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SUMMARY:When and where does language change? Syntax\, phonology\, acquisit
 ion and diachrony - Dr Patrick Honeybone (Department of Linguistics and En
 glish Language\, University of Edinburgh)
DTSTART:20071129T173000Z
DTEND:20071129T190000Z
UID:TALK7994@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Christopher Lucas
DESCRIPTION:Where does language change? I'm not going to be talking about 
 geography... Rather\, I focus on the question of what the locus (or loci) 
 of linguistic change is (or are) in the chain of language transmission fro
 m generation to generation in a speech community. It is common in theoreti
 cal work on diachrony to place the exclusive explanatory focus on first la
 nguage acquisition\, so that change always involves a crucial discontinuit
 y between the linguistic states of the pre-change older generation and the
  post-change younger generation. (Such ideas are clear in the work of Davi
 d Lightfoot and Mark Hale\, for historical syntax and phonology\, respecti
 vely\, for example.) In this talk\, I challenge this assumption\, which I 
 dub 'acquisitionism'. I argue that\, at least for phonology\, there is goo
 d reason to believe that the adult so-called 'steady-state' grammar can ch
 ange (this is sometimes called 'lifespan change'). On the acquisitionist a
 ssumption\, the language-specific linguistic structure of a pre-change sta
 te cannot place a direct constraint on change\, yet there are cases of cha
 nge where this clearly seems to occur. I further argue\, finally\, that th
 is may be another area where syntax and phonology are different.
LOCATION:GR06-7\, English Faculty\, 9 West Road (Sidgwick Site)
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