The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics provides a complete and up-to-date survey of the field written by specialists from around the world. Across four sections, the volume covers the methods which underpin current work; models of language change; and the importance of historical linguistics for other subfields of linguistics as well as other disciplines.The second edition of this acclaimed resource retains the same structure, with each chapter comprising an introduction to the subject; an analysis of the relationship between the diachronic and synchronic study of the topic; an overview of the main current and critical trends; and examples from primary data. However, the chapters have been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the current state of the field and brand-new chapters have been added to include:- The history of historical linguistics;- Corpus linguistics work;- Computational semantic change;- Philology;- Historical sociolinguistics;- Psycholinguistics and language change;- Creole language change.Showcasing the full breadth and depth of research in this evolving and vibrant field, The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics is essential reading for researchers and advanced students working in this area.
Claire Bowern is Professor of Linguistics at Yale University, USA.Bethwyn Evans is Lecturer in Linguistics at the Australian National University, Australia.
Editors’ Introduction Part I: Overviews 1 Foundations of the new historical linguistics 2 New perspectives in historical linguistics 3 Compositionality and change Part II: Methods and models 4 The Comparative Method 5 The Comparative Method: theoretical issues 6 The computational Comparative Method 7 Trees, waves and linkages: models of language diversification 8 Language phylogenies 9 Diachronic stability and typology 10 Historical treebanks Part III: Language change 11 Sound change 12 Morphological change 13 Morphological reconstruction 14 Generative syntax and language change 15 Functional syntax and language change 16 Lexical semantic change and semantic reconstruction 17 Formal semantics/pragmatics and language change 18 Computational semantics 19 Etymology 20 Discourse 21 Language acquisition and language change 22 Social dimensions of language change 23 Language change in multilingual situations 24 Language use, cognitive processes and linguistic change 25 Analogy 26 Sign languages in their historical context 27 Contact-induced language change 28 Historical linguistics and sociocultural reconstruction 29 Prehistory through language and archaeology 30 Historical linguistics and molecular anthropology Part IV: Regional summaries 31 Indo-European: methods and problems 32 The Austro-Asiatic language phylum: a typology of phonological restructuring 33 On the diachronic development of pronominal systems in Upper Guinea Creoles 34 Pama-Nyungan 35 The Pacific Northwest linguistic area: historical perspectives Index