Bernd Kortmann Books

The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English (WAVE) presents grammatical variation in spontaneous spoken English, mapping 235 features in 48 varieties of English (traditional dialects, high-contact mother tongue Englishes, and indiginized second-language Englishes) and 26 English-based Pidgins and Creoles in eight Anglophone world regions (Africa, Asia, Australia, British Isles, the Caribbean, North America, the Pacific, and the South Atlantic). The analyses of the 74 varieties are based on descriptive materials, naturalistic corpus data, and native speaker knowledge.

This new multimedia textbook covers the phonology, morphology and syntax of varieties of English in the Americas and the Caribbean. It is accompanied by an interactive CD-ROM. The articles, written by widely acclaimed specialists, provide concise and comprehensive information on the phonetic, morphological and syntactic characteristics of each variety discussed. They are followed by exercises and study questions that can be used for classroom assignments as well as for self study in preparation for exams. The multimedia CD-ROM contains sound samples, speech recordings, interactive and synchronized maps, an extensive bibliography on relevant research literature, and links to pertinent websites

This is the completely revised, updated and enlarged 2nd edition of a classic textbook used in many English and linguistics departments in Germany for more than 20 years. It serves both as an introduction for beginners and as a companion for more advanced undergraduate and graduate students, familiarizing its readers with the major and distinctive properties of English (Standard English as well major national, regional and social varieties), including an in-depth structural comparison with German. Written in an accessible style and with many reader-friendly features (including checklists with key terms and concepts, basic and advanced exercises with solutions), the book offers a state-of-the-art-survey of the core terminology and issues of the central branches of linguistics, including an account of the major current research traditions and methodologies.

Open publication> The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide is part of the multi-volume reference work on the languages and linguistics of the continents of the world. The book supplies profiles of the language families of Europe, including the sign languages. It also discusses the areal typology, paying attention to the Standard Average European, Balkan, Baltic and Mediterranean convergence areas. Separate chapters deal with the old and new minority languages and with non-standard varieties. A major focus is language politics and policies, including discussions of the special status of English, the relation between language and the church, language and the school, and standardization. The history of European linguistics is another focus as is the history of multilingual European 'empires' and their dissolution. The volume is especially geared towards a graduate and advanced undergraduate readership. It has been designed such that it can be used, as a whole or in parts, as a textbook, the first of its kind, for graduate programmes with a focus on the linguistic (and linguistics) landscape of Europe.

Linguistic complexity is one of the currently most hotly debated notions in linguistics. The essays in this volume reflect the intricacies of thinking about the complexity of languages and language varieties (here: of English) in three major contact-related fields of (and schools in) linguistics: creolistics, indigenization and nativization studies (i. e. in the realm of English linguistics, the “World Englishes” community), and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research: How can we adequately assess linguistic complexity? Should we be interested in absolute complexity or rather relative complexity? What is the extent to which language contact and/or (adult) language learning might lead to morphosyntactic simplification? The authors in this volume are all leading linguists in different areas of specialization, and they were asked to elaborate on those facets of linguistic complexity which are most relevant in their area of specialization, and/or which strike them as being most intriguing. The result is a collection of papers that is unique in bringing together leading representatives of three often disjunct fields of linguistic scholarship in which linguistic complexity is seen as a dynamic and inherently variable parameter.

In what ways can dialectologists and language typologists profit from each others' work when looking across the fence? This is the guiding question of this volume, which involves follow-up questions such How can dialectologists profit from adopting the large body of insights in and hypotheses on language variation and language universals familiar from work in language typology, notably functional typology? Vice versa, what can typologists learn from the study of non-standard varieties? What are possible contributions of dialectology to areal typologies and the study of grammaticalization? What are important theoretical and methodological implications of this new type of collaboration in the study of language variation? The 18 contributors, among them many distinguished dialectologists, sociolinguists and typologists, address these and other novel questions on the basis of analyses of the morphology and syntax of a broad range of dialects (Germanic, Romance, Balto-Slavic, Indo-Aryan).

Diese Reihe wendet sich an Studentinnen und Studenten der Fächer Anglistik und Amerikanistik im Grund- und Hauptstudium - aber auch an interessierte Schülerinnen und Schüler der gymnasialen Oberstufe. Die einzelnen Bände führen in das jeweilige Wissensgebiet ein und vermitteln grundlegende Fach- und Methodenkenntnisse. Im Grundstudium dienen sie zur Orientierung; im Hauptstudium und in der Phase der Examensvorbereitung eignen sie sich als Repetitorien. In diesem Buch finden Studienanfänger und fortgeschrittene Studierende eine fundierte Darstellung der synchronen Sprachwissenschaft und ihrer Teilgebiete.

Research on language universals and linguistic typology complement each other in exploring the relationship between the diversity and unity of languages. Recognizing the extent of typological divergence is essential for formulating universal laws. Recent trends highlight the necessity of analyzing a wide range of radically different languages before general theories can be established. Typological comparison has become central to linguistic research, and the series on empirical approaches to language typology serves as a platform for diverse contributions in this evolving field. Its distinctive feature is a strong empirical orientation, with conclusions drawn from in-depth studies of empirical data. General issues are examined through the lens of individual languages, families, or groups, with a focus on lesser-known languages that illuminate longstanding problems in general linguistics. The series welcomes contributions from various theoretical perspectives, reflecting the methodological pluralism of contemporary research. All volumes aim to be accessible to linguists and readers interested in human language. A comprehensive understanding of human language, grounded in the analysis of typological diversity, is crucial for various scientific disciplines, making this series essential for research libraries specializing in language and the language sciences. For book proposals or discussions, please contact Birgit Sievert.

This volume presents qualitative and corpus-based quantitative studies on grammatical variation in the British Isles, utilizing the Freiburg English Dialect Corpus (FRED), which contains around 2.5 million words of predominantly British English dialects. It includes an overview of FRED and highlights the benefits of a functional-typological framework for examining dialect grammar. The first study by Tanja Herrmann systematically explores relativization strategies across Scotland, Northern Ireland, and four major English dialect areas, incorporating key typological issues such as the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy. Lukas Pietsch's research focuses on the Northern Subject Rule, a unique agreement phenomenon found in Northern England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, relying primarily on the Northern Ireland Transcribed Corpus of Speech, along with FRED and Survey of English Dialects data. Susanne Wagner investigates pronominal gender, particularly the distinct semantic gender system in Southwest England dialects. This work will appeal to dialectologists, sociolinguists, typologists, historical linguists, grammarians, and those interested in the structure of spontaneous spoken English.

This is the completely revised, updated and enlarged 2nd edition of a classic textbook used in many English and linguistics departments in Germany for more than 20 years. It serves both as an introduction for beginners and as a companion for more advanced undergraduate and graduate students, familiarizing its readers with the major and distinctive properties of English (Standard English as well major national, regional and social varieties), including an in-depth structural comparison with German. Written in an accessible style and with many reader-friendly features (including checklists with key terms and concepts, basic and advanced exercises with solutions), the book offers a state-of-the-art-survey of the core terminology and issues of the central branches of linguistics, including an account of the major current research traditions and methodologies.