Tocharian and Historical Sociolinguistics: Evidence from a Fragmentary Corpus
The two extinct languages Tocharian A and Tocharian B comprise a small text corpus that consists almost exclusively of fragments. Nevertheless, the corpus shows linguistic variation. This paper will argue that there are three reasons for genuine linguistic variation in the Tocharian corpus: diachron...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Open Linguistics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2017-0009 |
| _version_ | 1818695876358438912 |
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| author | Malzahn Melanie |
| author_facet | Malzahn Melanie |
| author_sort | Malzahn Melanie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The two extinct languages Tocharian A and Tocharian B comprise a small text corpus that consists almost exclusively of fragments. Nevertheless, the corpus shows linguistic variation. This paper will argue that there are three reasons for genuine linguistic variation in the Tocharian corpus: diachronic variation, dialectal variation and sociolectal variation. Accordingly, it is not only possible to apply sociolinguistic methods to a fragmentary corpus, but it is even essential. Furthermore, the Tocharian material confirms patterns of sound change known from other sources and can therefore offer insights for the principles of language change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T13:52:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b24c377d7e01444da36cf5931f0df032 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2300-9969 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T13:52:26Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Linguistics |
| spelling | doaj.art-b24c377d7e01444da36cf5931f0df0322022-12-21T21:46:01ZengDe GruyterOpen Linguistics2300-99692017-01-013115717710.1515/opli-2017-0009opli-2017-0009Tocharian and Historical Sociolinguistics: Evidence from a Fragmentary CorpusMalzahn Melanie0University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaThe two extinct languages Tocharian A and Tocharian B comprise a small text corpus that consists almost exclusively of fragments. Nevertheless, the corpus shows linguistic variation. This paper will argue that there are three reasons for genuine linguistic variation in the Tocharian corpus: diachronic variation, dialectal variation and sociolectal variation. Accordingly, it is not only possible to apply sociolinguistic methods to a fragmentary corpus, but it is even essential. Furthermore, the Tocharian material confirms patterns of sound change known from other sources and can therefore offer insights for the principles of language change.https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2017-0009historical sociolinguisticstochariansound change |
| spellingShingle | Malzahn Melanie Tocharian and Historical Sociolinguistics: Evidence from a Fragmentary Corpus Open Linguistics historical sociolinguistics tocharian sound change |
| title | Tocharian and Historical Sociolinguistics: Evidence from a Fragmentary Corpus |
| title_full | Tocharian and Historical Sociolinguistics: Evidence from a Fragmentary Corpus |
| title_fullStr | Tocharian and Historical Sociolinguistics: Evidence from a Fragmentary Corpus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tocharian and Historical Sociolinguistics: Evidence from a Fragmentary Corpus |
| title_short | Tocharian and Historical Sociolinguistics: Evidence from a Fragmentary Corpus |
| title_sort | tocharian and historical sociolinguistics evidence from a fragmentary corpus |
| topic | historical sociolinguistics tocharian sound change |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2017-0009 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT malzahnmelanie tocharianandhistoricalsociolinguisticsevidencefromafragmentarycorpus |