基本説明
The basic problem for any approach to language change is what Eugenio Coseriu has termed the paradox of change: if synchronically, languages can be viewed as perfectly running systems, then there is no reason why they should change in the first place. And yet, as everyone knows, languages are changing constantly. In nine case studies, a number of renowned scholars of Romance linguistics address the explanation of grammatical change either within a broadly generative or a functional framework.
Full Description
Recent years have seen intense debates between formal (generative) and functional linguists, particularly with respect to the relation between grammar and usage. This debate is directly relevant to diachronic linguistics, where one and the same phenomenon of language change can be explained from various theoretical perspectives. In this, a close look at the divergent and/or convergent evolution of a richly documented language family such as Romance promises to be useful. The basic problem for any approach to language change is what Eugenio Coseriu has termed the paradox of change: if synchronically, languages can be viewed as perfectly running systems, then there is no reason why they should change in the first place. And yet, as everyone knows, languages are changing constantly. In nine case studies, a number of renowned scholars of Romance linguistics address the explanation of grammatical change either within a broadly generative or a functional framework.
Contents
1. Introduction (by Detges, Ulrich); 2. Syntactic change from within and from without syntax: A usage-based analysis (by Waltereit, Richard); 3. On explaining the rise of c'est-clefts in French (by Dufter, Andreas); 4. The role of the plural system in Romance (by Stark, Elisabeth); 5. Morphological developments affecting syntactic change (by Goldbach, Maria); 6. Grammaticalisation within the IP-domain (by Fischer, Susann); 7. Imperfect systems and diachronic change (by Salvi, Giampaolo); 8. From temporal to modal: Divergent fates of the Latin synthetic pluperfect in Spanish and Portuguese (by Becker, Martin); 9. Non-lexical core-arguments in Basque, Romance and German: How (and why) Spanish syntax is shifting towards clausal headmarking and morphological cross-reference (by Radatz, Hans-Ingo); 10. Towards a comprehensive view of language change: Three recent evolutionary approaches (by Winter-Froemel, Esme); 11. Subject Index
