Grammatical Replication and Borrowability in Language Contact (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs)

Bernhard Wälchli; Björn Wiemer; Björn Hansen

ISBN 10: 3110270099 / ISBN 13: 9783110270099

Published by De Gruyter Mouton, 2012

About this Item

Oversized heavy hardcover, xiv + 670 pages, NOT ex-library. Book is clean and bright throughout with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. A gentle crease to the upper outer page corners. Issued without a dust jacket. -- This collection advances the study of language change by integrating grammaticalization theory with detailed case studies of replication and borrowing, offering a robust framework for analyzing contact-induced transformations across diverse linguistic areas. -- The volume examines the relationship between grammaticalization and language contact, focusing on the key distinction between grammatical replication (pattern calquing) and material borrowing. It opens with an integrative model for grammaticalization and explores how to trace diffusion processes through synchronic clines in space, while establishing a core methodological contrast between MAT (material) and PAT (pattern) transfer. A survey of contact-induced phenomena in Slavonic languages provides a genealogical focus, which is then compared with geographically distant contact situations in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. The core of the work consists of detailed analyses organized by grammatical domain, investigating the development of indefinite and definite articles, evidential markers, modal systems, perfect tenses, recipient passives, conditional clauses, and verb serialization. Case studies draw on data from Slavic (e.g., Upper Sorbian, Latgalian), Germanic (Yiddish), Finno-Ugric, Garifuna, Mayan, Mixe-Zoquean, and Sierra Popoluca languages, often examining non-standard and minority varieties where contact effects are pronounced. The contributions collectively argue for a broad empirical approach that values detailed analysis of specific contact situations. -- This volume is distinguished by its systematic comparison of contact phenomena across geographically remote and typologically diverse language areas, particularly its juxtaposition of Slavic-centric analyses with cases from Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. Its explicit attention to sampling biases, the value of non-standard varieties, and the clear theoretical framework for distinguishing material borrowing from pattern replication provide a durable methodological foundation. By bridging grammaticalization theory with contact linguistics, the work remains essential for understanding the mechanisms behind areal convergence and the evolution of grammatical constructions. It offers researchers and advanced students a powerful analytical toolkit and a rich empirical baseline for modeling contact-induced change and its outcomes.

Seller Inventory # 012115

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Grammatical Replication and Borrowability in Language Contact (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs)
• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3110270099
• ISBN 13: 9783110270099
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

The volume presents new insights into two basic theoretical issues hotly debated in recent work on grammaticalization and language contact: grammatical replication and grammatical borrowability. The key issues are: How can grammatical replication be distinguished from other, superficially similar processes of contact-induced linguistic change, and under what conditions does it take place? Are there grammatical morphemes or constructions that are more easily borrowed than others, and how can language contact account for areal biases in the borrowing (vs. calquing) of grammatical formatives? The book is a major contribution to the ongoing theoretical discussion concerning the relationship between grammaticalization and language contact on a broad empirical basis.

About the Author

Björn Wiemer, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, Germany; Bernhard Wälchli, Stockholm University, Sweden; and Björn Hansen, University of Regensburg, Germany.