Diachronic Changes

This article studies the relevance of an historical lexical analysis to the stylistic description of Modern Hebrew texts. The examination of the lexical make-up of two distinct genres - administrative language and folksong - reveals a correlation between the social functions of the corpora and their formal characteristics. The administrative corpus reflects the lexical structure of standard Modern Hebrew. The folksong, on the other hand, is influenced by literary and ideological considerations. Consequently, it gives expression to the cultural ties with the traditional Hebrew sources by an abundant use of inherited lexicon. The findings suggest that in text-oriented cultures such as Hebrew, stylistic description can benefit from an historical analysis. Such an analysis responds to an intrinsic socio-linguistic characteristic of the language, and complements the structural stylistic analysis. Following Sarfatti (1990), the lexical analysis is based on distinctions drawn within each lexical item between three elements - root, form and meaning. Such a distinction takes account of diachronic changes in the semantic value of lexical items. It pinpoints factors characterizing the corpora’s lexical composition and enables multi-level distinctions between different types of discourse. As a result, it sheds light on one aspect of genre differentiation in the language.

scholarly journals On life cycle of a phrase (a case study of German language)

Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Daniil Andreevich Bakhmatov
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
German Language ◽  
Life Cycle Model ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Single Process ◽  
Cyclic Processes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Diachronic Changes

The goal of this research consists in identification and complex description of the stages of existence of a phrase. The subject of this research is changes in the use that afflict phrases in diachrony. The author determines the types of such changes, which characterize the stages of existence of a phrase since its emergence, as well as possible ways of development of a phrase (in terms of unchangeability of its composition and level of idiomaticity).Based on the material of verbal-nominal phrases in German language, both free and phraseologisms, and attraction of corpus-based data, the changes in use are perceived as elements of a single process. The scientific novelty lies in the attempt to describe the models of diachronic changes as cyclic processes; reveal common trends in development of phrases and in applicability of the definition of “life cycle” to the indicted processes. The concept of “life cycle”, used in various sciences for designating the natural, repeating processes, found its reflection in linguistics. However, cyclic processes in phraseology yet remain unstudied, despite the existing description of such phenomena as usualization, phraseologization, and dephraseologization. In conclusion, the author presents a dynamic model of life cycle of a phrase; the changes in use are viewed as its part; as well as offers the terms “deusualization” and “reusualization”. The obtained life cycle model can find application in further research in the area of diachronic phraseology and phrase formation.

scholarly journals Language Change and Language Acquisition

Nordlyd ◽  
10.7557/12.21 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thorbjörg Hróarsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Previous Generation ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Diachronic Changes

The aim of this paper is to present diachronic changes in terms of the conditions of first language acquisition. Grammars, seen as mental organs, may change between two generations. A change is initiated when (a population of) learners converge on a grammatical system which differs in at least one parameter value from the system internalized by the speakers of the previous generation. Learnability issues then connect to both language acquisition and language change, and understanding language changes depends on understanding how children acquire their native language. Acquisition is a process in which Universal Grammar (UG) interacts with a context-specific set of Primary Linguistic Data (PLD: the linguistic input to the child-learner) and uses these PLD as the source for triggers or cues that map the innate (preexperience) knowledge to a mature grammar. If a certain phenomenon has survived through many generations, it must have been reflected clearly in the PLD. Then, if we note that it has changed, something in the language performance of the previous generation must have changed, and thereby paved the way for a new interpretation. Innovation leading to linguistic variation in the PLD and gradual changes in PLD play a central role in the explanation here: the immediate cause of a grammar change must lie in some alternation in the PLD. We will look at how the language spoken in a certain community (E-language) may gradually become different from the language that originally served as the triggering experience. These changes in the E-language also mean changes in the input available to the child-learners of the next generation and a motivation for a different parameter setting has arisen.

Formal Asymmetries between Active and Passive Clauses in Modern English: The Avoidance of Preposition Stranding with Verbs Featuring Omissible Prepositions

2017 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 700-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günter Rohdenburg
Keyword(s):  
Restricted Range ◽  
British English ◽  
Preposition Stranding ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Diachronic Changes ◽  
Potential Use

AbstractThis paper reports on the results of a corpus-based study that deals with a hitherto neglected kind of formal asymmetry between active and passive clauses involving two-place prepositional verbs like agree. These contrasts are found in the context of two satisfied conditions: a) The preposition in question is omissible, which holds for agree in present-day British English as in They agreed (on/upon/to/with) the proposal. b) Unlike active uses, passivization of relevant prepositional options necessarily results in preposition stranding as in The proposal has been agreed on/upon/to/with. It is shown that – in both passive and active clauses – stranded prepositions tend to be omitted more often than non-stranded ones. Unlike the passive, the active provides only a restricted range of contexts compatible with the potential use of stranded prepositions. What is more, these environments are relatively infrequent with most verbs. This is what largely explains the active-passive asymmetries with the verbs explored in this paper. Crucially, however, stranded prepositions can in several cases be demonstrated to be more strongly avoided in the passive than the active, thus mirroring their cross-linguistic distribution (see e. g. Maling and Zaenen 1985; Truswell 2009). The voice contrast is found to be independent of diachronic changes resulting in either the loss or the acquisition of the prepositions involved.

scholarly journals Lexical Competition and Change: A Corpus-Assisted Investigation of Gambling and Gaming in the Past Centuries

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402095127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longxing Li ◽  
Chu-Ren Huang ◽  
Vincent Xian Wang
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sports Betting ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Lexical Competition ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Gaming Industry ◽  
Google Books ◽  
Near Synonyms ◽  
Diachronic Changes

This article investigates the interplay of lexical competition and socio-historical events through a close examination of the use of gambling and gaming based on large-scale synchronic and diachronic corpora. We first set the background for comparison through a synchronic study of the collocational patterns and grammatical relations of the two words using Sketch Engine. We show that gambling tends to be associated with negatively perceived activities and strong disapproval, whereas gaming tends to collocate with recreational activities, business, and technology. Using Google Books Ngram Viewer, we focus on the drastic diachronic changes in use of the two words, from competition to co-development. Based on corpora trends, we correlate the rise and fall of the two words and the change in their competition relation to particular socio-historical events: gold rushes, sports betting, the popularity of video games, and the gaming industry boom. The classical competition model of near synonyms remained valid until recent socio-economic events introduced additional and unique meanings for both words. The article thus shows that linguistic variations as collective human behavior changes can be leveraged to evidence other collective human behavior changes.

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