160154 PS Morphological change (2007W)

Besides the study of sound change, diachronic morphology is the second cornerstone of research on language change. Along with changes in the distribution and frequency of occurrence, innovations of form and function of morphological units form the bulk of what historical grammar establishes as language change. Deliberate knowledge of the forms and types of morphological change ist therfore indispensable not only for language historians, but part and parcel of general linguistic education.
In this introductory seminar, the phenomena of morphological change will be examined from all sides: the cognitive basis of grammatical categories and processes, the semiotically grounded stability and variability of markers, the interaction of phonological, syntactic and semantic factors in morphogenesis and grammaticalization, to name just a few. Special regard will be payed to the typological aspect of word structure.