Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency (e-bog) af Hawkins, John A.
Hawkins, John A. (forfatter)

Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency e-bog

366,80 DKK (inkl. moms 458,50 DKK)
In this book John A. Hawkins argues that major patterns of variation across languages are structured by general principles of efficiency in language use and communication. Evidence for these comes from languages permitting structural options from which selections are made in performance, e.g. between competing word orders and between relative clauses with a resumptive pronoun versus a gap. The ...
E-bog 366,80 DKK
Forfattere Hawkins, John A. (forfatter)
Forlag OUP Oxford
Udgivet 28 februar 2014
Længde 320 sider
Genrer Language acquisition
Sprog English
Format pdf
Beskyttelse LCP
ISBN 9780191642869
In this book John A. Hawkins argues that major patterns of variation across languages are structured by general principles of efficiency in language use and communication. Evidence for these comes from languages permitting structural options from which selections are made in performance, e.g. between competing word orders and between relative clauses with a resumptive pronoun versus a gap. The preferences and patterns of performance within languages are reflected, heshows, in the fixed conventions and variation patterns across grammars, leading to a 'Performance-Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis'. Hawkins extends and updates the general theory that he laid out in Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars (OUP 2004): new areas of grammar and performance arediscussed, new research findings are incorporated that test his earlier predictions, and new advances in the contributing fields of language processing, linguistic theory, historical linguistics, and typology are addressed. This efficiency approach to variation has far-reaching theoretical consequences relevant to many current issues in the language sciences. These include the notion of ease of processing and how to measure it, the role of processing in language change, the nature of languageuniversals and their explanation, the theory of complexity, the relative strength of competing and cooperating principles, and the proper definition of fundamental grammatical notions such as 'dependency'. The book also offers a new typology of VO and OV languages and their correlating properties seenfrom this perspective, and a new typology of the noun phrase and of argument structure.