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Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective

Online ISBN:
9780191837036
Print ISBN:
9780198795841
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective

Heiko Narrog (ed.),
Heiko Narrog
(ed.)
Professor at the Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Tohoku University
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Bernd Heine (ed.)
Bernd Heine
(ed.)
Emeritus Professor, Institute of African Studies, University of Cologne
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Published online:
20 December 2018
Published in print:
1 November 2018
Online ISBN:
9780191837036
Print ISBN:
9780198795841
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This volume explores the way in which grammaticalization processesâ whereby lexical words eventually become markers of grammatical categories—converge and differ across various types of language. While grammaticalization at its core is a unidirectional phenomenon, in which the same pathways of change are replicated across languages, certain language types and language areas have distinct preferences with respect to what they grammaticalize and how. Previous work has principally addressed this question with specific reference to languages of Southeast and East Asia that do not seem to grammaticalize paradigms of categories in the same manner as Indo-European languages, or form extensive grammaticalization chains. This volume takes a broader approach and proceeds systematically area by area: specialists in the field address the processes of grammaticalization in languages of Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas, and in creole languages. The studies reveal a number of unique pathways of grammaticalization in each language area, as well as identifying the universal shared features of the phenomenon.

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