Contrastive linguistics and language change

Abstract

Contrastive linguistic studies have focused almost exclusively on contrasting the synchronic grammars of modern standard language varieties. There may be some merit in expanding the scope of the enterprise to include contrastive investigations of grammatical systems with respect to how they change over time. Full understanding of some contrasts between grammars requires reference to the diachronic axis. This paper illustrates the point with one particular case in the Germanic languages, involving parallel instances of reanalysis of relative pronouns as relative complementizers in Yiddish, Afrikaans and Gothic. These parallel changes, operating on grammatical systems with slight differences in initial conditions, yield sharply different outcomes.

Sintaxe e semântica comparativas: abordagens atuais nos eixos sincrônico e diacrônico/ Comparative Syntax and Semantics: current approaches in the synchronic and diachronic axes

“…Como observa Ke (2019), essa área tem uma aplicação importante, ao se constituir como um campo de testes para o alcance de diferentes teorias. No entanto, o mesmo pode ocorrer no plano diacrônico, ao se observarem sistematicidades em como os sistemas mudam com o tempo (HARBERT, 2012). Nesse intuito, a linguística contrastiva pode também fazer uso de corpora, sobretudo os anotados.…”