Approaches to Grammaticalization: Volume I. Theoretical and methodological issues

Typological Studies in Language #19:1

by Elizabeth Closs Traugott (Editor)

The study of grammaticalization raises a number of fundamental theoretical issues pertaining to the relation of langue and parole, creativity and automatic coding, synchrony and diachrony, categoriality and continua, typological characteristics and language-specific forms, etc., and therefore challenges some of the basic tenets of twentieth century linguistics.This two-volume work presents a number of diverse theoretical viewpoints on grammaticalization and gives insights into the genesis, development, and organization of grammatical categories in a number of language world-wide, with particular attention to morphosyntactic and semantic-pragmatic issues.
The papers in Volume I are divided into two sections, the first concerned with general method, and the second with issues of directionality. Those in Volume II are divided into five verbal structure, argument structure, subordination, modality, and multiple paths of grammaticalization.

372 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1991