History of Language and Linguistic Change: Rosenbach: Genitive Variation in English (TiEL 42)

[Julia Ulrich]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
New Publication from Mouton de Gruyter

>>From the series
Topics in English Linguistics
Series Editors: Elizabeth Closs Traugott and Bernd Kortmann



Anette Rosenbach

GENITIVE VARIATION IN ENGLISH
Conceptual Factors in Synchronic and Diachronic Studies

2002. xi, 361 pages. Cloth.
Euro 64.00 / sFr 102,- / approx. US$ 64.00
ISBN 3-11-017370-0

(Topics in English Linguistics 42)



This monograph is an empirical study of a particular type of grammatical
variation, i.e. the genitive variation in English (s-genitive vs.
of-genitive). Comparing the results of a Modern English experimental
study and historical evidence for the development of the genitive
variation, the main empirical finding of this study is that the
s-genitive has become more productive again from late Middle to
Present-day English. Theoretically, an approach to grammatical variation
is proposed which places the choice of genitive construction into the
mind of individual language users and, in so doing, tries to account for
the observed change.


>>From the Contents

1 Introduction
2 The structure of the s-genitive and the of-genitive: some theoretical
preliminaries
3 Grammatical variation
4 Factors: Animacy, topicality, and possessive relation
5 'Variation' versus 'choice'
6 Modern English data: experimental study
7 Historical development of the genitive variation
8 A diachronic scenario: the extension of the s-genitive from late
Middle to Modern English - economically-driven language change?
9 Summary and conclusion
10 Appendix

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