Geolinguistic data and the past tense debate
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Rik Vosters
Abstract
The present contribution deals with synchronic variation in Dutch past tense regularization, focusing on cognitive and geolinguistic aspects of the phenomenon. Experimental data are presented from a production task and a series of acceptability judgments, carried out among a group of 240 native speaker respondents. An empirical overview shows the relative frequency of regularization, and patterns of regional divergence are highlighted and discussed. Theoretical implications are addressed within the framework of the past tense debate. Both the observed role of token frequency and the discrepancy between usage and acceptability data from a geolinguistic perspective are taken as evidence against traditional dual-route accounts. Further analyses of geographical variation in the findings consider the possibility of analogical support from homophonous regional forms.
Abstract
The present contribution deals with synchronic variation in Dutch past tense regularization, focusing on cognitive and geolinguistic aspects of the phenomenon. Experimental data are presented from a production task and a series of acceptability judgments, carried out among a group of 240 native speaker respondents. An empirical overview shows the relative frequency of regularization, and patterns of regional divergence are highlighted and discussed. Theoretical implications are addressed within the framework of the past tense debate. Both the observed role of token frequency and the discrepancy between usage and acceptability data from a geolinguistic perspective are taken as evidence against traditional dual-route accounts. Further analyses of geographical variation in the findings consider the possibility of analogical support from homophonous regional forms.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
