Principles at work.

Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics grade: 10 Dresden Technical University (Anglistik) language: English abstract: This paper deals with different explanatory models for the emergence or existence of linguistic features in varieties of the English language. After a brief overview of the current research five non-standard varieties from all over the world ranging from a traditional dialect to pidgins and creoles are analyzed in two morphosyntactic and two phonological features. The theoretical approaches are discussed with reference to the features providing recommendations for or advise against certain explanatory models. Finally Bybee's usage-based functionalist approach and the usage-based synthesis of new-dialect formation according to Ansaldo are highlighted as plausible explanations for the features. Formalist descriptive universals are rejected in favour of functionalist cognitive universals in human language processing acquisition and evolution as they occur in language contact or speaker contact scenarios - the driving force of language change.