Linguistic self-regulation
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Anna Anastassiadis-Syméonidis
Abstract
We report on a case of morphological change in progress that falls within the scope of Greek grammatical gender. We interpret gender-related variation of Modern Greek feminine nouns in terms of cognitive and usage patterns, i.e. prototypicality and frequency. Our basic claim is that the observed masculine gender assignment to [+ learned] feminine nouns in -(o)s reveals the shifting boundaries of the specific inflection class and reflects the way in which linguistic use is imposed on linguistic structure through self-regulation. In order to investigate the motivation and the diffusion of the reported gender change, we focus on the use of individual nouns with overlapping gender assignment in written electronic data. The data analysis suggests that (i) gender change is motivated by prototypicality, strengthened by phonetic similarity, and consolidated by high frequency of use, and (ii) gender mobility is explicitly observed in specific text categories characterized by [– learned] style and informal context.
Abstract
We report on a case of morphological change in progress that falls within the scope of Greek grammatical gender. We interpret gender-related variation of Modern Greek feminine nouns in terms of cognitive and usage patterns, i.e. prototypicality and frequency. Our basic claim is that the observed masculine gender assignment to [+ learned] feminine nouns in -(o)s reveals the shifting boundaries of the specific inflection class and reflects the way in which linguistic use is imposed on linguistic structure through self-regulation. In order to investigate the motivation and the diffusion of the reported gender change, we focus on the use of individual nouns with overlapping gender assignment in written electronic data. The data analysis suggests that (i) gender change is motivated by prototypicality, strengthened by phonetic similarity, and consolidated by high frequency of use, and (ii) gender mobility is explicitly observed in specific text categories characterized by [– learned] style and informal context.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction ix
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Part I. Regularity, irregularity, and analogy
- Arguments from Lovari loan-verb adaptation for an analogy-based analysis of verbal systems 3
- Possible and impossible variation in Hungarian 23
- Variation in the possessive allomorphy of Hungarian 51
- Revisiting exocentricity in compounding 65
- A constructionist account of the Modern Dutch adnominal genitive 83
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Part II. The role of frequency in morphological complexity, morphological change and language acquisition
- Perspectives on morphological complexity 107
- Morphological complexity and unsupervised learning 135
- A working typology of multiple exponence 163
- Linguistic self-regulation 189
- Suffix predictability and stem transparency in the acquisition of German noun plurals 217
- Acquisition of German diminutive formation and compounding in a comparative perspective 237
- Index 265
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction ix
-
Part I. Regularity, irregularity, and analogy
- Arguments from Lovari loan-verb adaptation for an analogy-based analysis of verbal systems 3
- Possible and impossible variation in Hungarian 23
- Variation in the possessive allomorphy of Hungarian 51
- Revisiting exocentricity in compounding 65
- A constructionist account of the Modern Dutch adnominal genitive 83
-
Part II. The role of frequency in morphological complexity, morphological change and language acquisition
- Perspectives on morphological complexity 107
- Morphological complexity and unsupervised learning 135
- A working typology of multiple exponence 163
- Linguistic self-regulation 189
- Suffix predictability and stem transparency in the acquisition of German noun plurals 217
- Acquisition of German diminutive formation and compounding in a comparative perspective 237
- Index 265
