Grammaticalization

Description

Grammaticalization refers to the change whereby lexical terms and constructions serve grammatical functions in certain linguistic contexts and, once grammaticalized, continue to develop new grammatical functions. Paul Hopper and Elizabeth Traugott synthesize research from several areas of linguistics in this revised introduction to the subject. The book includes substantial updates on theoretical and methodological issues that have arisen in the decade since the first edition, as well as a significantly expanded bibliography. Particular attention is paid to recent debates over directionality in change and the role of grammaticalization in creolization. First Edition Hb (1993): 0-521-36655-0 First Edition Pb (1993): 0-521-36684-4

Paul J. Hopper is Thomas S. Baker Professor of English and Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University. His publications include Grammaticalization (co-authored with Elizabeth Closs Traugott, Cambridge, 1993), A Short Course in Grammar (1999), The Limits of Grammaticalization (co-edited with Anna Giacalone-Ramat, 1998), and Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure (co-edited with Joan Bybee, 2001). Elizabeth Closs Traugott is Professor of Linguistics and English at Stanford University. Her publications include A History of English Syntax (1972), Linguistics for Students of Literature (co-authored with Mary L. Pratt, 1980), Grammaticalization (co-authored with Paul J. Hopper, Cambridge, 1993), and Regularity in Semantic Change (co-authored with Richard B. Dasher, Cambridge, 2001).

"The book is a lucid and highly readable discussion of grammaticalization...an excellent treatment of a central aspect of language." Language