Typological Changes in the Lexicon: Analytic Tendencies in English Noun Formation

Alexander Haselow

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2011

Typological Changes in the Lexicon

Analytic Tendencies in English Noun Formation

Alexander Haselow

Volume 72 in the series Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110238211

Overview
Contents

About this book

This is the first study of the typological change of English from a synthetic towards an analytic language that focuses exclusively on the lexical domain of the language. It presents an innovative approach to linguistic typology by focusing on the different encoding techniques used in the lexicon, providing a theoretical framework for the description of structural types (synthetic, analytic) and encoding techniques (fusional, isolating, agglutinative, incorporating) found in the lexicon of a language.

It is argued that, in the case of English, the change from syntheticity to analyticity did not only affect its inflectional system and the encoding of grammatical information, but also the derivational component. Based on a cognitive approach to derivation, the book provides empirical evidence for a considerable decline in the use of synthetic structures and a trend towards higher degrees of analyticity in a specific lexical domain of English, the formation of nouns by means of derivation. The full extent of this change surfaced during the transition from Old English to early Middle English, but it was later partly reversed though influence from French. The typological shift was thus the result of a global structural reorganization of the language that resulted in a fundamental change of the structure of words.

The book also presents a comprehensive account of the historical development of nominal derivation from the beginnings of Old English until the end of the early Middle English period. Based on empirical data from written sources the study documents the frequency of use of all Germanic-based derivational morphemes for nominalizations over different subperiods and discusses their origin as well as important changes of their semantic and morphological properties.

Author / Editor information

Alexander Haselow, Universität Rostock, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	V
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	VII
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XIII
1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Syntheticity and analyticity in the lexicon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
3. The framework: Suffixation and conceptual categories Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
4. The corpus & methodology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
5. Category 1: Person Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
6. Category 2: Object Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
7. Category 3: Location Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
8. Category 4: Action Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
9. Category 5: Abstract Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
10. The development of Old English noun suffixes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
11. The typological change of English word-formation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
12. Derivation and inflection: A typological perspective Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240
13. Noun formation after the early ME period Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
14. Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	282
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
Subject index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Scholars with an Interest in English Linguistics, Linguistic Typology, Historical Linguistics, Morphology
Pages
- Front matter: 12
- Main content: 316
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 25
- Tables: 72
Keywords: English; Morphology; Historical Linguistics

eBook

Published: January 27, 2011
ISBN: 9783110238211

Hardcover

Published: January 28, 2011
ISBN: 9783110238204