Syntactic change in late modern English : studies on colloquialization and densification / Erik Smitterberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smitterberg, Eric, 1973- author.

Series:

Studies in English language.

Studies in English language

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--18th century--Syntax.

English language.

English language--Grammar, Historical.

English language--19th century--Syntax.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 302 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

Syntactic Change in Late Modern English presents a stability paradox to linguists; despite the many social changes that took place between 1700 and 1900, the language appeared to be structurally stable during this period. This book resolves this paradox by presenting a new, idiolect-centred perspective on language change, and shows how this framework is applicable to change in any language. It then demonstrates how an idiolect-centred framework can be reconciled with corpus-linguistic methodology through four original case studies. These concern colloquialization (the process by which oral features spread to writing) and densification (the process by which meaning is condensed into shorter linguistic units), two types of change that characterize Modern English. The case studies also shed light on the role of genre and gender in language change and contribute to the discussion of how to operationalize frequency in corpus linguistics. This study will be essential reading for researchers in historical linguistics, corpus linguistics and sociolinguistics.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Series page

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Sociocultural and Linguistic Change in Late Modern English

Chapter 3 Aspects of Language Change

Chapter 4 Methodological Framework

Chapter 5 Colloquialization I: Not-Contraction

Chapter 6 Colloquialization II: Co-ordination by And

Chapter 7 Densification I: Nouns as Premodifiers in Noun Phrases

Chapter 8 Densification II: Participle Clauses as Postmodifiers in Noun Phrases

Chapter 9 Concluding Discussion

Appendix

References

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 25 Nov 2021).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Smitterberg, Erik Syntactic Change in Late Modern English

ISBN:

1-108-63707-8

1-108-56498-4

1-108-62956-3