Language Universals And Variation

Author : Mengistu Amberber,Peter Collins
Publisher : Praeger
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2002-06-30
Category : Education
ISBN : UOM:39015055861705

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Language Universals and Variation by Mengistu Amberber,Peter Collins Pdf

Issues addressed in this contributed volume include lexical semantics, morphosyntax, and phonology based on the broad theme of formal approaches to language universals and variation. Aspects of natural language variation are investigated from a formal theoretical perspective, including the Principles and Parameters/Minimalist Program, Lexical Functional Grammar and Optimality Theory. A wide range of languages and language families are considered, including Amharic, Arabic, Bantu, Berber, Chamorro, English, French, Japanese, Malyalam, Polish, Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, and Warlpiri. This is an important addition to the growing body of literature on language universals and variation from formal theoretical perspectives. It will be a useful reference to linguistics specialists and other cognitive scientists. The topics covered are also diverse, ranging from pronominal clitic variation in dialects of Spanish to passives in Bantu and Polish and the typology of Wh-in-situ questions and vowel place constraints.

Author : Peter Siemund
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 481 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110238051

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Linguistic Universals and Language Variation by Peter Siemund Pdf

The volume explores the relationship between linguistic universals and language variation. Its contributions identify the recurrent patterns and principles behind the complex spectrum of observable variation. The volume bridges the gap between cross-linguistic variation, regional variation, diachronic variation, contact-induced variation as well as socially conditioned variation. Moreover, it addresses fundamental methodological and theoretical issues of variation research. The volume brings together internationally renowned specialists of their fields while, at the same time, offering a platform for gifted and highly talented young researchers. The authors come from different theoretical backgrounds and through their work illustrate a rich array of scientific methods. All authors share a strong belief in empirically founded theoretical work. The contributions span a high number of languages and dialects from many parts of the world. They are extremely broad in their empirical coverage addressing an impressive selection of grammatical domains.

Author : Peter Siemund
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 481 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2011-06-30
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110238068

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Linguistic Universals and Language Variation by Peter Siemund Pdf

The volume explores the relationship between linguistic universals and language variation. Its contributions identify the recurrent patterns and principles behind the complex spectrum of observable variation. The volume bridges the gap between cross-linguistic variation, regional variation, diachronic variation, contact-induced variation as well as socially conditioned variation. Moreover, it addresses fundamental methodological and theoretical issues of variation research. The volume brings together internationally renowned specialists of their fields while, at the same time, offering a platform for gifted and highly talented young researchers. The authors come from different theoretical backgrounds and through their work illustrate a rich array of scientific methods. All authors share a strong belief in empirically founded theoretical work. The contributions span a high number of languages and dialects from many parts of the world. They are extremely broad in their empirical coverage addressing an impressive selection of grammatical domains.

Author : Jila Ghomeshi,Ileana Paul,Martina Wiltschko
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027255303

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Determiners by Jila Ghomeshi,Ileana Paul,Martina Wiltschko Pdf

This volume brings together recent work on the formal and interpretational properties of determiners across a variety of typologically and geographically unrelated languages. It seeks to answer the core question of modern linguistic theory: Which properties of languages are universal and which are variable? In recent theorizing, much of language variation is argued to stem from differences in the properties of features associated with functional heads. As such, this volume can be viewed as a case study of one such category: the determiner (D). The contributions all investigate the status of D as a language universal by examining the language-specific syntactic and semantic properties associated with this category. This volume will appeal to researchers and students in syntax and semantics, as well as to those who have more a specific interest in determiners and noun phrases.

Author : Mengistu Amberber,Peter Collins
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2002-06-30
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780313012488

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Language Universals and Variation by Mengistu Amberber,Peter Collins Pdf

Issues addressed in this contributed volume include lexical semantics, morphosyntax, and phonology based on the broad theme of formal approaches to language universals and variation. Aspects of natural language variation are investigated from a formal theoretical perspective, including the Principles and Parameters/Minimalist Program, Lexical Functional Grammar and Optimality Theory. A wide range of languages and language families are considered, including Amharic, Arabic, Bantu, Berber, Chamorro, English, French, Japanese, Malyalam, Polish, Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, and Warlpiri. This is an important addition to the growing body of literature on language universals and variation from formal theoretical perspectives. It will be a useful reference to linguistics specialists and other cognitive scientists. The topics covered are also diverse, ranging from pronominal clitic variation in dialects of Spanish to passives in Bantu and Polish and the typology of Wh-in-situ questions and vowel place constraints.

Author : Martin Haspelmath,Ekkehard König,Wulf Oesterreicher,Wolfgang Raible
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 1013 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2008-07-14
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110194265

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Language Typology and Language Universals 2.Teilband by Martin Haspelmath,Ekkehard König,Wulf Oesterreicher,Wolfgang Raible Pdf

This handbook provides a comprehensive and thorough survey of our current insights into the diversity and unity found across the 6000 languages of this planet. The 125 articles include inter alia chapters on the patterns and limits of variation manifested by analogous structures, constructions and linguistic devices across languages (e.g. word order, tense and aspect, inflection, color terms and syllable structure). Other chapters cover the history, methodology and the theory of typology, as well as the relationship between language typology and other disciplines. The authors of the individual sections and chapters are for the most part internationally known experts on the relevant topics. The vast majority of the articles are written in English, some in French or German. The handbook is not only intended for the expert in the fields of typology and language universals, but for all of those interested in linguistics. It is specifically addressed to all those who specialize in individual languages, providing basic orientation for their analysis and placing each language within the space of what is possible and common in the languages of the world.

Author : William E. Rutherford
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 1984-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027228697

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Language Universals and Second Language Acquisition by William E. Rutherford Pdf

This volume consists of papers presented at the Conference on Language Universals and Second Language Acquisition, University of Southern California, February 1982. Published with the papers are the remarks of the originally assigned discussants. The collection represents an important cross-fertilization between research in grammatical theory and in second language acquisition. Topics dealt with in a number of the papers include word order, markedness, core grammar, accessability hierarchies, and simplified registers. The range of universals discussed embraces phonology, syntax, semantics, and discourse. Universals are also considered with reference to ontology, psychological reality, and evaluation metrics.

Author : Peter W. Culicover
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2021-08-26
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780192634733

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Language Change, Variation, and Universals by Peter W. Culicover Pdf

This volume explores how human languages become what they are, why they differ from one another in certain ways but not in others, and why they change in the ways that they do. Given that language is a universal creation of the human mind, the puzzle is why there are different languages at all: why do we not all speak the same language? Moreover, while there is considerable variation, in some ways grammars do show consistent patterns: why are languages similar in those respects, and why are those particular patterns preferred? Peter Culicover proposes that the solution to these puzzles is a constructional one. Grammars consist of constructions that carry out the function of expressing universal conceptual structure. While there are in principle many different ways of accomplishing this task, languages are under press to reduce constructional complexity. The result is that there is constructional change in the direction of less complexity, and grammatical patterns emerge that more efficiently reflect conceptual universals. The volume is divided into three parts: the first establishes the theoretical foundations; the second explores variation in argument structure, grammatical functions, and A-bar constructions, drawing on data from a variety of languages including English and Plains Cree; and the third examines constructional change, focusing primarily on Germanic. The study ends with observations and speculations on parameter theory, analogy, the origins of typological patterns, and Greenbergian 'universals'.

Author : Kumiko Tanaka-Ishii
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 230 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2021-04-01
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9783030593773

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Statistical Universals of Language by Kumiko Tanaka-Ishii Pdf

This volume explores the universal mathematical properties underlying big language data and possible reasons why such properties exist, revealing how we may be unconsciously mathematical in our language use. These properties are statistical and thus different from linguistic universals that contribute to describing the variation of human languages, and they can only be identified over a large accumulation of usages. The book provides an overview of state-of-the art findings on these statistical universals and reconsiders the nature of language accordingly, with Zipf's law as a well-known example. The main focus of the book further lies in explaining the property of long memory, which was discovered and studied more recently by borrowing concepts from complex systems theory. The statistical universals not only possibly lie as the precursor of language system formation, but they also highlight the qualities of language that remain weak points in today's machine learning. In summary, this book provides an overview of language's global properties. It will be of interest to anyone engaged in fields related to language and computing or statistical analysis methods, with an emphasis on researchers and students in computational linguistics and natural language processing. While the book does apply mathematical concepts, all possible effort has been made to speak to a non-mathematical audience as well by communicating mathematical content intuitively, with concise examples taken from real texts.

Author : Artemis Alexiadou
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 327 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2002-08-08
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027297563

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Theoretical Approaches to Universals by Artemis Alexiadou Pdf

The present volume has its origin in the GLOW conference on Universals hosted in Berlin in March 1999. The papers in this volume are concerned both with formal as well as with substantive universals. All the contributions attempt to identify universal properties of the language faculty, as well as the source of cross-linguistic variation. They cover a wide range of empirical phenomena across languages such as locality, deletion, verb classes, XP-split constructions, Quantifier Raising, the EPP, the Person Case Constraint etc. Some of the articles pay particular attention to the organization of the grammar, the type of operations that are effective, the role of features in determining variation, and primitive notions of phrase-structure (c-command, Agree etc.). Others show how structural differences capture semantic and morphological differences within a language and across languages, and how these are the ultimate source of linguistic variation. The book is of primary interest to researchers and students in syntactic theory, comparative syntax, and linguistic variation.

Author : Jürgen Handke, Peter Franke
Publisher : Waxmann Verlag
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2024-05-23
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9783830966890

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The Virtual Linguistics Campus by Jürgen Handke, Peter Franke Pdf

Author : Simon Kirby
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 1999-04-22
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780191583520

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Function, Selection, and Innateness by Simon Kirby Pdf

This book explores issues at the core of modern linguistics and cognitive science. Why are all languages similar in some ways and in others utterly different? Why do languages change and change variably? How did the human capacity for language evolve, and how far did it do so as an innate ability? Simon Kirby looks at these questions from a broad perspective, arguing that they can (indeed must) be studied together. The author begins by examining how far the universal properties of language may be explained by examining the way it is used, and how far by the way it is structured. He then considers what insights may be gained by combining functional and formal approaches. In doing so he develops a way of treating language as an adaptive system, in which its communicative and formal roles are both crucial and complementary. In order to test the effectiveness of competing theories and explanations, Simon Kirby develops computational models to show what universals emerge given a particular theory of language use or acquisition. He presents here both the methodology and the results. Function, Selection, and Innateness is important for its argument, its methodology, and its conclusions. It is a powerful demonstration of the value of looking at language as an adaptive system and goes to the heart of current debates on the evolution and nature of language.

Author : Lyle Jenkins
Publisher : Brill
Page : 456 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Biolinguistics
ISBN : UCSC:32106017750214

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Variation and Universals in Biolinguistics by Lyle Jenkins Pdf

Offers an overview of work on the biology of language - what is sometimes called the "biolinguistic approach." This book focuses on the interplay between variation and the universal properties of language. It provides case studies from the areas of syntactic variation, genetic variation, neurological variation and historical variation.

Author : Bianca Stärk
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 57 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9783640673186

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Defining Language Universals by Bianca Stärk Pdf

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2004 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Linguistik, Note: 2,8, Universit t zu K ln (Anglistisches Institut), Veranstaltung: Morphosyntax English - German, 5 Quellen im Literaturverzeichnis, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Language is something uniquely human. Bertrand Russell stated in 1948 that "A dog cannot relate his autobiography; however eloquently he may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were honest though poor" (Whaley 1997: 4). Language ist not only unique to humans and diverse but there are also commonalities between languages. About five thousand languages are spoken in the world today but there still is a basic unity that undelies their diversities. Many of the world's languages show similar principles. An example of such a similaritiy is word order. In some languages such as English, French and Italian the word order is subject, verb and object. This is the so called SOV order. Besides similarities like this, there also exist features between some languages, which are common to all human languages in the world and are called language universals. These language universals classify entire languages into categories which are then based on shared properties. Language universals are examined within the field of typology. Typology has the task of examining cross-linguistic patterns. This means that "all typological research is based on comparisons between languages" (Whaley 1997: 7). Through comparing different languages with each other, one necessarily comes into contact with universals, which hold true for a group of languages or even for all languages. This is how language universals are placed within the field of typology.

Author : Maya Hickmann,Edy Veneziano,Harriet Jisa
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 456 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2018-02-22
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027265326

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Sources of Variation in First Language Acquisition by Maya Hickmann,Edy Veneziano,Harriet Jisa Pdf

Developmental research has long focused on regularities in language acquisition, minimizing factors that might be responsible for variation. Although researchers are now increasingly concerned with one or another of these factors, this volume brings together research on three different sources of variation: language-specific properties, the nature of the input to children across contexts, and several aspects of the learners themselves. Chapters explore these sources of variation within an interdisciplinary and comparative approach allying theories and methodologies stemming from linguistics, psycholinguistics, developmental psychology, and neuroscience. The comparative perspective involves different languages, contexts of use, types of learners (first/second language acquisition, monolingual/bilingual learners, autism, language impairment), as well as vocal and visuo-gestural communicative modalities (co-verbal gestures, sign language acquisition). The volume points to the need to enhance interdisciplinary research using complementary methodologies to further examine sources of variation and to integrate variation into a more general developmental theory.