Maher J. Peter. Papers on Language Theory and History: Volume I: Creation and Tradition in Language

John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1977. — 192 p. — (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 3).Interest in word-meaning is on the increase among mainstream linguists again after a half-century of neglect. During this interval progress in phonology and syntax was great, but further progress in these sub-disciplines will remain blocked until it is recognized that the prime functional unit of speech is the word, that the central problem of language theory is lexis. Word-meaning is typically complicated by changes across time; for a theory of language creativity, these effects must be discerned from spontaneous creation. The articles brought together in this volume attempt to illuminate, on the basis of particular lexical studies, the dynamics of perception and word-meaning, of language and mind.The paradox of creation and tradition in grammar: Sound pattern of a palimpsest (1969)
Italian mostaccio (1971)
Etymology and generative phonology in traditional lexicon: A study of Latin aqua “water”, aquila “eagle”, aquilus “dark”, and aquilo “northwind” (1971)
The linguistic paleontology of some pre-christian burial terms in Slavic lexicon (1973)
*Haeḱmon: “(Stone) Axe” and “Sky” in I-E / Battle-axe culture (1973)
The ethnonym of the Slaves — Common Slavic *slověne (1974)
Phonetic law and suppletion in the history of the paradigm of the Slavic ethnica in -jane (1969)
Neglected reflexes of Proto-Indo-European *pet- “fly”: Greek pétros “stone” / pétra “cliff” (1973)
The situational motivation of syntax and the syntactic motivation of polysemy and semantic change: Spanish-Italian bravo, etc. (1975)