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F.B.J. Kuiper

Selected Writings on Indian Linguistics and Philology


F.B.J. Kuiper

Edited by Alexander Lubotsky, M.S. Oort and M. WITZEL

From Ælfric to the New York Times

Studies in English Corpus Linguistics


Edited by Udo Fries, Viviane Müller and Peter Schneider

The twenty papers of this volume - published to honour Gunnel Tottie - are of interest to everyone concerned with the study of the English language. The collection is a convincing argument for an approach to language studies based on the analysis of computerized corpora.
Though this is not an introduction to the field but a series of highly specialized studies, readers get a good overview of the work being done at present in English computer corpus studies. English corpus linguistics, though basically concerned with the study of varieties of English, goes far beyond the simple ordering and counting of large numbers of examples but is deeply concerned with linguistic theory - based on real language data.
The volume includes sections on corpora of written and spoken present-day English, historical corpora, contrastive corpora, and on the application of corpus studies to teaching purposes.


Robert W. Thomson

These indices give the complete vocabulary of the Armenian translation of the works attributed to Pseudo-Dionysius. They are based on the critical edition of the Armenian text by R.W. Thomson, Louvain 1987 [CSCO 488]. In the Greek-Armenian Index each different rendering of a Greek word is listed with a reference to its first occurrence. The Armenian-Greek Index lists each different Greek word translated by the same Armenian word.
Since the translation of Pseudo-Dionysius, made in Constantinople by Step'annos of Siwnik', is precisely dated to between 715 and 718, these indices are of great importance for the study of Armenian translation technique. This book will therefore be of value to several groups:
1. scholars interested in the study of Pseudo-Dionysius, both in the original Greek and in the oriental versions;
2. those involved in the study of classical Armenian literature, and especially in texts translated from Greek;
3. linguistics interested in Indo-European languages in general, and the study of translation technique in particular.


Louise H. Cornelis

The passive construction in Dutch represents a long-standing problem both in linguistics and in written communications. This book proposes a new analysis of the passive in Dutch, integrating insights from theoretical (especially cognitive) linguistics and rhetoric/composition. The point of departure is the observation that the Dutch passive has a demonstrable perspective effect in texts: the passive discourages identification with the agent, and this in fact is the meaning of the Dutch passive construction. This meaning forms the basis for a solution to a number of text problems, including the problem of how to best use the passive in computer manuals.
We can also understand the passive's role in specific texts. For example, it becomes clear why policy paper writers use so many passives. Finally, in one of the case studies it is shown why passives were used differently in the NRC Handelsblad, a Rotterdam daily newspaper, and in the Parool, from Amsterdam, when they both reported that Ajax, Amsterdam's football team, became the national soccer champion.

Sound Law and Analogy



Edited by Alexander Lubotsky

Jan Aarts, Inge de Mönnink and Herman Wekker


Rick Derksen

During the past decades Balto-Slavic accentology has become increasingly important for the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European. This study tries to provide an explanation for the phenomenon of metatony in Baltic, i.e. the phenomenon that in certain Baltic forms a morpheme shows the reflex of the Balto-Slavic circumflex intonation where we would expect the reflex of the acute intonation ( métatonie douce) or vice versa (métatonie rude). The subject necessarily involves an inquiry into the origin of the Lithuanian and Latvian tone systems. Furthermore, it requires the assessment of a large number of etymologies. In the final chapter of the book, the developments which are considered to be relevant to the rise of metatony are incorporated into a relative chronology.
The investigation is based on a comprehensive collection of data, including evidence from Lithuanian and Latvian dialects and Old Lithuanian. In comparison with earlier studies on the subject, the Latvian evidence plays an essential role. This book tries to demonstrate that the value of Latvian data for Balto-Slavic accentology has hitherto not been fully recognized.

Sociolinguistics and Language History

Studies based on the Corpus of Early English Correspondence


Edited by Terttu Nevalainen and Helena Raumolin-Brunberg

What role has social status played in shaping the English language across the centuries? Have women also been the agents of language standardization in the past? Can apparent-time patterns be used to predict the course of long-term language change?
These questions and many others will be addressed in this volume, which combines sociolinguistic methodology and social history to account for diachronic language change in Renaissance English. The approach has been made possible by the new machine-readable Corpus of Early English Correspondence (CEEC) specifically compiled for this purpose. The 2.4-million-word corpus covers the period from 1420 to 1680 and contains over 700 writers.
The volume introduces the premises of the study, discussing both modern sociolinguistics and English society in the late medieval and early modern periods. A detailed description is given of the Corpus of Early English Correspondence, its encoding, and the separate database which records the letter writers' social backgrounds.
The pilot studies based on the CEEC suggest that social rank and gender should both be considered in diachronic language change, but that apparent-time patterns may not always be a reliable cue to what will happen in the long run. The volume also argues that historical sociolinguistics offers fascinating perspectives on the study of such new areas as pragmatization and changing politeness cultures across time.
This extension of sociolinguistic methodology to the past is a breakthrough in the field of corpus linguistics. It will be of major interest not only to historical linguists but to modern sociolinguists and social historians.


Edited by A.A. Barentsen, B.M. Groen, Jos Schaeken and R. Sprenger

The Germanic 'Auslautgesetze'

A new Interpretation


Dirk Boutkan

The overall interpretation of Old Germanic phonology and morphology has much to gain from the recent and revolutionary views that were developed in its 'mother' discipline, Indo-European linguistics. For the first time, the Germanic Auslaut problem, i.e. the interpretation of the historical development of final syllables between Proto-Indo-European and Germanic, is analyzed against the background of the modern reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European. This especially entails new interpretations of various detail problems in the field of nominal and verbal morphology. Moreover, the traditional assumption of contrasting intonations yielding different inflexional endings (e.g. circumflex *-õm > Goth ??o??, OHG -o in the _-stem genitive plural, but acute *-_m > Goth -a, OHG -a in the _-stem accusative singular) must be replaced by a theory that is in accordance with our present-day knowledge of Proto-Indo-European as a language that most probably did not display such contrasts.
It is above all the interpretation of long vowels and diphthongs in Old Germanic final syllables that has given rise to a long discussion. After the standard theory, which entered most handbooks of Old Germanic linguistics, was established, it was proven to be unlikely by new investigations. Especially Lane, in his epoch-making article (JEGP 62, 1963: 155 ff), renewed the discussion and drew interesting conclusions. Studies by Antonsen, Beck, Kortlandt, Voyles and others (sometimes dealing with other subjects than Germanic Auslaut proper) also provide materials for a new theory. With respect to this 'long vowel problem', older theories (including the standard view) and modern ideas are discussed before a new interpretation is proposed.
The evidence is discussed in the form of a historical overview of the nominal and verbal morphology of the Old Germanic dialects. This part of the book can therefore also be used as a reference guide in the field of historical morphology. This approach is adopted from a recent key-study in the field of Auslaut, viz. Jones' dissertation (1979, Chapell Hill).
The growing interest in the relative chronology of Lautgesetze, - which was, for example, the theme of the Leiden Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft of 1986 -, is met with where a chronological order of the Auslautgesetze of the separate dialects is proposed. This part of the book may serve as a stimulus for the necessary discussion of the subject.