Publication
Title
Grammaticalization and the linguistic individual: new avenues in lifespan research
Author
Abstract
This paper reviews theoretical and methodological advances and issues in lifespan research and discusses how the issues at stake are addressed in an ongoing research project. Summarizing the state of the art, we conclude that next to nothing is known about lifespan changes affecting syntactic or grammaticalizing constructions that goes beyond exploratory or anecdotal evidence. The Mind-Bending Grammars project, which examines the adaptive powers of adult cognition and constraints on these powers, aspires to make headway in this area. In this paper, we introduce some of the major goals of the project and present a new large-scale longitudinal corpus of 50 adults that was established to study grammatical change across the lifespan. Particular attention is paid to the constraints on the adoption of novel grammatical patterns in the aging mind. Taking be going to as a case study, we present evidence that (highly educated) healthy monolingual speakers continue to participate in grammatical innovations across the lifespan.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Linguistics vanguard. - Berlin
Publication
Berlin : De Gruyter Mouton , 2019
ISSN
2199-174X
DOI
10.1515/LINGVAN-2018-0037
Volume/pages
5 :s:[2] (2019) , p. 1-12
Article Reference
20180037
ISI
000472603100002
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
The dynamics of correlated multiple grammatical changes in Early Modern English writers (MindBendingGrammars).
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 26.06.2019
Last edited 09.12.2024
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