Studies in the History of the English Language: Variation and Change in English (Topics in English Linguistics)

ISBN 10: 3110220326 / ISBN 13: 9783110220322

Published by Walter de Gruyter, Incorporated, 2010

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 6509777

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Studies in the History of the English Language: Variation and Change in English (Topics in English Linguistics)
• Publisher: Walter de Gruyter, Incorporated
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3110220326
• ISBN 13: 9783110220322
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This collection of essays focuses on current approaches to variation and change in historical English grammar and lexicon. Of the twelve papers in the collection, half are based on grammar and syntax, half on lexical developments. The volume highlights the contributions that strong empirical research can make to our knowledge of the development of English grammar, especially as realized in lexical development. In illustration of contemporary research trends, the articles in the collection make strong use of extralinguistic factors to discuss language change as well as argue for internal and structural development.

The authors are drawn from nine different countries, and each article is followed by a commentary and response that provide actual dialogue about the issues in the field, thus representing world-wide discussion of issues in the history of English. The essays recognize the different audiences for historical variation and change - formal linguists, sociolinguists, and lexicographers - and specifically address the interests and discourse in those areas.

The volume shows how historical studies of English are increasingly engaged with contemporary trends in linguistics, at the same time as demonstrating how empirical and other methods can bring classical philology fully into the sphere of contemporary linguistics without abandoning its traditional concerns.

About the Author

Robert A. Cloutier, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, USA; Anne Marie Hamilton-Brehm and William A. Kretzschmar, University of Georgia, Athens, USA.