The oldest form of Sanskrit has a class of expressions that are in some respects like asyndetically coordinated syntactic phrases, in other respects like single compound words. I propose to resolve the conflicting evidence by drawing on prosodic phonology, stratal optimality theory, and the lexicalist approach to morphological blocking. I then…

Although coarticulatory variation is largely systematic, and serves as useful information for listeners, such variation is nonetheless linked to sound change. This article explores the articulatory and perceptual interactions between a coarticulatory source and its effects, and how these interactions likely contribute to change. The focus is on…

The reconstruction of genealogical relationships between languages is traditionally performed through lexical comparison and the establishment of regular sound changes. The historical analysis of other aspects of linguistic structure, like syntactic patterns or the function of grammatical elements, is normally understood to depend on a previously…

Because many of the forms participating in inherent variability are not attested in the standard language, they are often construed as evidence of change. We test this assumption by confronting the standard, as instantiated by a unique corpus covering five centuries of French grammatical injunctions, with data on the evolution of spontaneous…

Presents results of a connectionist simulation that modeled the reanalysis of the Latin gender system in its transition to Old French. The network reanalysis was based solely on formal cues and on frequency. Results are in accordance with the historical data, and certain errors in simulations are also amenable to principled explanations.…

Approaches Middle English quantity changes as the consequence of the phonologization of a syllable cut prosody and provides new evidence for the relevance of syllable cut to the diachronic phonology of English. Evidence comes from partial reconstruction of Ihe phonological system of the early Middle English dialect presented in the "Ormulum,"…

Proposes to model the synchronic and diachronic semantics of the diminutive category with a "Radial Category," a type of structured polysemy that explicitly models the different senses of the diminutive and the metaphorical and inferential relations that bind them. The model is tested by considering the semantics of the diminutive in…

Reviews two books, "American Earlier Black English," by Edgar W. Schneider, and "The Death of Black English," by Ronald Butters, that capture the essence of the renewed controversy on the reemergence of the historical issue and a new dispute over the current development of Vernacular Black English. (36 references) (JL)

Four building blocks of a theory of linguistic diversity are presented here: a classification and measures of diversity, an account of the causes of diversity, measures of rates of differentiation, and means of estimating the age of a linguistic population. (69 references) (JL)

Discusses grammaticalization of "laik" in Tok Pisin, meaning "want/like/desire" (from English "like") and "klostu," meaning "near" (from English "close to") as markers of proximative. Shows although "klostu" was more generally a feature of Pacific Pidgin English and began to…

Attempts to show that open syllable lengthening (OSL) was part of the grammar of the West Germanic languages: Middle English, Middle Dutch, and Middle High German. Claims that all three languages endeavored to maintain and maximize the Germanic foot, and OSL contributed in different ways to do so. (Author/VWL)

Argues against the theory that metathesis is less natural phonetically than other processes and distinguished by greater phonological motivation. Cases of consonant-vowel (CV) metathesis (synchronic and diachronic) are surveyed to explain how metathesis sound changes arise. Two types of CV metathesis with distinct synchronic properties and…

In many languages, the article cannot occur when a possessive phrase is present in the noun phrase (NP). Argues that these patterns can be understood in terms of economic motivation because possessed NPs are very likely to be definite. Shows how the performance motivation of economy creates the competence pattern in diachronic change. (Author/VWL)

Some Korean-Japanese coronals complicate the internal reconstruction of pre-old Japanese (OJ). Conflicting results of various studies can be resolved if other pre-OJ sound changes supported by Korean etymologies are properly integrated into the internal reconstruction of Japanese verb paradigms. (Author/VWL)

Explains the Greenbergian universals of modifier and adposition ordering as accidental side effects of diachronic derivation. An argument is made that disparate diachronic processes can conspire to give the effect of synchronic universals. For example, the ordering of modifiers may result from their generation by means of binding anaphor strategy.…