{"title":"From negative cleft to external negator","authors":"E. B. Siegal, K. Clercq","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198824961.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198824961.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses the diachronic development of the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic negator lāw, which developed from the univerbation between the sentential negator and agreement morphology in negative clefts. Whereas the semantics of negative clefts is retained in the new negator, their biclausal structure is replaced by a monoclausal one with lāw merged in the clausal left periphery. The negator then takes propositional scope and expresses the meaning of external negation (‘it is not the case’). Syntactically, it is merged in SpecFocP in the extended CP-domain, argued to host English negative DPs/PPs and wh-words. Finally, the chapter extends the analysis to Sicilian neca, opening up the route to consider the development of an external negator from a negative cleft as a path of change that has hitherto been left unexplored. This chapter also demonstrates how a similar semantic interpretation associated with two different syntactic structures can be a trigger for syntactic reanalysis.","PeriodicalId":378442,"journal":{"name":"Cycles in Language Change","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127788821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne Breitbarth, L. Danckaert, Elisabeth Witzenhausen, M. Bouzouita
{"title":"Cycling through diachrony","authors":"Anne Breitbarth, L. Danckaert, Elisabeth Witzenhausen, M. Bouzouita","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198824961.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198824961.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"The notion of ‘linguistic cycle’ has long been recognized as being relevant to the description of many processes of language change. This introduction deals with different phenomena of cyclical change, making clear that while grammaticalization is one area where cyclical change can be found, it is not the only one. The chapter provides an overview of the theoretical literature about cyclical change, with particular emphasis on a diachronic generative approach. It contextualizes the chapters in this volume against the background of this literature, and groups them into more theoretical and more empirical contributions, addressing cyclical changes in both the nominal and the clausal domains.","PeriodicalId":378442,"journal":{"name":"Cycles in Language Change","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117098677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"French negation, the Superset Principle, and Feature Conservation","authors":"K. Clercq","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198824961.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198824961.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter provides a nanosyntactic account of negation in French, modelling the change from le bon usage French (BUF) to colloquial French (CF). It is argued that language change is driven by Feature Conservation: the lexical items involved in the expression of sentential negation may change over time, but the features needed remain stable. Furthermore, it is argued that the change from BUF to CF is economy-driven, resulting in bigger lexically stored trees, less spell-out-driven movements and a maximal operationalization of the Superset Principle. In addition, the account shows how negative concord and double negation can be explained as a natural consequence of the interplay of the internal structure of lexical trees and the Superset Principle. Finally, the chapter adds to theoretical discussions within nanosyntax by presenting how the interaction between syntactic movement and spell-out-driven movement may be conceived of.","PeriodicalId":378442,"journal":{"name":"Cycles in Language Change","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117000790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}