Silvia Luraghi

Introduzione alla linguistica storica

Tatiana Nikitina

Chiara Zanchi

Space is a fundamental dimension of human life and is pervasive in human experience. Research on space has highlighted the possible asymmetrical nature of spatial relations. Differences in the encoding of goals and sources of motion are a case in point, and cross-linguistic coding tendencies show that path is less frequently flagged by a dedicated case than goal, source/origin, and (static) location (locative). Interestingly, such asymmetries may correlate with certain types of landmark, as in the case of toponyms or of animate entities. Even though these issues have been focused upon both in typological and psycholinguistic research, they remain largely open. The papers in this collection aim to show that a diachronic approach may shed light on the way in which asymmetries in the space domain come about over time, thus contributing to the clarification of synchronically puzzling facts.

Space in Diachrony

Prepositions and cases constitute a fruitful field of research for semantics. The historical development of their meaning can shed light on the relations among the semantic roles of participants and on the organization of conceptual space. Ancient Greek allows an in-depth study of such development. The book, based on a wide, diachronically ordered corpus, aims at providing a usage-based analysis of possible patterns of semantic extension, including the mapping of abstract domains onto the concrete domain of space. An analysis of the Greek data further highlights the interplay between specific spatial relations and the internal structure of the entities involved, and shows how case semantics may account for differences on the referential level, rather than merely express clause internal relations. The first chapter contains a typologically based discussion of semantic roles, which sets the language-specific analysis in a wider framework, showing its general relevance and applicability.

The Expression of Semantic Roles in Ancient Greek

On the Meaning of Prepositions and Cases

Elisa Roma

Valency patterns and valency orientation have been frequent topics of research under different perspectives, often poorly connected. Diachronic studies on these topics is even less systematic than synchronic ones. The papers in this book bring together two strands of research on valency, i.e. the description of valency patterns as worked out in the Leipzig Valency Classes Project (ValPaL), and the assessment of a language's basic valency and its possible orientation. Notably, the ValPaL does not provide diachronic information concerning the valency patterns investigated: one of the aims of the book is to supplement the available data with data from historical stages of languages, in order to make it profitably exploitable for diachronic research. In addition, new research on the diachrony of basic valency and valency alternations can deepen our understanding of mechanisms of language change and of the propensity of languages or language families to exploit different constructional patterns related to transitivity.

Diachronic Perspectives on Valency Patterns and Valency Orientation

Valency over Time

Vit Bubenik

Originally published as the Continuum Companion to Historical Linguistics, this book brings together a number of leading scholars who provide a combination of different approaches to current and new issues in historical linguistics, while supplying an exhaustive and up-to-date coverage of sub-fields traditionally regarded as central to historical linguistics research. The editors aim to build a solid background for further discussion and to indicate directions for new research on relevant open questions. The book includes coverage of key terms, a list of resources, and sections on: - history of research- methodology- phonology- morphology- grammatical categories- syntax- grammaticalization- semantics - etymology- language contact- sociolinguistics- causes of language change It is a complete resource for researchers working on historical linguistics.

The Bloomsbury Companion to Historical Linguistics

Claudia Parodi

The Bloomsbury Companion to Syntax is the definitive guide to a key area of linguistic study.

Silvia Luraghi

Books

Your next favorite book is out there