Parameters of Morphosyntactic Change


Book Description

Even today, many passengers, including the most frequent flyers, associate air travel with a feeling of fear and concern. Basing itself on the premise that people are often afraid of the unknown, author Jorge Ontiveros, a professional of Aena and the author of several publications on this sector, explains all the elements involved in air travel in his new work. It explains airports, their staff, security processes, ground workers and airline employees - a combination of professionals and technology that has made this means of transport by far the safest of all. Safety that is the main objective of all those who take part in this activity, and which Jorge Ontiveros, with descriptive and didactic language, tries to transmit, so that your next trip is much more pleasurable and pleasant. Publication index: I. Discover air travel From the age of pioneers till today Commercial aviation in Spain If this is your first time II. Flying, trick or magic? Why does an aeroplane fly? How does an aeroplane fly? III. The aeroplane: design, manufacture and maintenance Manufacturing reliable planes From manufacture to line flying We take care of your plane; we take care of you IV. Air routes and air traffic control Where do aeroplanes fly? Air traffic control V. At the airport The airport The best protection is invisible Come on, hurry up! A bird in the hand is worth... VI. On the plane Ladies and gentlemen, welcome on board! Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking Entering the runway for take-off In case of an emergency landing VII. Meteorology It ́s raining, it ́s pouring. The old man is snoring... ... He bumped his head and went to bed... ... And couldn ́t get up in the morning! Thunder and lightning! Fasten your seatbelt; we are encountering ana rea of turbulence... VIII. Travelling by plane or by car, which is safer? Risk and safety; travelling by plane or by car? Car safety ldquo;I am scared of planes, I am scared of boats too..." IX. Flying healthily Breathing at 10.000 metres I can ́t feel my legs! Jet lag, what is and how to alleviate it I am expecting, can I fly? When I fly I get earache X. Clarifying doubts I have a Young child; will travelling by plane be complicated? Would it be complicated to fly with reduced mobility? Everything you always wanted to know And just before we finish...some advice relating to




Morphosyntactic Change


Book Description

Particle verbs (combinations of two words but lexical units) are a notorious problem in linguistics. Is a particle verb like look up one word or two? It has its own entry in dictionaries, as if it is one word, but look and up can be split up in a sentence: we can say He looked the information up and He looked up the information. But why can't we say He looked up it? In English look and up can only be separated by a direct object, but in Dutch the two parts can be separated over a much longer distance. How did such hybrid verbs arise and how do they function? How can we make sense of them in modern theories of language structure? This book sets out to answer these and other questions, explaining how these verbs fit into the grammatical systems of English and Dutch.




Morphosyntactic Change


Book Description

This book presents a critical comparison of the two leading theories of linguistic change. After introducing the aims and methods of historical linguistics, Olga Fischer provides an exposition of the main theories used to describe morphosyntactic change and a full account of the causes and mechanisms by which their leading exponents seek to explain it. She measures the effectiveness of rival theories and methods in different contexts and in the process throws fresh light on the balance of factors influencing linguistic change. Professor Fischer emphazises the unity of form and meaning in the linguistic sign and examines the role played by analogy. She looks at how changes in discourse, lexicon, semantics, pragmatics, and sound interact with changes in morphosyntax, and explores the relationship between external and internal causes of change. She considers whether morphosyntactic change is gradual or abrupt and discusses how far rates of change reflect the degree to which grammar is innate or learned. She uses detailed case studies to illustrate different types of morphosyntactic change, and to show how each theory fares when put into practice. The author's clear style and her balanced approach to this fascinating and complex subject combine to make this a book that will be of central interest and value to scholars and students of linguistic change, at graduate level and above.




The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Volume II


Book Description

An entirely new follow-up volume providing a detailed account of numerous additional issues, methods, and results that characterize current work in historical linguistics. This brand-new, second volume of The Handbook of Historical Linguistics is a complement to the well-established first volume first published in 2003. It includes extended content allowing uniquely comprehensive coverage of the study of language(s) over time. Though it adds fresh perspectives on several topics previously treated in the first volume, this Handbook focuses on extensions of diachronic linguistics beyond those key issues. This Handbook provides readers with studies of language change whose perspectives range from comparisons of large open vs. small closed corpora, via creolistics and linguistic contact in general, to obsolescence and endangerment of languages. Written by leading scholars in their respective fields, new chapters are offered on matters such as the origin of language, evidence from language for reconstructing human prehistory, invocations of language present in studies of language past, benefits of linguistic fieldwork for historical investigation, ways in which not only biological evolution but also field biology can serve as heuristics for research into the rise and spread of linguistic innovations, and more. Moreover, it: offers novel and broadened content complementing the earlier volume so as to provide the fullest available overview of a wholly engrossing field includes 23 all-new contributed chapters, treating some familiar themes from fresh perspectives but mostly covering entirely new topics features expanded discussion of material from language families other than Indo-European provides a multiplicity of views from numerous specialists in linguistic diachrony. The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Volume II is an ideal book for undergraduate and graduate students in linguistics, researchers and professional linguists, as well as all those interested in the history of particular languages and the history of language more generally.




Parameter Theory and Linguistic Change


Book Description

Leading scholars examine languages ranging from old Egyptian to modern Afrikaans. They consider the insights parametric theory offers to understanding the dynamics of language change and test new hypotheses against an extensive array of data. In both the broad range of languages it discusses and its use of linguistic theory this is an outstanding book.




The Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics


Book Description

English historical linguistics is a subfield of linguistics which has developed theories and methods for exploring the history of the English language. This Handbook provides an account of state-of-the-art research on this history. It offers an in-depth survey of materials, methods, and language-theoretical models used to study the long diachrony of English. The frameworks covered include corpus linguistics, historical sociolinguistics, historical pragmatics and manuscript studies, among others. The chapters, by leading experts, examine the interplay of language theory and empirical data throughout, critically assessing the work in the field. Of particular importance are the diverse data sources which have become increasingly available in electronic form, allowing the discipline to develop in new directions. The Handbook offers access to the rich and many-faceted spectrum of work in English historical linguistics, past and present, and will be useful for researchers and students interested in hands-on research on the history of English.




Variation and Morphosyntactic Change in Greek


Book Description

An alternative approach launched from a diachronic perspective is proposed and its implications for our understanding of the nature of language change, the status of clitics in morphology, and the role of generalizations in linguistic explanation are discussed."--BOOK JACKET.




Knowledge and Learning in Natural Language


Book Description

The model is makes quantitative and cross-linguistic predictions about child language. It may also be deployed as a predictive model of language change which, when the evidence is available, could explain why grammars change in a particular direction at a particular time.




The Oxford Handbook of Universal Grammar


Book Description

This handbook provides a critical guide to the most central proposition in modern linguistics: the notion, generally known as Universal Grammar, that a universal set of structural principles underlies the grammatical diversity of the world's languages. Part I considers the implications of Universal Grammar for philosophy of mind and philosophy of language, and examines the history of the theory. Part II focuses on linguistic theory, looking at topics such as explanatory adequacy and how phonology and semantics fit into Universal Grammar. Parts III and IV look respectively at the insights derived from UG-inspired research on language acquisition, and at comparative syntax and language typology, while part V considers the evidence for Universal Grammar in phenomena such as creoles, language pathology, and sign language. The book will be a vital reference for linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists.




English Historical Linguistics 2006


Book Description

The papers collected in this volume were first presented at the 14th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (Bergamo, 2006). Alongside studies of syntax, morphology, lexis and semantics, published in two sister volumes, many innovative contributions focused on geo-historical variation in English. A carefully peer-reviewed selection, including two plenary lectures, appears here in print for the first time, bearing witness to the increasing scholarly interest in varieties of English other than so-called ‘standard’ English. In all the contributions, well-established methods of historical dialectology combine with new theoretical approaches, in an attempt to shed more light on phenomena that have hitherto remained unexplored, or have only just begun to be investigated. Perceptual dialectology is also taken into consideration, and state-of-the-art tools, such as electronic corpora and atlases, are employed consistently, ensuring the methodological homogeneity of the contributions.