32.3787, Books: Language Change, Variation, and Universals: Culicover

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-3787. Sat Dec 04 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.3787, Books: Language Change, Variation, and Universals: Culicover

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Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2021 06:43:42
From: Tyler Simnick [Tyler.Simnick at oup.com]
Subject: Language Change, Variation, and Universals: Culicover

 


Title: Language Change, Variation, and Universals 
Subtitle: A Constructional Approach 
Publication Year: 2021 
Publisher: Oxford University Press
	   http://www.oup.com/us
	

Book URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/language-change-variation-and-universals-9780198865391?utm_source=linguistlist&utm_medium=listserv&utm_campaign=linguistics 


Author: Peter W Culicover

Hardback: ISBN:  9780198865391 Pages: 336 Price: U.S. $ 100


Abstract:

This volume explores how human languages become what they are, why they differ
from one another in certain ways but not in others, and why they change in the
ways that they do. Given that language is a universal creation of the human
mind, the puzzle is why there are different languages at all: why do we not
all speak the same language? Moreover, while there is considerable variation,
in some ways grammars do show consistent patterns: why are languages similar
in those respects, and why are those particular patterns preferred?

Peter Culicover proposes that the solution to these puzzles is a
constructional one. Grammars consist of constructions that carry out the
function of expressing universal conceptual structure. While there are in
principle many different ways of accomplishing this task, languages are under
press to reduce constructional complexity. The result is that there is
constructional change in the direction of less complexity, and grammatical
patterns emerge that more efficiently reflect conceptual universals. The
volume is divided into three parts: the first establishes the theoretical
foundations; the second explores variation in argument structure, grammatical
functions, and A-bar constructions, drawing on data from a variety of
languages including English and Plains Cree; and the third examines
constructional change, focusing primarily on Germanic. The study ends with
observations and speculations on parameter theory, analogy, the origins of
typological patterns, and Greenbergian 'universals'.
 



Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
                     Linguistic Theories


Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=156633




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