Contact, variation, and change in the history of English / edited by Simone E. Pfenninger, Olga Timofeeva, Anne-Christine Gardner, Alpo Honkapohja, Marianne Hundt, Daniel Schreier, University Zurich.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

Contact, Variation, and Change in the History of English; Editorial page ; Title page ; LCC data ; Table of content; Part I. Language change; At the crossroads of language change, variation, and contact; 1. The present volume; 2. Structure of the volume; 2.1 Part I ("Language change"); 2.2 Part II ("Language variation"); 2.3 Part III ("Variation and change in contact situations"); Knitting and splitting information; 1. Information structure and syntactic change: Introductory remarks; 2. Medial placement of adverbials in the history of English; 2.1 Positions of adverbs in Present-day English.

2.2 Collocations (initial position) vs. medial position of adverbial connectors2.3 Placement of adverbial connectors in the history of English; 3. Medial placement of adverbials; 3.1 Distinct positions; 3.2 Different placement options: Contemporary accounts; 4. Information structure and adverbial positions; 4.1 Terminology; 4.2 Adverbial placement and information structure: Initial position of adverbials; 4.3 Adverbial placement and information structure: Medial placement of adverbials; 5. Conclusions; References; Appendix; Positions (adapted from Greenbaum 1969, 78).

The order of adverbials of time and place in Old English1. Introduction; 2. The data; 3. Monofactorial analysis; 3.1 order based on semantics and number of elements in the cluster; 3.2 clause pattern and verb-final versus verb-non-final; 3.3 kind of lexical verb; 3.4 position of the cluster in the clause and position of the cluster regarding the lexical verb; 3.5 complexity and weight; 3.6 obligatoriness; 3.7 realization form; 3.8 occurrence of other adverbials of time and place in the same clause and specific adverbials.

3.9 Language external factors: genre, Latin translation and Old English period3.10 Summary of the monofactorial analysis; 4. The multifactorial analysis; 5. Conclusion; References; Appendix; The demise of a preterite-present verb; 1. Introduction; 2. State of the art; 3. Old English uses; 4. Middle English uses; 5. Conclusions; Data; References; Gradience in an abrupt change; 1. Background; 2. The effect of noun versus noun + verb frequency on diatonic pairs; 3. Gradience; 4. Conclusion; References; Vowels before /r/ in the history of English; 1. Introduction; 2. Historical background.

2.1 The BIRD-TERM-NURSE merger2.2 Pre-rhotic loss of vowel distinctions; 2.3 The situation after the loss of rhoticity; 3. Further developments with pre-rhotic vowels; 3.1 HORSE -- HOARSE; 3.2 POOR -- POUR; 3.3 TOWER -- TYRE; 3.4 Other mergers with central vowels; 3.5 MERRY -- MARRY -- MARY; 4. Conclusion; References; Part II. Language variation; "Pained the eye and stunned the ear"; 1. Introduction; 2. Corpus-linguistic studies of the progressive passive; 3. Comments on the progressive passive in the CNG; 3.1 The CNG; 3.2 Overview of comments on the progressive passive; 3.3 Newspaper language.

English.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide