- Project value (in PLN):
134139
ongoing
Constructional change in language contact - possessive expressions in Middle Norwegian with Bergen and Voss in focus
principal investigator / project leader
M.A. / Teaching Assistant
linguist, cultural researcher specializing in Scandinavian language and culture
Full bio project value: PLN 134,139
funding source: National Science Center
discipline: cultural and religious studies, linguistics
location: Warsaw
duration: 2024 2025 2026 2027
An early-stage researcher from SWPS University will document how exposure to different foreign languages affected the formation of possessive constructions in Middle Norwegian, on the example of language development in the neighboring towns of Bergen and Voss.
Project funded by the National Science Center, project no. 2023/49/N/HS2/01038.
Project objectives
The goal of the project is to describe how exposure to other languages affected possessive constructions in Middle Norwegian, specifically in the towns of Bergen and Voss. Using the Theory of Construction Grammar, the aim is to document and analyze changes, which occurred as the result of contact with other languages.
In Norwegian, there are several possessive constructions which have developed over the centuries. Such diversity and variation may be the result of the exposure to other languages that users of Norwegian had over time. My goal is to map the development of possessive constructions in Middle Norwegian manuscripts from Bergen and Voss — two towns that are located relatively close to each other, but were exposed to different languages. I want to trace the correlation between the changes in the syntax constructions and the exposure to other languages that the inhabitants of these towns had experienced over time.
Jaworska, Julia
Principal Investigator
Specialization
linguist, cultural researcher specializing in Scandinavian language and culture
First and last name
Julia Jaworska
Academic degree or title
M.A. / Teaching Assistant
Role in the Faculty
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Role in the Department
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Email
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Role in the Research Center
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M.A. / Teaching Assistant Julia Jaworskalinguist, cultural researcher specializing in Scandinavian language and culture
Methodology
The analysis will be based on corpus material consisting of documents and letters from Diplomatarium Norvegicum, in digital and paper format. The researcher will selected texts form the period 1350–1550, and annotate them manually. Next, she will conduct a quantitative and qualitative data analysis of the gathered material. She hopes to show the evolution of possessive constructions in Middle Norwegian in the context of other linguistic changes in the Late Middle Ages, and highlight the differences occurring in the towns of Bergen and Voss, resulting from their sociolinguistic circumstances, i.e., exposure to different foreign languages.
The researcher will use the theoretical framework provided by the Construction Grammar, which defines grammatical constructions as form-meaning pairings, while conjunction of grammar and lexicon as a continuum. According to usage-based Construction Grammar, changes in a language occur, when the language is being used, and its usage also affects mental grammar. A series of such small changes may impact the whole language construction or lead to the development of a completely new construction. Moreover, the Diasystematic Construction Grammar assumes that any contact of two or more languages is always based in multilingualism, and the linguistic knowledge of people who speak several languages is organized in multilingual constructions. Therefore, linguistic innovations resulting from exposure to other languages constitute specific language constructions, which have been transformed into non-specific constructions for that language.
Project supervisor
Professor Dominika Maria Skrzypek
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Practical application of results
The project will fill the research gap concerning the diachrony of the Middle Norwegian language, and the exposure of Middle Norwegian to Middle Low German in Bergen. The study focuses on the multiple forms of expressing possession in Norwegian, which is unusually diverse, and provides useful insights into the understanding of the linguistic notion of possession in general.