Affiliation:
1. University of Oslo, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studie, Oslo, Norwegen
2. University of Tromsø, Department of Language and Linguistics, Tromsø, Norwegen
Abstract
Abstract
The present paper investigates language change in the categories of Number, Gender, Case and Definiteness from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. On the basis of data from Germanic and Slavic, as well as from Greek, Breton, Spanish and Persian, it is claimed that the observed changes are constrained by the Animacy Hierarchy and what we call the Relevance Constraint, which says that language change targets the part of the lexicon where the categories in question are most relevant for human experience and the changes do not make any ‘leaps’ along the Hierarchy. It is suggested that animacy and relevance presuppose a linguistic theory based on embodiment and construal, such as cognitive linguistics.
Reference15 articles.
1. On iconicity of distance in Cognitive;Croft;Linguistics,2008
2. Animacy and grammatical variation Findings from English genitive variation in;Rosenbach;Lingua,2008
3. Review of Greville : Number and Senft : Systems of nominal classification in of;Timberlake;Journal Linguistics,2003
4. What markedness marks : the markedness problem with direct objects in;Næss;Lingua,2004
5. Semantic change in word formation in;Rainer;Linguistics,2005
Cited by
5 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. The development of heterosemous inflection and derivation;Constructions and Frames;2023-12-31
2. A typology of northwestern Bantu gender systems;Linguistics;2022-04-08
3. Prezidentskie vybory vs. vybory prezidenta: how to choose?;Russian Linguistics;2019-10-24
4. „Alte“ Daten, neue Methoden;Jahrbuch für Germanistische Sprachgeschichte;2019-08-01
5. Animals, animacy and anthropocentrism;From Culture to Language and Back: The Animacy Hierarchy in language and discourse;2018-06-28