Ambiguity avoidance as a factor in the rise of the English dative alternation

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Zehentner
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Cue Reliability ◽  
History Of ◽  
Potential Impact

Abstract This paper discusses the role of cognitive factors in language change; specifically, it investigates the potential impact of argument ambiguity avoidance on the emergence of one of the most well-studied syntactic alternations in English, viz. the dative alternation (We gave them cake vs We gave cake to them). Linking this development to other major changes in the history of English like the loss of case marking, I propose that morphological as well as semantic-pragmatic ambiguity between prototypical agents (subjects) and prototypical recipients (indirect objects) in ditransitive clauses plausibly gave a processing advantage to patterns with higher cue reliability such as prepositional marking, but also fixed clause-level (SVO) order. The main hypotheses are tested through a quantitative analysis of ditransitives in a corpus of Middle English, which (i) confirms that the spread of the PP-construction is impacted by argument ambiguity and (ii) demonstrates that this change reflects a complex restructuring of disambiguation strategies.

Ditransitives in Middle English: on semantic specialisation and the rise of the dative alternation

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (01) ◽  
pp. 149-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
EVA ZEHENTNER
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Causal Relation ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ditransitive Verbs

This article discusses the plausibility of a correlation or even a causal relation between two phenomena that can be observed in the history of English ditransitives. The changes concerned are: first, the emergence of the ‘dative alternation’, i.e. the establishment of a link between the double object construction (DOC) and its prepositional paraphrase, and second, a reduction in the range of verb classes associated with the DOC, with the construction's semantics becoming specialised to basic transfer senses. Empirically, the article is based on a quantitative analysis of the occurrences of the DOC as well as its prepositional competitors in thePenn–Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Middle English, 2nd edition (PPCME2). On the basis of these results, it will be argued that the semantic narrowing and the increasing ability of ditransitive verbs to be paraphrased by ato-prepositional construction (to-POC) interacted in a bi-directional causal manner.

scholarly journals Special issue on mechanisms of French contact influence in Middle English: diffusion and maintenance

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-205
Author(s):  
OLGA TIMOFEEVA ◽  
RICHARD INGHAM
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The World ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
History Of

Recent years have seen a spate of publications that attempt to recontextualise the history of English in contact-linguistic (Miller 2012; Lutz 2013; Durkin 2014) and sociolinguistic terms (Millar 2012), and conversely to confront previous descriptions of contact phenomena with new data and theoretical insights available from situations of language shift and substratum influence (Filppula, Klemola & Paulasto 2008; Vennemann 2011), extensive bilingualism (Schendl & Wright 2011), language acquisition (Ingham 2012) and contact-induced grammaticalisation (Timofeeva 2010). Coupled with advances in our understanding of contact- and acquisition-induced language change (Heine & Kuteva 2005; Jarvis & Pavlenko 2008), and of the role of contact in the varieties of English around the world (Schreier & Hundt 2013), there is a clear need in this area of historical research for scholars to reinvestigate earlier stages of English as a contact language.

From unit-and-ten to ten-before-unit order in the history of English numerals

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Berg ◽  
Marion Neubauer
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Old English ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Unit Order ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Significant Structural Change ◽  
History Of ◽  
Order Change

AbstractIn the course of its history, English underwent a significant structural change in its numeral system. The number words from 21 to 99 switched from the unit-and-ten to the ten-before-unit pattern. This change is traced on the basis of more than 800 number words. It is argued that this change, which took seven centuries to complete and in which the Old English pattern was highly persistent, can be broken down into two parts—the reordering of the units and tens and the loss of the conjoining element. Although the two steps logically belong to the same overall change, they display a remarkably disparate behavior. Whereas the reordering process affected the least frequent number words first, the deletion process affected the most frequent words first. This disparity lends support to the hypothesis that the involvement or otherwise of low-level aspects of speech determines the role of frequency in language change (Phillips, 2006). Finally, the order change is likely to be a contact-induced phenomenon and may have been facilitated by a reduction in mental cost.

Culturomics and the history of psychiatry: testing the Google Ngram method

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-27
Author(s):  
O. P. O’Sullivan ◽  
R. M. Duffy ◽  
B. D. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Potential Application ◽  
History Of Psychiatry ◽  
Modern Technique ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

ObjectivesCulturomics is the study of behaviour and culture through quantitative analysis of digitised text. We aimed to apply a modern technique in this field to examine trends related to the history of psychiatry. In doing so, we aimed to explore the nature of the Google Ngram methodology.MethodsUsing Google Ngram Viewer, we studied Google’s corpus of over 4% of all published books and explored relevant trends in word usage.ResultsAn exponential growth in the use of ‘psychiatry’ between 1890 and 1984 was identified. ‘Sigmund Freud’ was mentioned more frequently than all other prominent figures in the history of psychiatry combined. Mentions of ‘suicide’ increased since 1820. The impact of several DSM editions is discussed.ConclusionThis study demonstrated the potential application of the Ngram methodology to the study of the history of psychiatry. The role of textual analysis in this field merits careful, constructive consideration and is likely to expand with technological advances.

The Interplay Between form and Meaning in Language Change

1998 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Concepción Company Company
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Dative Case ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multiple Causation ◽  
Object Marking

The paper tries to show that in changes of multiple causation, meaning is a leading factor in determining the syntactic output. Although formal and semantic-pragmatic factors converge in a complementary way, they carry different weights: formal factors lay the seed for the innovative construction and the semantic-pragmatic ones act as the ultimate trigger of the change. A set of three multilevel changes in Spanish is examined; in all of them accusative and dative case-marking, in argument positions, compete for the object marking, and in all of them DAT-marking outranks the ACC one. The three changes may be characterized as a progressive grammaticalization of DAT-marking at the expense of ACC-marking, a tendency towards reinforcement of DAT objects in the history of Spanish.

scholarly journals LEXICAL NOMINATION AS A REFLECTION OF CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE IN OLD ENGLISH SEAFARING

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 16-20
Author(s):  
Natalia Atnabayeva ◽  
Vladimir Baltachev ◽  
Yekaterina Troynikova ◽  
Lilia Khasanova
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Language Representation ◽  
Mode Of Operation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Degree Of Participation ◽  
Content Design

The theory that nominative processes extended through centuries to systematic formations of special terminological meanings of professional Old and Middle English marine terminological vocabulary had already been explained in different ways based on an evidential linguistic material. There is no doubt of the historical and philosophical approaches employed to describe the ancient language representation of the native speakers’ world, as well as of the role and degree of their participation in the formation of nominations inclusive of those of ancient seafaring vehicles. Having been referenced repeatedly, both conceptually and through documents, they had confirmed their right to exist.  In several topical articles, terminological units have already been represented by a synonymous series of proper nominations for the seafaring vessels (boats/ships) of various types by respective lexically-organized terms according to their word-formation, structural and content design in the Old and the Middle English. Despite the apparent decline of interest towards the subject of historical nominations in general, and the history of the English Marine language in particular,thereare unsettled challenges in the field. Specifically, more clarity is required regarding the incentives, degree of participation and the role of extralinguistic (human) factor in the history of a vessel-name formation, as well as in the mode of operation of the nominative apparatus for the above marine terms with respect to the of intralinguistic (language) factors involved.

scholarly journals The Hypothesis of Change from Above in the History of English: State of the Art and Perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (s1) ◽  
pp. 251-266
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Lavidas
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
The State ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Linguistic Ideology ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
New Directions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractThe present paper presents the state of the art of research related to hypothesized changes from above in the diachrony of English. A main aim of the paper is to show how the cooperation of various perspectives can open new directions in the research of language change. We examine the main aspects of a definition of the change from above. We investigate the various perspectives through which the concept of change from above, as an “importation of elements from other systems” (Labov 2007), has been considered a significant factor for the development of English. We show that any attempt to investigate the presence or role of change from above includes the parameters of prestige, distribution of old and new forms, diffusion, gender, and linguistic ideology. Finally, we discuss typical examples of development of patterns and characteristics of English that have been analyzed as influenced by change from above, as well as the prestige dialects / languages and contexts that have been regarded as facilitating a hypothesized change from above (Latin, Anglo-Norman, standardization, prescriptivism, networks and individuals). We argue that the articles of the present special issue provide stable criteria that are required in any attempt to test the hypothesis of change from above in the development of English.

scholarly journals History of English as punctuated equilibria? A meta-analysis of the rate of linguistic change in Middle English

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terttu Nevalainen ◽  
Tanja Säily ◽  
Turo Vartiainen ◽  
Aatu Liimatta ◽  
Jefrey Lijffijt
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Punctuated Equilibria ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Using Data

AbstractIn this paper, we explore the rate of language change in the history of English. Our main focus is on detecting periods of accelerated change in Middle English (1150–1500), but we also compare the Middle English data with the Early Modern period (1500–1700) in order to establish a longer diachrony for the pace at which English has changed over time. Our study is based on a meta-analysis of existing corpus research, which is made available through a new linguistic resource, the Language Change Database (LCD). By aggregating the rates of 44 individual changes, we provide a critical assessment of how well the theory of punctuated equilibria (Dixon, Robert M. W. 1997. The rise and fall of languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) fits with our results. More specifically, by comparing the rate of language change with major language-external events, such as the Norman Conquest and the Black Death, we provide the first corpus-based meta-analysis of whether these events, which had significant societal consequences, also had an impact on the rate of language change. Our results indicate that major changes in the rate of linguistic change in the late medieval period could indeed be connected to the social and cultural after-effects of the Norman Conquest. We also make a methodological contribution to the field of English historical linguistics: by re-using data from existing research, linguists can start to ask new, fundamental questions about the ways in which language change progresses.

An Ecological Account of the Emergence and Evolution of English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salikoko S. Mufwene
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
English Language ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
The World ◽  
Population Structures ◽  
History Of

What follows is a contact-based account of the emergence of English. Though the role of language contact in the development of World Englishes is often addressed as a coda within History of the English Language (HEL) courses, this chapter presents an alternative story, highlighting contact situations in Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English. The creolist perspective offered here suggests that History of English instructors should look closer at the received doctrine of HEL and consider whether an ecological model should not be used to make sense of the story of Englishes. A periodized history of colonization and of the ensuing population structures that influence language contact appears to explain a great deal about the differential evolution of English in various parts of the world, including what distinguishes colonial English dialects from their creole counterparts.

Between you and I

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-224
Author(s):  
Robert Prazeres ◽  
Stephen Levey
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Syntactic Position ◽  
Default Case ◽  
Variationist Sociolinguistics ◽  
Comparison Of The Results

Variable case marking of pronouns in coordinate noun phrases (CoNPs) is a well-documented phenomenon which has elicited prescriptive censure for centuries. Drawing on the framework of variationist sociolinguistics, this study presents a detailed quantitative analysis of variable case marking in CoNPs in the Quebec English Corpus (Poplack, Walker and Malcolmson 2006), a massive compendium of vernacular speech. Operationalizing a number of extralinguistic and linguistic factors that are claimed to condition variable case marking in CoNPs, multivariate analysis revealed that speaker age and education as well as the syntactic position of the CoNP are key predictors in determining the case of pronouns in these constructions. An important finding is that case marking in CoNPs is highly variable for speakers, suggesting that the Sisyphean efforts of the prescriptive enterprise to impose uniformity on this area of the grammar have been to little avail as far as spontaneous usage is concerned. Comparison of the results with variable case marking in CoNPs in other varieties of English, as well as with diachronic patterns of variability, also raises the possibility that the accusative is increasingly assuming the role of default case in coordinate constructions.

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