Lexicalization and Language Change

Examines the ways in which lexicalization, a process of language change, has been presented in the literature.

Laurel J. Brinton (Author), Elizabeth Closs Traugott (Author)

9780521540636, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 October 2005

220 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.361 kg

'As the fourth book in a new series by Cambridge University Press called Research Surveys in Linguistics, Lexicalization and Language Change by Laurel J. Brinton and Elizabeth Closs Traugott promises an up-to-date survey of literature on lexicalization. But the book is much more than that. Not only does it discuss relevant previous and current work, present case studies and give directions for further research, but it even provides us with the authors' unified model of lexicalization and grammaticalization. … An extensive bibliography and two indices (of subjects and of words and forms) round off the book, which is an important contribution to the field of lexicalization and grammaticalization studies.' Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen

Lexicalization, a process of language change, has been conceptualized in a variety of ways. Broadly defined as the adoption of concepts into the lexicon, it has been viewed by syntacticians as the reverse process of grammaticalization, by morphologists as a routine process of word-formation, and by semanticists as the development of concrete meanings. In this up-to-date survey, Laurel Brinton and Elizabeth Traugott examine the various conceptualizations of lexicalization that have been presented in the literature. In light of contemporary work on grammaticalization, they then propose a new, unified model of lexicalization and grammaticalization. Their approach is illustrated with a variety of case studies from the history of English, including present participles, multi-word verbs, adverbs, and discourse markers, as well as some examples from other Indo-European languages. The first review of the various approaches to lexicalization, this book will be invaluable to students and scholars of historical linguistics and language change.

1. Contexts for the study of lexicalization and grammaticalization
2. Lexicalization: definitions and viewpoints
3. The relation of lexicalization to grammaticalization
4. Towards an integrated approach to lexicalization and grammaticalization
5. Case studies
6. Conclusion and research questions.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]