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book: Individuality in Language Change
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Individuality in Language Change

Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2021
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Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM]

About this book

Linguists have typically studied language change at the aggregate level of speech communities, yet key mechanisms of change such as analogy and automation operate within the minds of individual language users. Drawing on lifespan data from 50 authors and the intriguing case of the special passives in the history of English, this study addresses three fundamental issues relating to individuality in language change: (i) how variation and change at the individual level interact with change at the community level; (ii) how much innovation and change is possible across the adult lifespan; (iii) and to what extent related linguistic patterns are associated in individual cognition. As one of the first large-scale empirical studies to systematically link individual- and community-based perspectives in language change, this volume breaks new ground in our understanding of language as a complex adaptive system.

Author / Editor information

Lynn Anthonissen, University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    I
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    Acknowledgments

    V
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    Contents

    VII
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    Abbreviations

    XI
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    List of Tables

    XIII
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    List of Figures

    XV
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  • Part I: Introduction
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    1 Introduction

    1
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  • Part II: Language change and special passives
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    2 A theory of language change

    13
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    3 Systemic change and the rise of the passive

    43
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    4 The development of special passives

    77
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  • Part III: Connecting individual and community grammars
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    5 The EMMA corpus

    117
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    6 The prepositional passive

    131
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    7 The nominative and infinitive

    175
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    8 Networks in adult cognition

    219
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  • Part IV: Summary and conclusions
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    9 Conclusion

    267
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    10 Appendix

    279
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    Bibliography

    287
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    Index

    318
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
October 25, 2021
eBook ISBN:
9783110725841
Hardcover published on:
October 25, 2021
Hardcover ISBN:
9783110725711
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
16
Main content:
323
Illustrations:
14
Coloured Illustrations:
28
Tables:
33
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110725841
eBook ISBN: 9783110725841
Hardcover ISBN: 9783110725711
Keywords for this book
Individual Grammars; Language as a Complex Adaptive System; Passive Constructions; History of English
Audience(s) for this book
Researchers and graduate students interested in cognitive and constructionist approaches to language variation and change
Safety & product resources
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