Handbook of Historical Linguistics

Brian D. Joseph is Professor of Linguistics and Kenneth E. Naylor Professor of South Slavic Linguistics at The Ohio State University. Within historical linguistics, his research focuses mainly on Indo-European languages. He has written and edited numerous books – including Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship (with Hans H. Hock, 1996) and The Synchrony and Diachrony of the Balkan Infinitive (1983) – and has published over 160 articles. He became editor of the journal Language in 2002.Richard D. Janda is Senior Lecturer and Coordinator for Undergraduate Education in the Department of Linguistics at The Ohio State University. A specialist in both Germanic and Romance linguistics, he has written widely not only on diachronic but also on synchronic issues in phonology, morphology, and morphosyntax, as well as on historical linguistics in general. His more than 70 publications focus on drawing broader implications from the application of theory to specific problems of structure, function, variation, and change in individual languages.

• List of Contributors ixPreface xiPart I Introduction 1On Language, Change, and Language Change – Or, Of History, Linguistics, and Historical Linguistics 3Richard D. Janda and Brian D. JosephPart II Methods for Studying Language Change 1811 The Comparative Method 183Robert L. Rankin2 On the Limits of the Comparative Method 213S. P. Harrison3 Internal Reconstruction 244Don Ringe4 How to Show Languages are Related: Methods for Distant Genetic Relationship 262Lyle Campbell5 Diversity and Stability in Language 283Johanna NicholsPart III Phonological Change 3116 The Phonological Basis of Sound Change 313Paul Kiparsky7 Neogrammarian Sound Change 343Mark Hale8 Variationist Approaches to Phonological Change 369Gregory R. Guy9 “Phonologization” as the Start of Dephoneticization – Or, On Sound Change and its Aftermath: Of Extension, Generalization, Lexicalization, and Morphologization 401Richard D. JandaPart IV Morphological and Lexical Change 42310 Analogy: The Warp and Woof of Cognition 425Raimo Anttila11 Analogical Change 441Hans Henrich Hock12 Naturalness and Morphological Change 461Wolfgang U. Dressler13 Morphologization from Syntax 472Brian D. JosephPart V Syntactic Change 49314 Grammatical Approaches to Syntactic Change 495David Lightfoot15 Variationist Approaches to Syntactic Change 509Susan Pintzuk16 Cross-Linguistic Perspectives on Syntactic Change 529Alice C. Harris17 Functional Perspectives on Syntactic Change 552Marianne MithunPart Vi Pragmatico-semantic Change 57318 Grammaticalization 575Bernd Heine19 Mechanisms of Change in Grammaticization: The Role of Frequency 602Joan Bybee20 Constructions in Grammaticalization 624Elizabeth Closs Traugott21 An Approach to Semantic Change 648Benjamin W. Fortson ivPart VII Explaining Linguistic Change 66722 Phonetics and Historical Phonology 669John J. Ohala23 Contact as a Source of Language Change 687Sarah Grey Thomason24 Dialectology and Linguistic Diffusion 713Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes25 Psycholinguistic Perspectives on Language Change 736Jean AitchisonBibliography 744Subject Index 843Name Index 856Language Index 879

"The Handbook of Historical Linguistics proves an atypical handbook in several positive senses, beginning with the introduction's bold tackling of foundational issues. While many chapters offer the expected compact overviews of familiar topics, others are, we hope, destined to become influential as needed lucid statements on particular issues... and thought-provoking, original contributions... The value of The Handbook of Historical Linguistics is multifaceted; its influence will be far-reaching and long-lasting." Journal of Linguistics“The editors have assembled a remarkable array of contributors who can introduce readers to the professional standards of scholarship and scientific reasoning that characterize the field.” William Labov, University of Pennsylvania “An authoritative collection, by a stellar group of contributors, that presents historical linguistics as it really is – a multifaceted study that is both a branch of general linguistics and a field in its own right. No other survey covers the territory half so well.” Jay Jasanoff, Harvard University