“Word Code” by O.O. Suleimenov in Electronic-handwritten and Printed Versions

The article provides a comparative analysis of an electronic manuscript and a printed book by O.O. Suleimenov Word code. Introduction to the Universal Etymological Dictionary 1001 Words. The similarities and differences in semantic and stylistic nominations of titles and paragraphs in the manuscript and in the printed original are considered. Structural and qualitative differences in the content of the new titles of the book, the peculiarities of the semantic advancement in them, which include a brief reflection of the content of the corresponding section of the study, are revealed and analyzed. The analysis and thesis description of new paragraphs, which were introduced by the author after working on the electronic manuscript of the book, are carried out. The main conceptual approach of O.O. Suleimenov to the search for the ancient primary source of the word (etymon) and writing both in the manuscript and in the original of the book, is to consider in unity, in close interconnection, the main five aspects of a scientific problem: figurative image (drawing, hieroglyph), concept, word, meaning, pronunciation linguistic unit in languages, adverbs, dialects, dialects in antiquity and now, their semantic and sound similarities and differences in different regions of the earth. The evolution of the wording of the titles and the semantic and stylistic advancement in them is significant, which is associated either with a slight lexical change in the wording of the title of the paragraph, or with the introduction of a different (updated) title, or with the introduction of a new paragraph into the structure of the book. These innovations of the author contributed to the improvement of the structural and logical-content significance of the book.

Variation and change in idiolects: Tracing a lexical substitution inside a psychiatric hospital around 1900

This paper presents a case study on the lexical substitution of Wärter (‘guard’) by Pfleger (‘nurse’) in records from a southern German psychiatric hospital around 1900. Its goal is to shed light on language variation and change from the perspective of idiolects. Therefore, I analyse how this change, implemented by official documents in 1876, spreads ‘from above’ into the written language of 108 patients and 10 family members. The results show a quick implementation of the new variant, comprising its semantic generalization and the near-complete replacement of the older variant. This process can sometimes be observed in individual lifespan changes, while other writers continue using Wärter in idiosyncratic ways. Finally, a comparison with two more general corpora (DWDS and Google Books) shows that this lexical change appears delayed and less consistent outside the hospital context.

On conceptualizing grammatical change in a Darwinian framework

Approaching language change within a Darwinian framework constitutes a long-standing tradition within the literature of diachronic linguistics. However, many publications remain vague, omitting conceptual details or missing necessary terminology. For example, phylogenetic trees of language families are regularly compared to biological speciation, but definitions on mechanisms of inheritance, i.e. how linguistic information is transferred between individuals and cohorts, or on the linguistic correlates to genotype and phenotype are often missing or lacking. In light of this, Haider’s attempts to develop this approach into a theoretically more precise position, closely mirroring principles of Darwinian natural selection in the dimension of diachronic grammatical change, but contrasting this with non-Darwinian lexical change. He draws a comparison to viral replication, essentially positing that grammar variants act as mental viruses, competing for replication in new hosts, i.e. children during critical periods of language acquisition. Haider proposes that in light of this competition for replication, the unconscious fixation of an individual’s grammar leads to diachronic grammatical change largely mirroring Darwinian natural selection. Despite the intuitive appeal this mode of reasoning may feature, the following response paper identifies and discusses a suit of shortcomings to this conceptualization. Some problems arise from underspecified theoretical notions, others due to the incomplete or inaccurate adoption of biological principles, and yet more through a partial incompatibility with empirical data. These criticisms do not amount to a dismissal of the Darwinian framework Haider is following, but to a rejection of Haider’s current position. Albeit it remains unclear if a truly Darwinian approach to language change can be reached, suggestions on how Haider’s theoretical notions could be further developed are made and pertinent efforts may ultimately lead to a productive theory.

The structure of online social networks modulates the rate of lexical change

New words are regularly introduced to communities, yet not all of these words persist in a community's lexicon. Among the many factors contributing to lexical change, we focus on the understudied effect of social networks. We conduct a large-scale analysis of over 80k neologisms in 4420 online communities across a decade. Using Poisson regression and survival analysis, our study demonstrates that the community's network structure plays a significant role in lexical change. Apart from overall size, properties including dense connections, the lack of local clusters and more external contacts promote lexical innovation and retention. Unlike offline communities, these topic-based communities do not experience strong lexical levelling despite increased contact but accommodate more niche words. Our work provides support for the sociolinguistic hypothesis that lexical change is partially shaped by the structure of the underlying network but also uncovers findings specific to online communities.

Об изменениях в лексике русской лирической поэзии

The paper intends to present the general tendency of lexical change in Russian lyrical po- etry during the last two hundred years on some arbitrarily selected examples. The odes of Lomonosov were accomplished in the lofty style based on Slavonic, rhetorical, and other “poetical” devices. In Derzhavin’s ode Felica, enthusiastic and ironical elements, pathos and everyday talk are combined. In Zhukovski’s romantic poetry the objective sense of words is overshadowed by their emotive overtones. In avoiding the grandiloquent romantic lexis, Nekrasov describes the hopeless hard life of Russian peasantry with deep sympathy, and reliably reproduces the popular speech. In the cited poem of Akhmatova, the psychic drama of the heroine is expressed by a peculiar connection of words belonging to different stylistic layers. The entirely prosaic lexis and syntax of Blok’s short poem suggests the poet’s feeling about the hopeless immobility of life in a condensed metaphoric shape. Vino- kurov’s poem relates an imagined accidental meeting of former lovers after thirty years of their separating in an entirely colloquial style. Since a poem of genuine aesthetic value appears as a complex artistic work, its components mutually strengthen, supplement, or compensate each other. Thus, the increase of colloquial elements in the poetic vocabulary does not necessarily indicate a process of “depoetization”.

Dialect vocabulary changes over 100 years. Standardization and new dialect forms in Hamaogi glossary

This paper treats linguistic changes over a long time span, covering 100 years in terms of the birth years of the informants and over 250 years since the compilation of a dialect glossary. Data from seven generations about 20 years apart were acquired. We compare the absolute time of linguistic change in lexical items recorded in Hamaogi, a dialect glossary, with the results of a large-scale sociolinguistic survey in Tsuruoka City. For lexical phenomena, the change seems to be continuous over the 250 years. Lexical changes occurred in the feudal ages, after modernization, after WWII and even recently. New dialect is discussed as a symbol of language change in the opposite direction to language standardization. A “glottogram map” or “3D glottogram” presents concrete data of the spatial diffusion of the new dialect form, ganpo. We offer concrete observations of the development of new dialect, which is part of a language change in progress. More than 250 years seem to be necessary from the beginning to the end of a lexical change. This suggests that many dialect forms will remain until the 22nd century..