Loss or variation? Functional load in morpho-syntax – Three case studies
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Alexandra Rehn
Abstract
In order to get a better understanding of the circumstances under which elements can get lost in the course of their diachronic development, three phenomena of German non-standard varieties will be compared: loss of adnominal genitive, optional realization of adjectival inflection and variation in the choice of relative clause introducers. It will be shown that on the one hand, a substitutional strategy to compensate for the function of the element that undergoes loss is required but that this alone does not necessarily lead to loss. Depending on the functional load of the individual items and the options the syntax provides the availability of a substitutional strategy may result in loss, optionality or variation.
Abstract
In order to get a better understanding of the circumstances under which elements can get lost in the course of their diachronic development, three phenomena of German non-standard varieties will be compared: loss of adnominal genitive, optional realization of adjectival inflection and variation in the choice of relative clause introducers. It will be shown that on the one hand, a substitutional strategy to compensate for the function of the element that undergoes loss is required but that this alone does not necessarily lead to loss. Depending on the functional load of the individual items and the options the syntax provides the availability of a substitutional strategy may result in loss, optionality or variation.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Lost in Change 1
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Part I. Modelling loss: Description, theory and method
- A typological perspective on the loss of inflection* 21
- So -adj- a construction as a case of obsolescence in progress 51
- The impersonal construction in the texts of Updated Old English 75
- Corpus driven identification of lexical bundle obsolescence in Late Modern English 101
- A constructional account of the loss of the adverse avertive schema in Mandarin Chinese 131
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Part II. Motivations and explanations for loss: Language-internal and external factors
- Loss or variation? Functional load in morpho-syntax – Three case studies 161
- “The next Morning I got a Warrant for the Man and his Wife, but he was fled” 199
- On the waning of forms – A corpus-based analysis of decline and loss in adjective amplification 235
- Decline and loss in the modal domain in recent English* 261
- German so -relatives 291
- Loss of object indexation in verbal paradigms of Koĩc (Tibeto-Burman, Nepal) 333
- Index 363
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Lost in Change 1
-
Part I. Modelling loss: Description, theory and method
- A typological perspective on the loss of inflection* 21
- So -adj- a construction as a case of obsolescence in progress 51
- The impersonal construction in the texts of Updated Old English 75
- Corpus driven identification of lexical bundle obsolescence in Late Modern English 101
- A constructional account of the loss of the adverse avertive schema in Mandarin Chinese 131
-
Part II. Motivations and explanations for loss: Language-internal and external factors
- Loss or variation? Functional load in morpho-syntax – Three case studies 161
- “The next Morning I got a Warrant for the Man and his Wife, but he was fled” 199
- On the waning of forms – A corpus-based analysis of decline and loss in adjective amplification 235
- Decline and loss in the modal domain in recent English* 261
- German so -relatives 291
- Loss of object indexation in verbal paradigms of Koĩc (Tibeto-Burman, Nepal) 333
- Index 363
