When variants lack semantic equivalence: Adverbial Subclause Word Order
Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapport › Bidrag til bog/antologi › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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When variants lack semantic equivalence : Adverbial Subclause Word Order. / Christensen, Tanya Karoli; Jensen, Torben Juel.
Explanations in Sociosyntactic Variation. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2022. s. 171-206 (Studies in Language Variation and Change).Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapport › Bidrag til bog/antologi › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - CHAP
T1 - When variants lack semantic equivalence
T2 - Adverbial Subclause Word Order
AU - Christensen, Tanya Karoli
AU - Jensen, Torben Juel
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - This chapter argues that it will make results of variationist studies more relevant for linguistic theory if internal predictors assumed to constrain syntactic variation are operationalized in a way that explicitly relates them to semantic or—more broadly—functional hypotheses. We use word order in Danish adverbial subordinate clauses as a case study for how a hypothesized semantic difference between variants can be operationalized. This word order alternation concerns the relative placement of sentential adverbials and finite verbs in subclauses. While the variable is structurally well-defined (Adverb<Verb vs. Verb>Adverb), it challenges classic theoretical and methodological assumptions in variationist studies by entailing a semantic difference, since the two word orders conveying subtly different meanings when used in subclauses. For this study, we operationalize a set of linguistic predictors related to the two most prevalent meaning hypotheses given in the literature, the Assertivity and the Foregrounding Hypothesis. Mixed-effect models and random forest analyses are used to examine the effects and strength of intra- and extralinguistic (social) predictors. Geographical differences related with social stratification indicate an ongoing standardization process emanating from the capital of Copenhagen. The import of our findings related to linguistic theory is discussed.
AB - This chapter argues that it will make results of variationist studies more relevant for linguistic theory if internal predictors assumed to constrain syntactic variation are operationalized in a way that explicitly relates them to semantic or—more broadly—functional hypotheses. We use word order in Danish adverbial subordinate clauses as a case study for how a hypothesized semantic difference between variants can be operationalized. This word order alternation concerns the relative placement of sentential adverbials and finite verbs in subclauses. While the variable is structurally well-defined (Adverb<Verb vs. Verb>Adverb), it challenges classic theoretical and methodological assumptions in variationist studies by entailing a semantic difference, since the two word orders conveying subtly different meanings when used in subclauses. For this study, we operationalize a set of linguistic predictors related to the two most prevalent meaning hypotheses given in the literature, the Assertivity and the Foregrounding Hypothesis. Mixed-effect models and random forest analyses are used to examine the effects and strength of intra- and extralinguistic (social) predictors. Geographical differences related with social stratification indicate an ongoing standardization process emanating from the capital of Copenhagen. The import of our findings related to linguistic theory is discussed.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - syntactic variation
KW - subordinate clauses
KW - adverbial clauses
KW - Word order
KW - functional linguistics
KW - mixed effects models
KW - random forest analysis
KW - Danish
KW - LANCHART
U2 - 10.1017/9781108674942.008
DO - 10.1017/9781108674942.008
M3 - Book chapter
SN - 9781108492843
T3 - Studies in Language Variation and Change
SP - 171
EP - 206
BT - Explanations in Sociosyntactic Variation
PB - Cambridge University Press
CY - Cambridge
ER -
ID: 181235150