Linguistics ETDs
Publication Date
7-1-2009
Abstract
Many varieties of French have changed over the years from expressing predicate negation (Geurts 1998) with ne alone, to the embracing construction ne ... pas, and then to postverbal pas alone (Jespersen 1917). When the increase in the frequency of ne ... pas over time is plotted on a graph, it takes the S shape of the logistic function (Kroch 1989). Bybee and Thompson (1997) note that "the type frequency of a pattern determines its degree of productivity," but "high frequency forms with alternations resist analogical leveling.' These two observations provide an explanation for the logistic progression observed by Kroch (1989). Following Lotka (1925) and Volterra (1926), we can extend this model to take into account the competition between constructions to express the same function. To test these models, I have compiled a corpus of French theatrical texts from the twelfth to the twentieth century. The logistic function accurately models the use of ne ... pas in these texts (R2 = 0.899), but the Lotka-Volterra model predicts the post-1600 changes in preverbal ne alone and embracing ne ... pas and ne ... point with even greater accuracy (r = 0.948 and 0.978).
Project Sponsors
The University of New Mexico
Language
English
Keywords
Linguistics, French
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Linguistics
Level of Degree
Doctoral
Department Name
Department of Linguistics
First Committee Member (Chair)
Croft, William
Second Committee Member
Travis, Catherine
Third Committee Member
Schwenter, Scott
Recommended Citation
Grieve-Smith, Angus. "The Spread of Change in French Negation." (2009). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds/12
Comments
Submitted by Angus Grieve-Smith (grvsmth@unm.edu) on 2009-05-22T17:57:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 grvsmth-phd1.pdf: 2701692 bytes, checksum: 673fbc60aa52444c0e59aad7c5e9843e (MD5), Approved for entry into archive by Doug Weintraub(dwein@unm.edu) on 2009-08-27T20:59:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 grvsmth-phd1.pdf: 2701692 bytes, checksum: 673fbc60aa52444c0e59aad7c5e9843e (MD5), Made available in DSpace on 2009-08-27T21:00:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 grvsmth-phd1.pdf: 2701692 bytes, checksum: 673fbc60aa52444c0e59aad7c5e9843e (MD5)