The Linguistic Cycle : Economy and Renewal in Historical Linguistics

Cyclical language change is a linguistic process by which a word, phrase, or part of the grammar loses its meaning or function and is then replaced by another. This can even happen on the level of an entire language, which can experience a change in the language family it is a part of. This new text is a comprehensive introduction to this phenomenon, the mechanisms underlying it, and the relations between the different types of cycles. Elly van Gelderen reviews the subject widely and holistically, defining key terms and comprehensively presenting diverse theoretical perspectives and empirical findings. With coverage of a variety of micro cycles and the more controversial macro cycles, incorporating cutting-edge work on grammaticalization, and drawing on examples from many languages and language families, this book accessibly guides readers through the state of the art in the field. With practical methodological guidance on how to identify and investigate linguistic cycles, and an array of useful pedagogical features, the book provides a coherent framework for approaching, understanding, and furthering research in linguistic cycles. This text will be an indispensable resource for advanced students and researchers in historical and diachronic linguistics, language typology, and linguistic and grammatical theory. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Preface List of tables List of figures List of Abbreviations and primary sources 1 Introduction 1 What is the linguistic cycle? 2 What kinds of cycles exist? 3 How and why to study cyclical change 3.1 The practical side 3.2 The theoretical side 4 Major questions in the study of cycles 5 Terminology, resources, and glossing 6 Conclusions and outline Suggestions for further reading Review questions and exercises 2 A history of cyclical change 1 The eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries 2 The late nineteenth and early twentieth century 3 The mid and late twentieth century 4 Recent generative work 5 Recent non-generative work 6 Conclusions Suggestions for further reading Review questions 3 Micro cycles: determiner and verbal cycles 1 Definition of a micro cycle 2 The determiner cycle 3 Copula cycles 4 Tense and aspect cycles 4.1 The imperfective cycle 4.2 The perfective cycle 4.3 Imperfective and perfective renewal in Basque 5 Mood and modal cycles 6 Voice cycles 7 Conclusions Suggestions for further reading Review questions and exercises 4 Micro cycles: polarity and discourse cycles 1 Negative cycles 1.1 Jespersen’s negative cycle 1.2 Givón’s negative cycle 1.3 Croft’s negative cycle, also known as the negative existential cycle 2 The interrogative cycle 3 Complementizer cycles 4 Pragmatic cycles 4.1 A definition 4.2 Temporal sources 4.3 Emphatic pronoun cycles 5 Interactions between micro cycles 6 Conclusions Suggestions for further reading Review questions and exercises 5 Macro cycles 1 Definition and controversies 2 Analytic and synthetic cycles 3 Agreement cycles or head marking cycles 3.1 Subject agreement cycles 3.2 Object cycles 3.3 Morpheme order 4 Case cycles or dependent marking cycles 5 Interactions involving macro cycles 6 Conclusions Suggestions for further reading Review questions and exercises Appendix 6 Explanations and mechanisms 1 Comfort and clarity 2 External influence 3 Construction grammar 4 Early Minimalism: structural and featural economy 5 Later Minimalism: minimal search 6 Attractor states and linguistic cycles 7 Conclusions Suggestions for further reading Review questions and exercises 7 Conclusions and future directions 1 Insights from cycles 2 Criticisms of the cycle 3 Future directions 4 Conclusions Review questions and exercises Final advanced exercise Possible answers to the review questions and exercises References Index "Cyclical language change is a linguistic process by which a word, phrase, or part of the grammar loses its meaning or function and is then replaced by another. This can even happen on the level of an entire language, which can experience a change in the language family it is a part of. This new text is a comprehensive introduction to this phenomenon, the mechanisms underlying it, and the relations between the different types of cycles: Elly van Gelderen reviews the subject widely and holistically, defining key terms and comprehensively presenting diverse theoretical perspectives and empirical findings"-- Provided by publisher