Specialization (linguistics)
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, the term specialization (as defined by Paul Hopper
), refers to one of the five principles by which grammaticalization can be detected while it is taking place. The other four principles are: layering
, divergence
, persistence
, and de-categorialization
.
. The lexical
meaning of a grammaticalizing feature decreases in scope, so that in time the feature conveys a generalized grammatical meaning.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, the term specialization (as defined by Paul Hopper
Paul Hopper
Paul J. Hopper is an American linguist of British birth. In 1973, he proposed the glottalic theory regarding the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European consonant inventory, in parallel with the Georgian linguist Tamaz Gamkrelidze and the Russian linguist Vyacheslav V. Ivanov...
), refers to one of the five principles by which grammaticalization can be detected while it is taking place. The other four principles are: layering
Layering (linguistics)
Layering in linguistics refers to one of the five principles by which you can detect grammaticalisation while it is taking place. The other four are: divergence, specialisation, persistence, and de-categorialisation....
, divergence
Divergence (linguistics)
Divergence in linguistics refers to one of the five principles by which you can detect grammaticalisation while it is taking place. The other four are: layering, specialisation, persistence, and de-categorialisation....
, persistence
Persistence (linguistics)
Persistence in linguistics refers to one of the five principles by which you can detect grammaticalisation while it is taking place. The other four are: layering, divergence, specialisation, and de-categorialisation....
, and de-categorialization
De-categorialization
De-categorialization in linguistics, refers to one of the five principles by which you can detect grammaticalization while it is taking place...
.
Specialization
Specialization refers to the narrowing of choices that characterizes an emergent grammatical constructionGrammatical construction
In linguistics, a grammatical construction is any syntactic string of words ranging from sentences over phrasal structures to certain complex lexemes, such as phrasal verbs....
. The lexical
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
meaning of a grammaticalizing feature decreases in scope, so that in time the feature conveys a generalized grammatical meaning.
“Within a functional domain, at one stage a variety of forms with different semanticSemanticsSemantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
nuances may be possible; as grammaticalization takes place, this variety of formal choices narrows and the smaller number of forms selected assume more general grammatical meanings.” (Hopper 1991: 22)