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Language Change
DozentIn: Dr. phil. Meike Pentrel, M.A.
Veranstaltungstyp: Seminar
Ort: 15/113
Zeiten: Di. 12:00 - 14:00 (wöchentlich)
Beschreibung: When we compare earlier forms of English to English in its present state, it is fairly obvious that a lot has changed in the past 1,000 years. Just think of a single lexical item like Old English "cniht" turning into PdE "knight", we can easily see changes on the semantic and on the phonological level which to be discussed.
It seems that language change is inevitable. Yet, for some speakers changes are something to be stopped otherwise their language will be corrupted.
In this seminar we look at three central questions: 1) What changes? 2) How and by which underlying mechanisms do changes proceed? and 3) Why do languages change at all?
We will look at possible causes, principles and mechanisms underlying language change on every linguistic level. Furthermore, we will discuss several theories explaining different forms of language change.
Suggested Readings:
Aitchison, Jean. 2001. Language Change. 3rd ed. Cambridge: CUP.
Burridge, Kate and Alexander Bergs (2016). Understanding Language Change. Routledge
Bybee, Joan."Language Change" Cambridge University Press: 2015.
McMahon, April. 1994. Understanding Language Change. Cambridge: CUP.