Nikolaus Ritt
List of John Benjamins publications in which Nikolaus Ritt is involved.
2026 Sound changes are selected by a bias against morphotactic ambiguity Journal of Historical Linguistics: Online-First Articles | Article
This paper hypothesises that there is a universal cognitively and semiotically grounded preference for word-form shapes that signal the morphotactic structure of the word forms they represent. By exploring three historical changes in English, we demonstrate how such a bias might plausibly… read more
2020 Reconsidering subjectification from the perspective of animal signalling Tracking Language Evolution as an Interdisciplinary, Cross-Theoretical Enterprise, Gaeta, Livio (ed.), pp. 138–152 | Article
This paper discusses the view that subjectifications (i.e. semantic changes through which words come to index speakers’ evaluations or their attitudes towards a proposition) are primarily motivated by speakers’ need for self-expression (Traugott 2010). Approaching the issue from the perspective… read more
2008 Review of Brinton & Traugott (2005): Lexicalization and Language Change Studies in Language 32:1, pp. 228–236 | Review
2001 Review of Giegerich (1999): Lexical Strata in English Studies in Language 25:2, pp. 367–376 | Review
1990 The Dictionary of Justus Georg Schottelius or ‘generativism’ in a 17th-century grammar?! Meaning and Lexicography, Tomaszczyk, Jerzy and Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (eds.), pp. 57–72 | Article