Description du projet
Étude de la plasticité cognitive à travers les changements grammaticaux
Il paraît qu’il est plus difficile de changer avec l’âge. Dans quelle mesure cela est-il vrai en ce qui concerne les changements de schémas grammaticaux d’un individu? Des études portant sur les processus de changement grammatical ont été menées, mais uniquement au niveau de la langue en tant qu’objet monolithique. Dans quelle mesure les individus adoptent-ils les innovations grammaticales au cours de leur vie et quels sont les facteurs qui influencent ce changement? Le projet MindBendingGrammars, financé par le CER, entend mieux comprendre la modélisation cognitive de la grammaire en comparant les modèles comportementaux de différentes générations au cours de leur vie. Les études de cas porteront sur 50 écrivains anglais prolifiques du XVIIe siècle dont les œuvres couvrent cinq générations.
Objectif
Mind-Bending Grammars examines change in mental grammars of 17th century individuals across their lifespan as attested in their writings. The project treats grammar as a self-organizing network of form-meaning schemas continuously fine-tuning itself, where activating one schema may prime formally or functionally associated ones. In analyzing multiple grammar changes in healthy adults it aspires to make a breakthrough in the cognitive modelling of grammar, and is expected to bear on views of cognitive plasticity and self-organizing systems (e.g. ecosystems). To reach these goals it will determine (i) how change in one part of an individual’s grammar relates to change in another; (ii) to what extent grammar change in individuals is possible and attested beyond childhood. This is still unsettled. Formal models hold that change occurs in language acquisition, social ones that it mainly results from adult interaction. The first ignore too much adult usage, the second grammar as a system.
Seven cases are examined:
i. Progressive (I’m loving it)
ii. Future [going to] (he’s going to love it)
iii-iv. (Pseudo)clefts (it’s Eve he loves)
v. Rare passives (Eve was sent for)
vi. Subject-raising (he’s said to be nice)
vii. New copulas (get/grow hot)
Each case changes much in the 17th century, warranting separate study. Yet the changes may also be linked. Formally, going to for example started as a progressive, and this may have resulted in sustained mutual influence. Functionally all but the last may be responses to changing word order. Until c1500 time adverbs (THEN ran he), focal elements (EVE loves he) or empty subjects (THEY say he’s nice) could precede the verb. After, this position got restricted to subjects that are topics (HE ran). Progressives need no time adverbs, clefts move the focal element, and passivization/subject-raising align topic & subject; all of this helped to realize the new order. Grow & get are unassociated to other cases, and serve as a control group.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitution d’accueil
2000 Antwerpen
Belgique