DOCSLIB.ORG

Productivity in Historical Linguistics Computational Perspectives on Word-Formation in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Productivity in Historical Linguistics Computational Perspectives on Word-Formation in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit University of California Los Angeles Productivity in Historical Linguistics Computational Perspectives on Word-Formation in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Indo-European Studies by Ryan Paul Sandell 2015 © Copyright by Ryan Paul Sandell 2015 Abstract of the Dissertation Productivity in Historical Linguistics Computational Perspectives on Word-Formation in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit by Ryan Paul Sandell Doctor of Philosophy in Indo-European Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Brent Harmon Vine, Chair “Productivity” is a simultaneously familiar and fraught topic for all linguists. Every linguist believes that he can recognize it, yet grasping what properties characterize a “productive” process in opposition to a non-productive one is difficult. The historical linguist ought to be particularly desperate for a definition that can be operationalized – distinguishing ar- chaism from innovation depends upon it. This dissertation is therefore first concerned with transforming “productivity” into an object that can be interrogated, and then seeking tools that can provide a useful characterization that object. On the explicitly diachronic side, I am concerned with how to measure, diagnose, and motivate changes in productivity. Cor- pora from two the oldest-attested Indo-European languages, Ancient Greek (here, mainly the Iliad and Odyssey, as well as the New Testament) and Vedic Sanskrit (here, mainly the R̥gveda) will guide and define these explorations. Within the realm of morphology and word- formation especially, I will argue that concerns about productivity rightly take pride of place in diachronic discussion, and that those discussions become more meaningful when made precise and psychologically motivated. This increased precision offers hope of accounting for diverse linguistic phenomena for which the presence or absence of morphological struc- ture is a crucial determinant. Overall, this work calls for the increased usage of corpus-based quantitative methods and computational modeling in the study of language change. ii The dissertation of Ryan Paul Sandell is approved. Stephanie J. Watkins H. Craig Melchert Bruce P. Hayes Brent Harmon Vine, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iii Per Chiara, perchè nessuno potrebbe meritarlo di più iv Table of Contents List of Figures ..................................... x List of Tables ..................................... xii Symbols ........................................ xiii Abbreviations ..................................... xv Transcription and Transliteration .......................... xvi Introduction ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 1 I Theoretical Bases of Morphological Productivity 4 1 Morphological Productivity: Its Definition and Relevance for Historical Linguistics :::::::::::::: 5 1.1 Where’s Morphology? ............................. 7 1.2 The Problem of ‘‘Productivity’’ in Historical Linguistics ........... 10 1.2.1 ‘‘Productivity’’ in Indo-European Linguistics ............. 12 1.2.2 Archaism versus Neubildung ..................... 12 1.2.3 Use of the Term ‘Productive’: Rau 2009 ................ 13 1.2.4 A Qualitative Diachronic Approach to Productivity: Gardani 2013 . 15 1.3 Theoretical Approaches to Morphological Productivity ........... 17 1.3.1 Defining Productivity ......................... 17 1.3.1.1 ‘‘Productivity’’ and ‘‘Potentiality’’ versus ‘‘Creativity’’ .. 19 1.3.1.2 Productivity as a Statistical Notion ............ 20 1.3.2 Explaining Productivity ........................ 21 1.3.2.1 Structural Factors ..................... 21 1.3.2.2 Measuring Productivity .................. 23 1.3.2.3 Productivity and Analogy ................. 23 1.3.2.4 Language Processing ................... 24 1.4 The Application of Productivity in Historical Linguistics ........... 25 1.4.1 Existing Diachronic and Historical Studies of Productivity ..... 26 1.4.2 Archaisms, Neubildungen, and Nonce-Formations ......... 28 1.4.3 Productivity in Reconstruction .................... 30 v 2 Measuring Morphological Productivity :::::::::::::::::::: 32 2.1 Chapter Goals ................................. 32 2.2 Productivity and Word Frequency: Statistical Bases of Word Frequency Dis- tributions in Corpora ............................. 33 2.2.1 hapax legomena ............................ 34 2.2.2 Measures of Productivity: From “Strict” P to “Potential” I .... 35 2.2.3 Word Frequency Distributions .................... 42 2.2.3.1 Calculation of I ..................... 50 2.2.3.2 Comparing Productivity Measures ............ 51 2.3 Modeling Morphological Change: Productivity as Analogy .......... 55 2.3.1 Analogical Learning Techniques ................... 56 2.3.2 Minimal Generalization Learning .................. 59 3 The Psycholinguistic Bases of Productivity :::::::::::::::::: 63 3.1 Frequency, Probability, and Learning: Domain-General and in Language .. 64 3.1.1 Frequency Sensitivity: Why and How? ................ 67 3.1.2 Frequency Effects and Statistical Learning in Language ....... 68 3.1.2.1 Phonetics and Phonology ................. 69 3.1.2.2 Syntax ........................... 71 3.1.2.3 Local Summary ...................... 72 3.2 Frequency Effects in Morphological Processing and Production ....... 73 3.2.1 Lexical Token Frequency Effects ................... 74 3.2.2 Morpheme Token Frequency Effects: Root and Affix Frequency .. 75 3.2.3 Base-Derivative Relative Token Frequency .............. 77 3.2.4 Type Frequency ............................ 78 3.2.5 Family Size Effects .......................... 80 3.2.6 Phonotactic Probabilities ....................... 81 3.2.7 Summary ............................... 82 3.3 The Morphological Race Model and Productivity ............... 83 3.4 Correlates of Productivity Measures: Hay and Baayen 2002 and 2003 .... 87 3.5 Conclusions .................................. 90 4 Practical Preliminaries: The Languages and Corpora under Study ::::::: 91 4.1 The Languages: Basics of Morphology in Old Indo-European Languages .. 91 4.1.1 Nouns ................................. 93 vi 4.1.2 Verbs ................................. 93 4.1.3 Derivation versus Inflection ..................... 94 4.2 The Corpora .................................. 95 4.2.1 The R̥gveda .............................. 96 4.2.2 The Homeric Epics .......................... 97 4.2.3 Designing Case Studies ........................ 98 4.2.4 Data Collection ............................ 99 4.3 Issues in the Corpus-Based Study of Morphology ............... 100 4.3.1 What Do We Count? ......................... 100 4.3.2 Base : Derivative Relative Frequency ................. 101 4.3.3 The Reliability of Corpus Frequencies ................ 102 II Case Studies 104 5 The Aorist in Ancient Greek ::::::::::::::::::::::::: 105 5.1 Morphological Characteristics and Problematization ............ 105 5.2 Data Collection and Preparation ....................... 107 5.3 Raw Results and Statistics ........................... 110 5.4 Analysis ..................................... 116 5.4.1 Profiles of Formational Types ..................... 116 5.4.1.1 Root Aorists ........................ 118 5.4.1.2 Thematic Aorists ..................... 120 5.4.1.3 Sigmatic Aorists ...................... 122 5.4.2 Minimal Generalization Learning of Present : Aorist Patterns ... 123 5.4.2.1 Data Preparation ..................... 124 5.4.2.2 Results and Evaluation .................. 125 5.4.3 Other Evidence of Productivity .................... 128 5.4.4 Conclusions concerning the Homeric Aorists ............ 128 5.5 The Greek Aorist after Homer: The Aorist in the Koinḗ ............ 131 5.5.1 Data Collection: New Testament ................... 131 5.5.2 Raw Results and Statistics: New Testament ............. 131 5.5.3 Analysis ................................ 132 5.6 Summary and Conclusions .......................... 136 vii 6 The Aorist in the R̥gveda ::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 137 6.1 Morphological Characterization ........................ 137 6.2 Data Collection and Preparation ....................... 139 6.3 Raw Results and Statistics ........................... 141 6.4 Analysis ..................................... 145 6.4.1 Profiles of Formational Types ..................... 147 6.4.1.1 iṣ- and s-Aorists ...................... 147 6.4.1.2 siṣ-Aorists ......................... 148 6.4.1.3 sa-Aorists ......................... 148 6.4.1.4 Reduplicated Aorists ................... 151 6.4.1.5 Thematic Aorists ..................... 152 6.4.1.6 Root Aorists ........................ 152 6.4.2 Correlations of Present Types and Aorist Types ........... 153 6.5 Comparison to Greek Aorists and Implications for the Reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European Aorist Formants .................... 155 6.6 Brief Reflections on Chapters 5 and 6 ..................... 160 7 Productivity Effects in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit Accentuation ::::::: 161 7.1 A Brief Description of Greek and Sanskrit Accentuation ........... 162 7.1.1 Some History and Terminology .................... 162 7.1.2 Basics: Vedic and Greek Lexical and Default Accents ........ 163 7.1.2.1 The Sanskrit BAP ..................... 163 7.1.2.2 The Greek Law of Limitation and Recessive Accent .. 166 7.1.3 Typology of Accentual Properties .................. 170 7.1.4 Ablaut? ................................ 171 7.1.5 Accentual Mobility .......................... 173 7.1.6 Logical Possibilities for the Analyst .................. 175 7.2
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Chapter One Phonetic Change
    CHAPTERONE PHONETICCHANGE The investigation of the nature and the types of changes that affect the sounds of a language is the most highly developed area of the study of language change. The term sound change is used to refer, in the broadest sense, to alterations in the phonetic shape of segments and suprasegmental features that result from the operation of phonological process es. The pho- netic makeup of given morphemes or words or sets of morphemes or words also may undergo change as a by-product of alterations in the grammatical patterns of a language. Sound change is used generally to refer only to those phonetic changes that affect all occurrences of a given sound or class of sounds (like the class of voiceless stops) under specifiable phonetic conditions . It is important to distinguish between the use of the term sound change as it refers tophonetic process es in a historical context , on the one hand, and as it refers to phonetic corre- spondences on the other. By phonetic process es we refer to the replacement of a sound or a sequenceof sounds presenting some articulatory difficulty by another sound or sequence lacking that difficulty . A phonetic correspondence can be said to exist between a sound at one point in the history of a language and the sound that is its direct descendent at any subsequent point in the history of that language. A phonetic correspondence often reflects the results of several phonetic process es that have affected a segment serially . Although phonetic process es are synchronic phenomena, they often have diachronic consequences.
    [Show full text]
  • Portugal's Colonized Colonialism
    JOÃO M. PaRaSKEVa1 PORTUgAL’S COLONiZED COLONiALiSM A Prospering Calibanian Paradoxal Identity2 A PaRadOxIcaL IdENtItY In this chapter attempts to challenge a lethal commonsensical commonsense set of discourses and practices constructed by António Salazar’s dictatorship regime that ‘Portugal will always be an African nation.’ It is an analysis over the way ideology underlies social, cultural and political discourse and racist actions. In so doing we were able, not only to demystify how such despotic claim is deeply rooted within the very marrow of Portuguese capitalist colonial and neo-colonial strategy which was (and still is) framed by what we might call a ‘paradox identity framework,’ but also to denounce how curriculum content—via textbooks—has judicial record perpetuating an intricate reracializing political scaffold that positively tries to crystallize and legitimize a particular kind of western hegemony. We end our analyses claiming for the need to work within the critical race theory platform as a way to debunk the endemic western ‘we.’ In one of his flamboyant and ostentatious remarks the Portuguese dictator António Salazar claimed that ‘Portugal will always be an African nation.’ Such a despotic statement requires cautious consideration of two things in particular. First, it is important to understand in depth the reasons why António Salazar and ‘his regime[s of truth]’ claimed such an identity and, second, in understanding these reasons, one has to analyze how schooling has perpetuated what one might call a bizarre reracializing policy. A good way to start this radical critical analysis is to clarify specific political particularities of the Portuguese dictatorship epoch.
    [Show full text]
  • The Phonemic − Syllabic Comparisons of Standard Malay and Palembang Malay Using a Historical Linguistic Perspective
    Passage2013, 1(2), 35-44 The Phonemic − Syllabic Comparisons of Standard Malay and Palembang Malay Using a Historical Linguistic Perspective By: Novita Arsillah English Language and Literature Program (E-mail: [email protected] / mobile: +6281312203723) ABSTRACT This study is a historical linguistic investigation entitled The Phonemic − Syllabic Comparisons of Standard Malay and Palembang Malay Using a Historical Linguistic Perspective which aims to explore the types of sound changes found in Palembang Malay. The investigation uses a historical linguistic comparative method to compare the phonemic and syllabic changes between an ancestral language Standard Malay and its decent language Palembang Malay. Standard Malay refers to the Wilkinson dictionary in 1904. The participants of this study are seven native speakers of Palembang Malay whose ages range from 20 to 40 years old. The data were collected from the voices of the participants that were recorded along group conversations and interviews. This study applies the theoretical framework of sound changes which proposed by Terry Crowley in 1997 and Lily Campbell in 1999. The findings show that there are nine types of sound changes that were found as the results, namely assimilation (42.35%), lenition (20%), sound addition (3.53%), metathesis (1.18%), dissimilation (1.76%), abnormal sound changes (3.53%), split (13.53%), vowel rising (10.59%), and monophthongisation (3.53%). Keywords: Historical linguistics, standard Malay, Palembang Malay, comparative method, sound change, phoneme, syllable. 35 Novita Arsillah The Phonemic − Syllabic Comparisons of Standard Malay and Palembang Malay Using a Historical Linguistic Perspective INTRODUCTION spelling system in this study since it is considered to be the first Malay spelling This study classifies into the system that is used widely in Malaya, field of historical linguistics that Singapore, and Brunei (Omar, 1989).
    [Show full text]
  • The Following Is the List of East Asian Linguistics-Related Publications (As
    The following is the list of East Asian linguistics-related publications (as of February 2016) by our seven DEALL “East Asian Linguistics” faculty members’ (Chan, Nakayama, Noda, C. Quinn, Unger (Emeritus), Xie, & Yuasa). It shows not only our faculty members’ expertise, but also which issues have been investigated by them. Please note that the list does not include any linguistic reviews, abstracts, and encyclopedia entries, non-EA linguistics-related articles, and Pedagogy publications. Also it does not include translated books as separate entries. Linguistics in general Nakayama, M. (editor-in-chief) (2007-12) Journal of Japanese Linguistics 22-28. Minami, M. & M. Nakayama. (editors) (2013) Journal of Japanese Linguistics 29. Xie, Z. & T. Tsui. (eds.) (2015) Buckeye East Asian Linguistics (vol. 1). Columbus, OH: The Knowledge Bank. (http://kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/73648) Yuasa, E, T. Bagchi, & K. Beals. (eds.) (2011) Pragmatics and Autolexical Grammar: In Honors of Jerry Sadock. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Inagaki, S., S. Arita, M. Hirakawa, Y. Hirakawa, H. Morikawa, M. Nakayama, J. Tsubaki, & H. Sirai (eds.) (2009) Studies in Language Science Vol. 8. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers. Chan, M. K. M., & H. Kang (eds.) (2008) Proceedings of the 20th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-20). 2 Volumes. Columbus, OH: East Asian Studies Center, The Ohio State University. Nakayama, M., M. Minami, H. Morikawa, K. Nakamura, & H. Sirai (eds.) (2006) Studies in Language Science Vol. 5. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers. Minami, M., H. Kobayashi, M. Nakayama, & H. Sirai (eds.) (2005) Studies in Language Science Vol. 4. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers. Minami, M., H. Kobayashi, M. Nakayama, & H.
    [Show full text]
  • THE MALTESE and the ARABIC DIALECTS: an APPROACH from LINGUISTIC GEOGRAPHY by REINHOLD KONTZI
    This article is the translation and reVlszon of the paper 'Maltesisch: Sprachgeschichtliche und areallinguistische Aspekte' read in the 5th symposium on languages in contact in Europe, at Mannheim 1982 (published in: 'Die Leistung der Strataforschung und der Kreolistik: Typolog. Aspekte d. Sprachkontakte: Akten d. 5. Symposiums iiber Sprachkontakte in Europa'. Mannheim 1982/ed. by P. Sture Ureland - Tiibin­ gen: Niemeyer, 1982, p. 63-87) THE MALTESE AND THE ARABIC DIALECTS: AN APPROACH FROM LINGUISTIC GEOGRAPHY by REINHOLD KONTZI INTRODUCTION The subject of this article is Maltese as a language of different strata which have deposited themselves out of se­ veral groups of languages, respectively dialects. In the first part I will point out the hi storical events which caused formations of strata from different geographical zones. In the second part 1 will demonstrate that the superposition of strata with methods of linguistic geography and Bartoli' s space linguistics can be illustrated on maps. As far as I know there has been no space linguistic ap­ proach of the Maltese language - and thus necessarily of the entire area of the Arabic languages - which partly in­ cludes the area of the Romance (Italian) languages, that would take into account linguistic geography. 1. SHORT HISTORY OF THE MALTESE LANGUAGE Maltese came into existence by way of contact between the Arabic and Italian languages, and precisely this contact has created Maltese. In the following passages I will asso­ ciate the history of Malta with her linguistic development. Up to 1530 the history of Malta was identical with the history of Sicily. The rulers of Sicily were at the same time rulers of Malta.
    [Show full text]
  • An Introduction to the Knowledge of Greek Grammar
    AN * INTRODUCTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE or GREEK GRAMMAR. By SAMUEL B. WYLIE, D. D. IN THE WICE PROVOST AND PROFESSOR of ANCIENT LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. *NWTIET 16). <e) - \ 3} f) iſ a t t I pi} f a, J. whet HAM, 144 CHES NUT STREET. 1838. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by SAMUEL B. Wylie, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. ANDov ER, MAss. Gould & Newman, Printers. **'. … Tº Co PR E FA C E. CoNSIDERING the number of Greek Grammars, already in market, some apology may appear necessary for the introduction of a new one. Without formally making a defence, it may be remarked, that subjects of deep interest, need to be viewed in as many different bearings as can readily be obtained. Grammar, whether considered as a branch of philological science, or a system of rules subservient to accuracy in speaking or writing any language, embraces a most interesting field of research, as wide and unlimited, as the progres sive development of the human mind. A work of such magnitude, requires a great variety of laborers, and even the humblest may be of some service. Even erroneous positions may be turned to good account, should they, by their refutation, contribute to the elucida tion of principle. A desire of obtaining a more compendious and systematic view of grammatical principles, and more adapted to his own taste in order and arrangement, induced the author to undertake, and gov erned him in the compilation of this manual.
    [Show full text]
  • Methodology for Ethiopia Survey
    Methodology for Ethiopia Survey The first phase consisted of a national survey of the adult population of Ethiopia. The sample was designed to be representative of the adult population of Ethiopia. Researchers from Bendixen & Amandi (B&A) coordinated and oversaw all aspects of the sampling and interviewing process. A team of local field experts was hired in Ethiopia to conduct the actual interviews. All interviewers were professionally trained and supervised by B&A research personnel. In this phase of the research 2002 Ethiopian adults were interviewed in July and August of 2010. All interviews were conducted in person using traditional Paper and Pencil Interviewing (PAPI) and were administered in Amharic. The survey consisted of 12 questions. The margin of error is approximately ±2 percentage points and the 95 percent level of confidence. The total sample was compiled utilizing multi‐stage stratified random sampling through respondent selection. This sampling method enabled B&A to ensure that a representative random sample of Ethiopian adults was collected. There are three stages to this type of sampling methodology. First, after stratifying the Ethiopian population by region and population density, sampling points (SPs)1 were determined. SPs were then randomly selected within each stratum. In the second stage, using the random route method, dwellings were selected within each SP. The random route method involves selecting an address in each SP at random as a starting point. Each interviewer was given instructions to identify additional dwellings by taking alternate left and right turns and stopping at every Nth dwelling. The third and final stage involved selecting actual participants – for each selected dwelling, individual respondents were chosen using a Kish grid2.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Christian Thought
    The RouTledge Companion To eaRly ChRisTian ThoughT The shape and course which Christian thought has taken over its history is largely due to the contributions of individuals and communities in the second and third centuries. Bringing together a remarkable team of distinguished scholars, The Routledge Companion to Early Christian Thought is the ideal companion for those seeking to understand the way in which early Christian thought developed within its broader cultural milieu and was communicated through its literature, especially as it was directed toward theological concerns. divided into three parts, the Companion: • asks how Christianity’s development was impacted by its interaction with cultural, philosophical, and religious elements within the broader context of the second and third centuries; • examines the way in which early Christian thought was manifest in key individuals and literature in these centuries; • analyses early Christian thought as it was directed toward theological concerns such as god, Christ, redemption, scripture, and the community and its worship. D. Jeffrey Bingham is department Chair and professor of Theological studies at dallas Theological seminary, usa. he is editor of the Brill monograph series, The Bible in Ancient Christianity, as well as author of Irenaeus’ Use of Matthew’s Gospel in Adversus Haereses and several articles and essays on the theology and biblical inter- pretation of early Christianity. The RouTledge Companion To eaRly ChRisTian ThoughT Edited by D. Jeffrey Bingham First published 2010 by Routledge 2 park square, milton park, abingdon, oxon oX14 4Rn simultaneously published in the usa and Canada by Routledge 270 madison ave., new york, ny 100016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
    [Show full text]
  • Morphophonology of Magahi
    International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN: 2319-7064 SJIF (2019): 7.583 Morphophonology of Magahi Saloni Priya Jawaharlal Nehru University, SLL & CS, New Delhi, India Salonipriya17[at]gmail.com Abstract: Every languages has different types of word formation processes and each and every segment of morphology has a sound. The following paper is concerned with the sound changes or phonemic changes that occur during the word formation process in Magahi. Magahi is an Indo- Aryan Language spoken in eastern parts of Bihar and also in some parts of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The term Morphophonology refers to the interaction of word formation with the sound systems of a language. The paper finds out the phonetic rules interacting with the morphology of lexicons of Magahi. The observations shows that he most frequent morphophonological process are Sandhi, assimilation, Metathesis and Epenthesis. Whereas, the process of Dissimilation, Lenition and Fortition are very Uncommon in nature. Keywords: Morphology, Phonology, Sound Changes, Word formation process, Magahi, Words, Vowels, Consonants 1. Introduction 3.1 The Sources of Magahi Glossary Morphophonology refers to the interaction between Magahi has three kind of vocabulary sources; morphological and phonological or its phonetic processes. i) In the first category, it has those lexemes which has The aim of this paper is to give a detailed account on the been processed or influenced by Sanskrit, Prakrit, sound changes that take place in morphemes, when they Apbhransh, ect. Like, combine to form new words in the language. धमम> ध륍म> धरम, स셍म> सꥍ셍> सााँ셍 ii) In the second category, it has those words which are 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Topics in Ho Morphosyntax and Morphophonology
    TOPICS IN HO MORPHOPHONOLOGY AND MORPHOSYNTAX by ANNA PUCILOWSKI A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Linguistics and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2013 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Anna Pucilowski Title: Topics in Ho Morphophonology and Morphosyntax This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Linguistics by: Dr. Doris Payne Chair Dr. Scott Delancey Member Dr. Spike Gildea Member Dr. Zhuo Jing-Schmidt Outside Member Dr. Gregory D. S. Anderson Non-UO Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/ Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2013 ii c 2013 Anna Pucilowski iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Anna Pucilowski Doctor of Philosophy Department of Linguistics June 2013 Title: Topics in Ho Morphophonology and Morphosyntax Ho, an under-documented North Munda language of India, is known for its complex verb forms. This dissertation focuses on analysis of several features of those complex verbs, using data from original fieldwork undertaken by the author. By way of background, an analysis of the phonetics, phonology and morphophonology of Ho is first presented. Ho has vowel harmony based on height, and like other Munda languages, the phonological word is restricted to two moras. There has been a long-standing debate over whether Ho and the other North Munda languages have word classes, including verbs as distinct from nouns.
    [Show full text]
  • Local Identity and Sound Change in Glasgow a Pilot Study1
    Local identity and sound change in Glasgow A pilot study1 Natalie Braber2 Zoe Butterfint3 Abstract This paper outlines a pilot study investigation into the potential link between local identity and language change in Glasgow. Results are presented from part of the pilot study, specifically the variation noted in two phonological variables - the realisation of the alveolar lateral approximant /l/, and the occurrence of so-called T-glottalling - and are discussed in the light of local identity. Glasgow is historically a heavily stigmatised, often stereotyped city and home to an equally stigmatised linguistic variety: Glaswegian. Recent investigations have highlighted processes of linguistic change occurring in this linguistic variety (most notable Stuart-Smith, 1999a, 2003; Stuart-Smith et al., 2006, 2007), and this study sets out to investigate the potential link between these changes, speaker attitudes to Glasgow and their sense of Glaswegian identity. The data elicitation method employed is an extended version of that used by Stuart- Smith & Tweedie (2000): semi-structured interviews supplemented by a read word list. Methodological issues and considerations for future investigation are discussed on the basis of the findings of this pilot study. 1. Introduction A wealth of literature exists examining the relationship between identity and linguistic change, from Labov’s pioneering investigation in Martha’s Vineyard (1963), to present-day research in Middlesborough (Llamas, 1999, 2007) and Berwick-upon- Tweed (Pichler & Watt. 2004; Pichler, Watt and Llamas, 2004). This paper discusses findings from a small-scale pilot study carried out in 2005/6, which aimed to extend that body of work, further investigating the complex ‘interdependence of language and place identity’ (Llamas, 2007:579) in one very specific locale: Glasgow.
    [Show full text]
  • LING 211 – Introduction to Linguistic Analysis
    LING 211 – Introduction to Linguistic Analysis Section 01: TTh 1:40–3:00 PM, Eliot 103 Section 02: TTh 3:10–4:30 PM, Eliot 103 Course Syllabus Fall 2019 Sameer ud Dowla Khan Matt Pearson pronoun: he or they he office: Eliot 101C Vollum 313 email: [email protected] [email protected] phone: ext. 4018 (503-517-4018) ext. 7618 (503-517-7618) office hours: Wed, 11:00–1:00 Mon, 2:30–4:00 Fri, 1:00–2:00 Tue, 10:00–11:30 (or by appointment) (or by appointment) PREREQUISITES There are no prerequisites for this course, other than an interest in language. Some familiarity with tradi- tional grammar terms such as noun, verb, preposition, syllable, consonant, vowel, phrase, clause, sentence, etc., would be useful, but is by no means required. CONTENT AND FOCUS OF THE COURSE This course is an introduction to the scientific study of human language. Starting from basic questions such as “What is language?” and “What do we know when we know a language?”, we investigate the human language faculty through the hands-on analysis of naturalistic data from a variety of languages spoken around the world. We adopt a broadly cognitive viewpoint throughout, investigating language as a system of knowledge within the mind of the language user (a mental grammar), which can be studied empirically and represented using formal models. To make this task simpler, we will generally treat languages as though they were static systems. For example, we will assume that it is possible to describe a language structure synchronically (i.e., as it exists at a specific point in history), ignoring the fact that languages constantly change over time.
    [Show full text]