Full Description
This volume presents eight case studies examining diachronic linguistics and language contact, as well as different aspects of language change.
The chapters cover a variety of topics and consider the relationship between historical data and linguistic theory. They also examine the diachronic development of linguistic characteristics in different levels of linguistic analysis including historical morpho-syntax, historical phonology, historical pragmatics and historical sociolinguistics. The authors propose modern methodologies of analyzing and explaining the diachronic development of various morpho-phonological and morpho-syntactic characteristics. Focusing on common directions of change in different languages, including English, Gothic, Ancient Greek, Eastern Indo-Aryan and Hebrew, they provide explanations that reveal the role of internal factors as well as of language contact.
The volume promotes a dialogue between traditional approaches to language change and modern approaches utilizing new, statistical methodologies. Through this type of dialogue, the volume enriches our knowledge of theoretical perspectives, tools and methods that can facilitate a contrastive analysis of the diachronic development of linguistic characteristics.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction, Nikolaos Lavidas (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), Alexander Bergs (Osnabrück University, Germany), Elly van Gelderen (Arizona State University, USA) and Ioanna Sitaridou (University of Cambridge, UK)
Part I: Comparing the Diachronies of Grammar
2. Negative 'Might' and 'Easy' Shifts in Hebrew, Bar Avineri (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel)
3. The Verbs of Grief and Fear in the Ancient Greek Tragedy Plays and Oratory Speeches, Anastasia Tsiropina (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
Part II: Comparing Diachronies and Different Settings of Language Contact
4. Code Switching in English Merchants' Writings: The Johnson Correspondence, Carmela Perta (Università degli Studi 'G. d'Annunzio' Chieti - Pescara, Italy)
5. At the Morphological-Syntactic Crossroads: Unveiling the Forces Shaping Neuter Assignment in Heptanesian Borrowing from Italo-Romance, Vassiliki Makri (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
6. The Influence of Greek on the Gothic Verbal Morpho-Syntax: Comparing Cross-Linguistic Evidence on Written Contact in the Pauline Epistles to the Corinthians, Sofia Chionidi (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
Index
