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

Y1 - 2010

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 - doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2008.05.008

DO - doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2008.05.008

M3 - Journal article

VL - 120

JO - Lingua

JF - Lingua

SN - 0024-3841

IS - 5

ER -