Current trends in the theory of linguistic change

In commemoration of Eugenio Coseriu (1921-2002)

Editor: Ole Nedergaard Thomsen

This book is a selection of works presented at the session on Different Models of Change in Honour of Eugenio Coseriu at the XVIth International Conference on Historical Linguistics in Copenhagen in August 2003.

Please address all enquiries to the editor.

Table of contents

Prologue

0. Ole Nedergaard Thomsen (Department of Nordic Studies and Languages, University of Copenhagen) Prolegomena to an integrated functional-pragmatic theory of language and language change: language as process (ενεργεια)

Theoretical Explanations in General: Language as a Cultural Process

1. Michael Fortescue (Department of General and Applied Linguistics, University of Copenhagen) The Non-linear Nature of Diachronic Change

2. Brit Maehlum (Department of Nordic Studies and Languages, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Explanations, or...? Some metatheoretical reflections on a prevalent tradition within historical linguistics

The Case for the Concept of 'Evolution' as an Explanatory Model

3. Henning Andersen (Department of Slavic Languages, University of California at Los Angeles) Synchrony, diachrony, and evolution

4. William Croft (University of Manchester and Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University) The relevance of an evolutionary model to historical linguistics

Functional factors in the concept of 'evolution': functional motivation of selection

5. Silvia Becerra Bascunan (University of Copenhagen) Grammaticalization of Indirect Object Cross-Reference in Spanish as a case of Drift

6. Guido Seiler (German Department, Universitat Zurich) The role of functional factors in language change: an evolutionary approach

Cognitive Linguistics Studies: Mental Grammar and Cognitive Grammar

7. Per Durst-Andersen (Department of French, Italian, Russian, Spanish and German, Copenhagen Business School) From propositional syntax in Old Russian to situational syntax in Modern Russian

8. Lena Ekberg (Department of Scandinavian Languages, Lund University) Construal operations in semantic change: the case of abstract nouns

Grammaticalization Studies: Content and Evolution

9. Lars Heltoft (Institute for Language and Culture, Roskilde University) Grammaticalization of the s-passive in Danish: from reflexive construction to mood

10. Jens Nørgård-Sørensen (University of Copenhagen) Aspect and animacy in the history of Russian: developing the idea of parallel grammaticalization.

11. Lise Opdahl (University of Bergen) English -wise and Norwegian -vis: two cognates with different grammaticalizations.

Formal and Computational Studies

12. Miriam Bouzouita & Ruth Kempson (King's College, London) Clitic Placement in Old and Modern Spanish: a Dynamic Account

13. Dinoj Surendran and Partha Niyogi (Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago) Quantifying the functional load of phonemic oppositions, distinctive features, and suprasegmentals.

14. Miguel Vazquez-Larruscain (Department of Linguistics, Harvard University) Computational modelling of prototypicality in language change: neutralization to schwa, default logic and the history of the German noun.

Epilogue

15. Ole Nedergaard Thomsen (University of Copenhagen), Epilegomena to an integrated functional-pragmatic theory of language and language change in commemoration of Eugenio Coseriu (1921-2002)