Overview

This book provides much detail on the changes involving the grammaticalization of personal and relative pronouns, topicalized nominals, complementizers, adverbs, prepositions, modals, perception verbs, and aspectual markers. It accounts for these changes in terms of two structural economy principles. Head Preference expresses that single words, i.e. heads, are used to build structures rather than full phrases, and Late Merge states that waiting as late as possible to merge, i.e. be added to the structure, is preferred over movement. The book also discusses grammar-external processes (e.g. prescriptivist rules) that inhibit change, and innovations that replenish the grammaticalized element. Most of the changes involve the (extended) CP and IP: as elements grammaticalize clause boundaries disappear. Cross-linguistic differences exist as to whether the CP, IP, and VP are all present and split and this is formulated as the Layer Principle. Changes involving the CP are typically brought about by Head Preference, whereas those involving the IP and VP by Late Merge.

Full Product Details

Author:   Elly Gelderen (Arizona State University)
Publisher:   John Benjamins Publishing Co
Imprint:   John Benjamins Publishing Co
Volume:   71
Weight:   0.740kg
ISBN:  

9781588115522

ISBN 10:   1588115526
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   31 August 2004
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock  
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Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgements; 2. Notes for the Reader; 3. List of Tables; 4. Part I; 5. Introduction; 6. Economy; 7. Part II; 8. The structure of CP and the layer parameter; 9. Spec to Head: The rise of the (embedded) CP; 10. Late merge: The rise of the split CP; 11. More late merge: Heads to higher Heads and Specs to higher Specs; 12. Part III; 13. The IP, VP-shell, and their layers; 14. Changes in modals and have : Competition for ASP-hood; 15. Perception verbs and ASPect; 16. Aspect: The Tense Aspect Parameter and inner to outer aspect; 17. Late merge: Heads to higher Heads; 18. Part IV; 19. The layer parameter and pronominal argument languages; 20. Conclusion; 21. Notes; 22. References; 23. Index

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