TY - JOUR
T1 - Variable rules meet Impoverishment theory
T2 - Patterns of agreement levelling in English varieties
AU - Parrott, Jeffrey K.
AU - Nevins, Andrew
N1 - Please follow the link above for an electronic version of this article, which was published in Lingua, Volume 120, issue 5, May 2010.
Copyright © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PY - 2010/5
Y1 - 2010/5
N2 - This paper revives the sociolinguistic notion of 'variable rules' (Labov, 1969; Cedergren and Sankoff, 1974; Guy, 1991) as a specific and restricted mechanism within the theoretical framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz, 1993; Embick and Noyer, 2007). We propose that intra-individual paradigm 'leveling' variation (or, variable syncretism), can be effectively modeled as resulting from post-syntactic feature deletion rules that apply variably. In other words, variable rules enact a structural change only probabilistically, rather than deterministically, when their structural description is met. By hypothesis, morphological 'Impoverishment' operations (Bonet, 1991; Halle, 1997; Noyer, 1998) are induced by the inherent and universal markedness of particular morphosyntactic features or their combination (Greenberg, 1966; Croft, 2003). We examine markedness-driven variable Impoverishment through case studies of three English varieties: be-leveling in Monmouthshire (Orton, 1962-1971) induced by marked [+author], was-leveling in Buckie (Adger and Smith, 2005; Adger, 2006) induced by marked [+participant], and weren't- and ain't-leveling on Smith Island (Wolfram and Schilling-Estes, 2003; Mittelstaedt, 2006) induced by marked [+negation].
AB - This paper revives the sociolinguistic notion of 'variable rules' (Labov, 1969; Cedergren and Sankoff, 1974; Guy, 1991) as a specific and restricted mechanism within the theoretical framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz, 1993; Embick and Noyer, 2007). We propose that intra-individual paradigm 'leveling' variation (or, variable syncretism), can be effectively modeled as resulting from post-syntactic feature deletion rules that apply variably. In other words, variable rules enact a structural change only probabilistically, rather than deterministically, when their structural description is met. By hypothesis, morphological 'Impoverishment' operations (Bonet, 1991; Halle, 1997; Noyer, 1998) are induced by the inherent and universal markedness of particular morphosyntactic features or their combination (Greenberg, 1966; Croft, 2003). We examine markedness-driven variable Impoverishment through case studies of three English varieties: be-leveling in Monmouthshire (Orton, 1962-1971) induced by marked [+author], was-leveling in Buckie (Adger and Smith, 2005; Adger, 2006) induced by marked [+participant], and weren't- and ain't-leveling on Smith Island (Wolfram and Schilling-Estes, 2003; Mittelstaedt, 2006) induced by marked [+negation].
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - Distributed Morphology
KW - variation
KW - Distributed Morphology
KW - variation
KW - syncretism
KW - Impoverishment
KW - markedness
KW - morphosyntax
U2 - 10.1016/j.lingua.2008.05.008
DO - 10.1016/j.lingua.2008.05.008
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0024-3841
VL - 120
JO - Lingua
JF - Lingua
IS - 5
ER -