Extraposition is disappearing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2987126 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joel C Wallenberg (0000-0002-1837-6765, Newcastle University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 92 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | e237-e256 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-8507 • E-ISSN: 1535-0665 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/lan.2016.0079 |
| OpenAlex | W2564318265 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 11 |
This study describes a change in which relative clause extraposition is in the process of being lost in English, Icelandic, French, and Portuguese. This current change in progress has never been observed before, probably because it is so slow that it is undetectable without the aid of multiple diachronic parsed corpora (treebanks) with time depths of over 500 years each. Building on insights from Kiparsky (1995), the study shows that the change may date as far back as the innovation of Proto-Germanic and Proto-Romance relative clauses, as these varieties differentiated from Proto-Indo-European. It also shows that the unusually slow speed of the change is due to partial specialization of the construction along the dimension of prosodic weight, following the argument made at greater length in Fruehwald & Wallenberg 2016. Finally, the change is shown to have important consequences for the syntax of extraposition, supporting the adjunction analysis of Culicover and Rochemont (1990). The article also discusses the implications of Sauerland's (2003) analysis of English relative clauses, and while modern English data supports his analysis, the diachronic extraposition data is not yet fine-grained enough to bear on the 'raising' analysis of relatives in general. This is identified as an important question for further research on this change
Argument (complex analysis · Icelandic · Language change · Linguistics · Raising (metalworking · Relative clause · Romance languages · Syntax · Variation (astronomy · Computer Science · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
The Blackwell Companion to Syntax
Parametric Syntax
The York—Toronto—Helsinki parsed corpus of old english prose
On the pragmatics of contrast
Reflexes of grammar in patterns of language change
The rate of phrase structure change in the history of Yiddish
Internal and external forces in language change
Variation and change in Yiddish subordinate clause word order
Empirical Tests of the Gradual Learning Algorithm
Gradual Learning and Convergence
Amount Relatives
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2024 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |