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The grammar of negative polarity items is one of the challengesfor
linguistic theory. NPIs cross-cut all traditional categories in
grammar and semantics, yet their distribution is by no means
arbitrary. Theories of NPI licensing have been proposed in terms of
syntax, semantics, and pragmatics - each with its own merits and
problems. The volume comprises state-of-the-art studies and
suggests an interpolation approach to NPI licensing.
Can language change be modelled as an evolutionary process? Can
notions like variation, selection and competition be fruitfully
applied to facts of language development? The present volume ties
together various strands of linguistic research which can bring us
towards an answer to these questions. In one of the youngest and
rapidly growing areas of linguistic research, mathematical models
and simulations of competition based developments have been applied
to instances of language change. By matching the predicted and
observed developmental trends, researchers gauge existing models to
the needs of linguistic applications and evaluate the fruitfulness
of evolutionary models in linguistics. The present volume confronts
these studies with more empirically-based studies in creolization
and historical language change which bear on key concepts of
evolutionary models. What does it mean for a linguistic
construction to survive its competitors? How do the interacting
factors in phases of creolization differ from those in ordinary
language change, and how - consequently - might Creole languages
differ structurally from older languages? Some of the authors,
finally, also address the question how different aspects of our
linguistic competence tie in with our more elementary cognitive
capacities. The volume contains contributions by Brady Clark et
al., Elly van Gelderen, Alain Kihm, Manfred Krifka, Wouter Kusters,
Robert van Rooij, Anette Rosenbach, John McWhorter, Teresa
Satterfield, Michael Tomasello and Elizabeth C. Traugott. The book
brings together contributions from two areas of research: the study
of language evolution by means of methods from artifical
intelligence/artificial life (like computer simulations and
analytic mathematical methods) on the one hand, and empirically
oriented research from historical linguistics and creolisation
studies that uses concepts from evolutionary theory as a heuristic
tool in a qualitative way. The book is thus interesting for readers
from both traditions because it supplies them with information
about relevant ongoing research and useful methods and data from
the other camp.
Meanings of words are constantly changing, and the forces driving
these changes are varied and diverse. Linguistic analyses are
usually concerned with language-internal processes, while
investigations of language-external historical developments tend to
disregard linguistic considerations. It is evident, however, that
an investigation of diachronic semantics will have to consider both
sides: a specific theory of meaning including a proper place for
lexical semantics on the one hand, and incorporate knowledge about
the world and the social and cultural environment of speakers who
use language as a tool for communication on the other. The
collection focuses on meaning change as a topic of
interdisciplinary research. Distinguished scholars in diachronic
semantics, general linguistics, classical philology, philosophy of
language, anthropology and history offer in depth studies of
language internal and external factors of meaning change. This
broad range of perspectives, unprecedented in research publications
of recent years, is a pioneering attempt to mirror the
multi-facetteous nature of language as a formal, social, cognitive,
cultural and historical entity. The contributions, each exploring
the research issues, methods and techniques of their particular
field, are directed towards a broader audience of interested
readers, thus enhancing interdisciplinary exchange.
"Adverbs, Events, and Other Things" treats issues in the semantics
of manner adverbs. Part I takes up the Davidsonian claim that
manner adverbs are predicates of events. The book investigates the
subtle interplay of event individuation and various kinds of event
modification and claims that manner adverbs play a core role in
singling out both simple and complex events. Part II of the book is
devoted to word order phenomena involving manner adverbs in German.
Presenting a general theory of predication structure for German
sentences, the author shows how the position of manner adverbs - in
interplay with other factors - determines the division of an
utterance into topic and comment. She thereby gives semantic
evidence in favour of the claim that manner adverbs in German have
a syntactic base position.
This book explores the semantic and pragmatic mechanisms underlying
grammaticalization. Regine Eckardt argues that language change
frequently involves a structural reorganization at the
phonological, morphological, and syntactic levels. Speakers not
only master the structural aspect of such reanalyses, they also-as
the author argues-keep a detailed mental record of what has
happened to meaning. The author develops semantic reanalysis as the
semantic correlate and tracks its effects in meaning change.
Several case studies offer new insights in the architecture of
conceptual thinking that is part of the human language faculty.
Professor Eckardt develops her approach in terms of formal semantic
theory. She shows how neatly tailored analyses in truth-conditional
compositional semantics can elucidate the structural mechanisms of
meaning change. Her exposition is advanced in the context of
several in-depth case studies containing data new to historical
linguistics.
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