Syntactic change
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Frederick J. Newmeyer
Abstract
Two diametrically opposed positions on syntactic change have wide currency in the literature. The first is the classical position of mainstream formal linguistics. In this view, UG-based strategies lead to a dramatically rapid cascade of seemingly unrelated diachronic changes. The second view has been developed primarily in the context of functional linguistics and associated statistical approaches. In this way of looking at things, diachronic change is ‘fuzzy’, in the sense that syntactic categories and constructions undergo a gradual evolution. In this paper I argue that neither position is correct. Syntactic change is discrete and abrupt, as is maintained by most formal syntacticians. However, we must abandon the view that such change can be interpreted in terms of UG-provided parameters or cues.
Abstract
Two diametrically opposed positions on syntactic change have wide currency in the literature. The first is the classical position of mainstream formal linguistics. In this view, UG-based strategies lead to a dramatically rapid cascade of seemingly unrelated diachronic changes. The second view has been developed primarily in the context of functional linguistics and associated statistical approaches. In this way of looking at things, diachronic change is ‘fuzzy’, in the sense that syntactic categories and constructions undergo a gradual evolution. In this paper I argue that neither position is correct. Syntactic change is discrete and abrupt, as is maintained by most formal syntacticians. However, we must abandon the view that such change can be interpreted in terms of UG-provided parameters or cues.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Language ecology, language evolution, and the actuation question 13
- Syntactic change 37
- Language contact, linguistic variability and the construction of local identities 67
- The social side of syntax in multilingual Oslo 91
- The expansion of the Preterit in Rioplatenese Spanish 117
- Constructing diasystems 137
- Syntactic frames and single-word code-switching 153
- Norwegian discourse ellipses in the left periphery – interacting structural and semantic restrictions 171
- The myth of creole “exceptionalism” 191
- Some notes on bare noun phrases in Haitian Creole and Gùngbè 203
- Coding in time 237
- Index 259
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Language ecology, language evolution, and the actuation question 13
- Syntactic change 37
- Language contact, linguistic variability and the construction of local identities 67
- The social side of syntax in multilingual Oslo 91
- The expansion of the Preterit in Rioplatenese Spanish 117
- Constructing diasystems 137
- Syntactic frames and single-word code-switching 153
- Norwegian discourse ellipses in the left periphery – interacting structural and semantic restrictions 171
- The myth of creole “exceptionalism” 191
- Some notes on bare noun phrases in Haitian Creole and Gùngbè 203
- Coding in time 237
- Index 259
