Linguistic Epidemiology

Study Overview

This important new study examines in detail a semantic-pragmatic pattern surrounding the basic verb acquire in nearly 30 Southeast Asian languages, concentrating on Lao, Vietnamese, Khmer, Kmhmu, Hmong, and varieties of Chinese.

Contributions

The book makes a significant contribution to empirical work on semantic and grammatical change in a linguistic area, as well as representing theoretical advances in cognitive semantics. Gricean pragmatics, semantic change, grammaticalization, language contact, and areal linguistics are discussed.

Key Topics

The book also examines how changes in the speech of individuals actually become changes in large-scale public convention, language contact is reconsidered, and traditional distinctions such as that between internal and external linguistic mechanisms are challenged.

Target Audience

This groundbreaking new book is for specialists in Southeast Asian linguistics as well as scholars of descriptive semantics and pragmatics, grammaticalisation, linguistic change and evolution, areal linguistics and language contact, history and linguistic anthropology.