Benedikt Szmrecsanyi

Global synopsis: Morphological and syntactic variation in english

Compared with the regional synopses, it is in this chapter that we shall adopt a truly bird’s-eye, or even satellite, view at morphosyntactic variation across the non-standard varieties in the English-speaking world. Relevant questions that will be addressed include the following: Which are the least and, more interestingly, most frequent morphosyntactic features in non-standard varieties of Englishes worldwide, and thus true candidates for what Chambers (2001, 2003, 2004) has called vernacular universals (section 4)? What in this respect can be said and which distinctive patterns and correlations can be identifi ed for the seven world regions investigated in this Handbook (section 5), for fi rst (L1) and second (L2) language varieties and Pidgins/Creoles within and across the seven world regions (section 6), and for individual areas of morphosyntax (section 7)? It will turn out that the patterns identifi ed in section 6 are a crucial key to understanding the patterns in sections 5 and 7. The primary source for the answers to these and other questions addressed in this global synopsis is a catalogue of 76 morphosyntactic features from 11 domains of grammar which was sent to the authors of the morphosyntax chapters of this Handbook (see section 2). For each of these 76 features the authors were asked to specify into which of the following three categories the relevant feature in the relevant variety (or set of closely related varieties) falls:The Handbook is by far the most thorough reference work on phonology and the first-ever comprehensive overview of the morphology and syntax of varieties of English in the world. The Handbook consists of a two volume book accompanied by an interactive CD-ROM. The genuine speech samples and interactive maps of the CD-ROM not only supplement the printed articles by offering lively illustrations of the varieties of English around the world, but the material offered can also be used for linguistic research. The multimedia material is now also available online. Survey Articles The books feature descriptive survey articles that are authored by widely acclaimed specialists in the field and that cover all main national standard varieties, distinctive regional, ethnic, and social varieties, major contact varieties, as well as major ESL varieties; share a common core, which makes them invaluable research tools for cross-linguistic comparisons; provide information on the historical and cultural backgrounds as well as the current sociolinguistic situations in the respective regions; serve as state-of-the-art reports on major issues in current research. CD-ROM The CD-ROM not only supplements the printed volumes through interactive access to the varieties but also provides a comprehensive database with: a unique collection of speech recordings of English from around the world; sound samples that open new perspectives on the varieties of English, as speech recordings also constitute the central aspect of research - students as well as professional academics will feel encouraged to use the material for new investigations; interactive and synchronized maps that allow either phonological or morphosyntactic (grammatical) comparisons; extensive bibliographies on the relevant research literature; links to pertinent websites. Online Version The online version provides departments of English and Linguistics with the opportunity to make the multimedia tools simultaneously available to a wider number of faculty members and students. instructors can deploy the sound samples and interactive maps to enhance their classroom presentations and to highlight important language features; researchers are provided with a database of multimedia material for further study; students can employ the data when working on classroom assignments. Together, the books and the CD-ROM are an indispensable reference work and research tool for sociolinguists, dialectologists, phonologists, grammarians, typologists, and specialists in contact languages and varieties of English around the world. Given its accessible style and its rich auditory and visual support, this Handbook is also ideally suited not only for professional academics but also for undergraduate and graduate students. The editors are responsible for the following topics: Kate Burridge/ Bernd Kortmann: Australia / Pacific Archipelagos Bernd Kortmann: British Isles: Morphology and Syntax Rajend Mesthrie: Africa / South and Southeast Asia Edgar W. Schneider: The Americas / Caribbean Clive Upton: British Isles: Phonology System requirements for the CD-ROM:Hardware: Pentium 500 MHz or AMD K6-III+ 500 MHz, PowerPC G3, 64 MB RAM, 16-bit SoundcardOperating Systems: Windows 98, NT, Me, 2000, XP/ Mac OS 9.x, X 10.x/ Linux (any distribution with Kernel 2.0)Supported Browsers: Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6 (Mac OS: Internet Explorer 5.1)/ Netscape 7.x/ Mozilla 1.0/ Mozilla Firefox 0.8Plugins: Macromedia Flash Player 6/ Acrobat Reader

The English genitive alternation in a cognitive sociolinguistics perspective

As a corpus-based inquiry into the probabilistic nature of lectal variation, the present study seeks to explore how language-external determinants of linguistic variation – real time, geography, text type – interact with language-internal determinants of linguistic variation, and in so doing shape cognitive and probabilistic grammars. The concrete empirical attention of this study will be directed toward the English genitive alternation as an instructive case study. The evidence suggests that the probabilistic grammar underlying the system of genitive choice is fundamentally the same across sampling times, geographic varieties of English, and text types. This overall qualitative stability notwithstanding, the importance of individual conditioning factors varies across different data sources, and this variability is shown to be mediated by language-external factors.

Linguistic complexity : second language acquisition, indigenization, contact

Linguistic complexity is one of the currently most hotly debated notions in linguistics. The essays in this volume address the intricacies of assessing the complexity of languages and language varieties (here: of English) in three major linguistic disciplines: creolistics, indigenization and nativization studies, and Second Language Acquisition research. The volume is thus unique in bringing together leading representatives of three often disjunct fields of linguistic scholarship in which linguistic complexity is seen as a dynamic and inherently variable parameter.