When diachrony meets synchrony.
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Claudia Pons-Moll
Abstract
This paper has three goals. First, it aims to illustrate how the problems derived from access to intricate diachronic empirical data can sometimes be informed by a careful look at interdialectal microvariation, in that this linguistic microvariation can sometimes help to explain why a phonological process applies or has applied. Second, it intends to show how some of the machineries developed within Optimality Theory to account for synchronic surface resemblances between the members of an inflectional paradigm can be applied to account for phonological change. Third, it attempts to demonstrate how the analysis of phonological change and linguistic variation in a specific linguistic variety and across nearby linguistic varieties can provide noteworthy insights about the architecture of these machineries. Overall, we provide significant empirical evidence, drawn from Catalan, Spanish and Occitan inflection, that analogy is exclusively induced by phonological markedness, that is, for concluding that what determines or governs the direction of the pressure is not a specific morphological status of a word but rather the need to respect phonological markedness.
Abstract
This paper has three goals. First, it aims to illustrate how the problems derived from access to intricate diachronic empirical data can sometimes be informed by a careful look at interdialectal microvariation, in that this linguistic microvariation can sometimes help to explain why a phonological process applies or has applied. Second, it intends to show how some of the machineries developed within Optimality Theory to account for synchronic surface resemblances between the members of an inflectional paradigm can be applied to account for phonological change. Third, it attempts to demonstrate how the analysis of phonological change and linguistic variation in a specific linguistic variety and across nearby linguistic varieties can provide noteworthy insights about the architecture of these machineries. Overall, we provide significant empirical evidence, drawn from Catalan, Spanish and Occitan inflection, that analogy is exclusively induced by phonological markedness, that is, for concluding that what determines or governs the direction of the pressure is not a specific morphological status of a word but rather the need to respect phonological markedness.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The dialect laboratory 1
- The evolutionary-emergence model of language change 33
- Dialect data, lexical frequency and the usage-based approach 53
- Dialect areas and linguistic change 73
- The role of implicational universals in language change 107
- On the genesis of the German recipient passive – Two competing hypotheses in the light of current dialect data 121
- Paths to tone in the Tamang branch of Tibeto-Burman (Nepal) 139
- Dialect choice in Fiji 179
- When diachrony meets synchrony. 197
- Geolinguistic data and the past tense debate 227
- Tense and aspect systems of Western and Eastern dialects in Japan 249
- The rise of DP-internal possessors 271
- Index 295
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The dialect laboratory 1
- The evolutionary-emergence model of language change 33
- Dialect data, lexical frequency and the usage-based approach 53
- Dialect areas and linguistic change 73
- The role of implicational universals in language change 107
- On the genesis of the German recipient passive – Two competing hypotheses in the light of current dialect data 121
- Paths to tone in the Tamang branch of Tibeto-Burman (Nepal) 139
- Dialect choice in Fiji 179
- When diachrony meets synchrony. 197
- Geolinguistic data and the past tense debate 227
- Tense and aspect systems of Western and Eastern dialects in Japan 249
- The rise of DP-internal possessors 271
- Index 295
