Social Networks and Historical Sociolinguistics: Studies in Morphosyntactic Variation in the Paston Letters (1421-1503)

by Alexander Bergs

The book presents an analysis of selected domains of morphosyntactic variation in a 250,000 word collection of the Middle English Paston Letters (1421-1503) from a historical sociolinguistic point of view. In the three case studies, two nominal and one verbal variable are described and discussed in detail: the replacement of Old English h-> pronouns by borrowed th-> pronouns, the introduction and spread of the wh-> relativizers, and the spread...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3110183102
• ISBN13: 9783110183108
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: de Gruyter Mouton
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.5" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 22 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary