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Eine der Besonderheiten des Wyclif'schen Übersetzungsprojektes ist seine Realisierung zu jener Zeit, als das bibelsprachliche Ausdrucksinventar des Englischen noch recht überschaubar war. Diese Arbeit untersucht anhand ausgewählter lateinischer Wortbildungsmuster und Ablativus-Absolutus-Konstruktionen, wie die Bibelübersetzer dennoch zu einem gelungenen Ergebnis kamen. Denn trotz strenger Anforderungen an den Übersetzer erfüllt die Wyclif'sche Bibel auch die theologischen Forderungen nach einer sinn- und formgetreuen Bibelwiedergabe. Die Betrachtung der Übersetzungslösungen im Rahmen des diskurstraditionellen Forschungszugangs ermöglicht eine neue Interpretation der übersetzerischen Entscheidungen, die sich eindeutig der besonderen Kontaktsprachlichkeit verpflichtet gezeigt haben.

The complex linguistic situation of earlier multilingual Britain has led to numerous contact-induced changes in the history of English. However, bi- and multilingual texts, which are attested in a large variety of text types, are still an underresearched aspect of earlier linguistic contact. Such texts, which switch between Latin, English and French, have increasingly been recognized as instances of written code-switching and as highly relevant evidence for the linguistic strategies which medieval and early modern multilingual speakers used for different purposes. The contributions in this volume approach this phenomenon of mixed-language texts from the point of view of code-switching, an important mechanism of linguistic change. Based on a variety of text types and genres from the medieval and Early Modern English periods, the individual papers present detailed linguistic analyses of a large number of texts, addressing a variety of issues, including methodological questions as well as functional, pragmatic, syntactic and lexical aspects of language mixing. The very specific nature of language mixing in some text types also raises important theoretical questions such as the distinction between borrowing and switching, the existence of discrete linguistic codes in earlier multilingual Britain and, more generally, the possible limits of the code-switching paradigm for the analysis of these mixed texts from the early history of English. Thus the volume is of particular interest not only for historical linguists, medievalists and students of the history of English, but also for sociolinguists, psycholinguists, language theorists and typologists.

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.