Julia Schlüter

Rhythmic Grammar (eBook, PDF)

The Influence of Rhythm on Grammatical Variation and Change in English

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Focusing on the frequently neglected influence of rhythm on variation and change in English grammar, this book provides a groundbreaking study of interactions at the interface between phonology and morphosyntax. It refines available descriptions of grammatical phenomena by examining the explanatory force of the avoidance of adjacent stressed syllables. The main, empirical part presents twenty detailed analyses of a representative set of structures, most of them combining a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. The analysis is based on an extensive collection of electronic corpora covering the sixteenth to twentieth centuries. A theoretical discussion of implications for linguistic models such as Optimality Theory and spreading activation networks rounds off the volume.

---

Dieser Download kann aus rechtlichen Gründen nur mit Rechnungsadresse in A, B, BG, CY, CZ, D, DK, EW, E, FIN, F, GR, HR, H, IRL, I, LT, L, LR, M, NL, PL, P, R, S, SLO, SK ausgeliefert werden.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Walter de Gruyter
• Seitenzahl: 404
• Erscheinungstermin: 29. Juli 2009
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9783110219265
• Artikelnr.: 48597392

Autorenporträt

Julia Schlüter is Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Universität Paderborn, Germany.

Inhaltsangabe

Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1. The state of the art
1.2. Aims and scope
1.3. The structure of the argument

Chapter 2 The Principle of Rhythmic Alternation introduced
2.1. Outline
2.1.1. The universality of rhythmic organization
2.1.2. Isochrony types: stress timing vs. syllable timing
2.1.3. Compensation strategies
2.1.4. Functional explanations for rhythmic alternation
2.2. Previous research on rhythmic influences on English grammar

Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1. Corpora and their limitations
3.2. The phonology of written language
3.3. Concordance software and search procedures
3.4. Tests of statistical significance

Chapter 4 Analysis of attributive structures
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Worse vs. worser from EModE to nineteenth-century English
4.3. A-adjectives in PDE
4.4. Mono- and disyllabic variants of past participles
4.4.1. Drunk vs. drunken from ME to PDE
4.4.2. Broke vs. broken from ME to PDE
4.4.3. Struck vs. stricken from ME to PDE
4.4.4. Knit vs. knitted from ME to PDE
4.4.5. Lit vs. lighted from ME to PDE
4.4.6. Summary
4.5. A quite vs. quite a from EModE to PDE
4.6. The order of coordinated colour adjectives in PDE
4.7. Negated attributive adjectives in PDE
4.8. Summary

Chapter 5 Analysis of verbal and adverbial structures
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Negated sentence adverbs in PDE
5.3. Suffixed and suffixless adverbs
5.3.1. Quick vs. quickly from EModE to PDE
5.3.2. Slow vs. slowly from EModE to PDE
5.3.3. Scarce vs. scarcely in PDE
5.4. Marked and unmarked infinitives
5.4.1. Infinitives dependent on active make in EmodE and LModE
5.4.2. Infinitives dependent on passive make from EmodE to nineteenth-century English
5.4.3. Infinitives dependent on passive bid in nineteenth-century English
5.4.4. Infinitives dependent on the marginal modal dare from EModE to PDE
5.5. A-prefixation of -ing-forms
5.5.1. A-prefixation of -ing-forms following set from EModE to PDE
5.5.2. A-prefixation of -ing-forms following go from EModE to PDE
5.6. Summary

Chapter 6 Theoretical implications
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Optimality Theory
6.2.1. Universal, violable and ranked constraints
6.2.2. A critique of Optimality Theory
6.2.3. OT approaches to language variation and change
6.3. Spreading activation models
6.3.1. Principles of neural action
6.3.2. Networks in production and perception
6.3.3. Implications of the alternation of activation and recovery
6.3.4. Interactivity between levels
6.3.5. Limits to interactivity
6.3.6. Language variation and change in a neuro- and psycholinguistic perspective
6.3.7. Limitations of interactive activation models

Chapter 7 Conclusion
7.1. Synopsis
7.2. Outlook