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In The Power of Anology, Dieter Wanner argues for reinstating historical linguistics, especially in (morpho-)syntax, as constitutive of any theoretical account of language.
In the first part, he provides a critique of some foundational concepts of an object-oriented linguistic perspective, questioning the distinction between synchrony and diachrony, dichotomous parametrization, grammaticality judgments, and formal generalization. Instead, the immanent perspective of the linguistic individual, licensed by broad cognitive functions, highlights such relegated dimensions as similarity, (surface) redundancy, frequency of form, and social and environmental conditions on language use.
In the second part, Dieter Wanner relies on a systematic construct of analogy as the dynamic force enabling language, tying together acquisition, language use, and linguistic change. Such analogy is pervasive, driven by local models, and inevitably spreading through the social web of linguistic practice. The unpredictability, incompletion, and typical slowness of change thereby become the norm, while categorical closure remains a marked possibility. The framework of "Soft Syntax" spells out an operative model for syntax relying on precedence, cohesion, dependence, agreement, constructional identity, and concatenation. These six dimensions and their interplay undergo a detailed exploration of their diachronic operation and implications, applying them to typical examples taken from the history of the Romance languages.
The openness of the framework enables diachronic linguistics to approach old problems in a new light and to ask new questions about the mechanics and nature of language change.
List of contents
INTRODUCTION
1. THE SCENARIO
2. THE PRESTIGE OF HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
3. THE LIMITATIONS OF HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
4. GOALS OF THE ESSAY
5. PLAN OF THE STUDY
PART I
CHAPTER ONE
DIACHRONY: POSITIONS AND CHALLENGES
1. PROPOSALS
2. PROBLEMATICAL ASPECTS OF HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
3. LANGUAGE CHANGE
CHAPTER TWO
DOMAINS IN HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
1. DIMENSIONS OF DIACHRONY
2. PHILOLOGY BROADLY
3. VARIOUS FORMAL PROPOSALS
CHAPTER THREE
REINTEGRATING DIACHRONY: A CRITIQUE OF SOME THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTS
1. FOUR POLAR NOTIONS
2. THE IMMANENT VIEW
3. INNATE AND CONSTRUCTIVIST ASPECTS
4. COMMUNICATION AND CAUSATION
5. THE SHAPE OF LANGUAGE
6. ENVIRONMENTAL DEPENDENCE OF LANGUAGE LEARNING
7. PARAMETER SETTING AS INDUCTION
8. THE MODELING OF FREQUENCY
9. CONCLUSION: LANGUAGE AS THE OBJECT OF DIACHRONIC STUDY
CHAPTER FOUR
CRITICAL ISSUES
1. TYPES OF GRAMMATICALITY JUDGMENTS
2. GRAMMATICALITY JUDGMENTS AS LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE
3. REPRESENTATION
4. REDUNDANCY
5. COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCES
6. REGULARITY
PART II
CHAPTER FIVE
ANALOGY, CATEGORIZATION, AND LEARNING
1. IMMANENCE AND THE LINGUISTIC INDIVIDUAL
2. LEARNING
3. ANALOGY AS AN OPERATIVE MODEL
4. ANALOGY IN DIACHRONY
5. CHANGE IN SOCIAL CONTEXT
CHAPTER SIX
SOFT SYNTAX
1. AN OVERVIEW OF LINGUISTIC COMPONENTS
2. MAJOR ARTICULATIONS AND INTERFACING
3. THE DIMENSIONS OF SOFT SYNTAX
4. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOFT SYNTAX DIMENSIONS
5. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON PARSIMONIOUS SYNTAX REPRESENTATION
CHAPTER SEVEN
PATHWAYS FOR DIACHRONIC SHIFTS
1. CHANGE IN PRIMARY COMPONENTS OUTSIDE OF SYNTAX
2. CHANGE IN THE SYNTACTIC DIMENSIONS
3. MORE ON CHANGE
CONCLUSIONS
About the author
Dieter Wanner, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.
Report
"The Power of Analogy. An Essay on Historical Linguistics is an important contribution to thinking about language change. It sets out a theory which unifies synchrony and diachrony in ways which diminish the usual barriers between them. [...] it is highly recommended."Margaret E. Winters in: Studies in Language 4/2008
