Complexity, isolation, and variation / edited by Raffaela Baechler and Guido Seiler.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Baechler, Raffaela, editor.

Seiler, Guido, editor.

Series:

Linguae & litterae ; Volume 57.

linguae & litterae, 1869-7054 ; Volume 57

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and languages--Variation.

Language and languages.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (176 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin, [Germany] ; Boston, [Massachusetts] : De Gruyter, 2016.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Complexity of grammatical structure has become a center of interest in recent typological and dialectological research. The contributions of the present volume discuss structural complexity from the perspective of language variation and change. Particular attention is paid to the hypothesis that languages and varieties spoken by small, isolated communities tend to display greater complexity than others.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Introduction

Inflectional complexity of nouns, adjectives and articles in closely related (non-)isolated varieties

On the origins of complexity: evidence from Germanic

An information-theoretic approach to assess linguistic complexity

On complexity of interrogative syntax in Northern Italian dialects

Complex edges, transparent frontiers: grammatical complexity and language spreads

A true split? Typological and sociolinguistic considerations on contact intensity effects

The sociolinguistics of non-equicomplexity

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed August 4, 2016).

ISBN:

9783110386455

3110386453

9783110348965

3110348969

OCLC:

957504407