Main Trends in Historical Semantics (skrypt)

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Preface, Table of abbreviations, Introduction, Chapter 1: Methodological highlights in the study of semantic change: Logico-classificatory approach, Socio-historical approach, Biologico-evolutionary approach, Psychological approach, Functional and contextual approach, Structuralism, Field theory approach, Generative linguistics, Componential analysis, Cognitive linguistics approach, Pragmatic approach, Synchronic approaches within historical semantics, Chapter 2: In search of causes of semantic change: Language-internal causes (Grammaticalisation, Semantic change resultant from phonemic change and sound association, Influence of foreign languages, Internal loans, Word-formation, Semantic underspecification, Avoidance of synonymy and homophony), Language-external causes (Historical causes, Relevance of social and cultural factors, Psychological factors), Chapter 3: Towards types and mechanisms of semantic change: Widening of meaning, Narrowing of meaning, Transposition of meaning (Metaphor, Metonymy), Evaluative changes, Folk etymology, Contagion, Chapter 4: Laws of semantic change, Concluding remarks, References.