Linguistic Structure and Change

An Explanation from Language Processing
Erscheinungsjahr 2001
ISBN: 978-0-19-829985-1
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 350 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 233 mm, Gewicht: 507 g

Thomas Berg challenges context-free theories of linguistics; he is concerned with how the term 'explanation' is typically used in the discipline. He argues that real explanations cannot emerge from a view which asserts the autonomy of language, but only from an approach which seeks to establish a connection between language and the contexts in which it is embedded.

The author examines the psychological context in detail. He uses an interactive activation model of language processing to derive predictions about synchronic linguistic patterns, the course of linguistic change, and the structure of poetic rhymes. The majority of these predictions are borne out, and the author concludes that the structure of language is shaped by the properties of the mechanism which puts it to use, and that psycholinguistics thus qualifies as one likely approach from which to
derive an explanation of linguistic structure.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Berg, Thomas

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Grammatik, Syntax, Morphologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften Sprachphilosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Sprachpsychologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sprachphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Psycholinguistik, Neurolinguistik, Kognition
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Phonetik, Phonologie, Prosodie

Über Autor(innen)

Thomas Berg is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hamburg.