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Models of language variation and change

Linguistic variation and change are inherently related to each other: each linguistic change presupposes a stage of variation (see Wein­reich/Labov/Herzog 1968: 188). In the summer school “Models of Language Variation and Change” linguistic variation and change are in the focus of interest with respect to their characteristics relevant for linguistic modeling and theorizing.

For a long time now linguists have tried to elucidate questions relevant for linguistic change by taking into account synchronic variation. An examination “of the living object”, i.e., of living languages or varieties, has one important advantage: The insufficiencies of data provided by historical records are absent. According to Labov (1994: 10) traditional historical linguistics as it is represented by, for example, Indoeuropean Linguistics or by the philologically orientated linguistic research traditions focusing on individual languages (e.g., English or German Linguistics), is “the art of making the best use of bad data”. The data with which one is forced to work in Historical Linguistics is bad because of several reasons: historical records are always written (before the late 19th century), i.e. they represent the secondary linguistic system and may deviate markedly from spoken language (see already Paul 1880/1920: 373-389); then, we usually lack sufficient information with respect to the social and historical context of authors and scribes. Also, for modern linguistic theorizing it is fatal that conducting interviews or running experiments on older stages of languages is impossible: historical data can only provide positive evidence. If certain phenomena are absent in the corpus this must not mean that they did not exist; their lack can be due to the accidents arising when handing down records. 

Currently different approaches to research in linguistic change and variation are growing apart. One oft-mentioned problem concerning the research tradition of linguistic variation and change, especially dialectology, is its lack of interest in linguistic theory, while many empirically oriented linguists see a lack of sensibility when dealing with data on the side of theoretical linguistics. In practice this means that for example dialectology and linguistics often have little in common. It is therefore an aim of the Summer School to contribute to bridging the differences between theoretically and empirically oriented linguistics by providing a problem-oriented forum with intensive guidance to up-and-coming linguists. By linking up doctoral students and internationally renowned researchers we hope to establish a research network whose representatives are both sensible to theoretical and empirical questions of linguistic change and variation. This makes sense particularly well in the linguistic research context of Marburg, where the relation of theoretical and empirical questions has played a major role ever since the inception of the “Deutscher Sprachatlas (DSA)”, founded by Georg Wenker in  the late 19th century.

Labov, William (1994): Principles of linguistic change. Volume 1: internal factors. (Language in Society 20.) Oxford/Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.

Paul, Hermann (1880/1920): Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte. [10th edition Tübingen 1995: Max Niemeyer.]

Weinreich, Uriel/William Labov/Marvin I. Herzog (1968): Empirical foundations for a theory of language change. In: Lehmann, Winfried P./Yakov Malkiel (eds.): Directions for historical linguistics: 97-195. Austin: University of Texas Press.