Words in Time

Regine Eckardt, Klaus von Heusinger, Christoph Schwarze

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9783110899979
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Meanings of words are constantly changing, and the forces driving these changes are varied and diverse. Linguistic analyses are usually concerned with language-internal processes, while investigations of language-external historical developments tend to disregard linguistic considerations. It is evident, however, that an investigation of diachronic semantics will have to consider both sides: a specific theory of meaning including a proper place for lexical semantics on the one hand, and incorporate knowledge about the world and the social and cultural environment of speakers who use language as a tool for communication on the other.

The collection focuses on meaning change as a topic of interdisciplinary research. Distinguished scholars in diachronic semantics, general linguistics, classical philology, philosophy of language, anthropology and history offer in depth studies of language internal and external factors of meaning change. This broad range of perspectives, unprecedented in research publications of recent years, is a pioneering attempt to mirror the multi-facetteous nature of language as a formal, social, cognitive, cultural and historical entity. The contributions, each exploring the research issues, methods and techniques of their particular field, are directed towards a broader audience of interested readers, thus enhancing interdisciplinary exchange.

Table of contents

• Introduction: Historical linguistics as a transdisciplinary field of research
• A. Changing believes, diversifying worlds, and flexible meanings
• Words and concepts in time: Towards diachronic cognitive onomasiology
• The semantic structure of lexical fields: Variation and change
• khalîfa – A word study
• Words in discourse – On the diachronic lexical semantics of discours
• B. The meaning of meaning change
• Theoretical concepts in flux: Conceptual knowledge and theory change
• Meaning change as character change
• Meaning change in conceptual Montague semantics
• C. The force of grammar
• Tense in time: The Greek perfect
• Light verbs in Urdu and grammaticalization
• Bilingualism and linguistic interference in the Slavic-Romance contact area of Molise (Southern Italy)
• Lexical-grammatical variation and development: The use of conjunctions as discourse markers in everyday spoken German
• Subject index
• Author index