Linguistic Traces: low-frequency forms as evidence of language and population history (LiTra)

The idea behind the project is that the study of low-frequency variation is crucial for understanding language change. The historical study of languages has always been based on the big events. However, we argue that the story is incomplete without the minor patterns: the infrequent forms that make up the great majority of all occurring linguistic variants.

The LiTra project aims to study low-frequency variation in English documentary texts of the late and post-medieval period. The English materials are of particular interest because of the highly multilingual context in which the language developed: an area inhabited by speakers of (at least) Celtic, Norse, West Germanic and Romance languages. They are also variable and plentiful enough to make possible a detailed study of minority forms.

The LiTra team will consist of postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and research assistants, as well as the project leader (Merja Stenroos), colleagues at the University of Stavanger and an international team of coworkers and advisors. We are housed on the Ullandhaug campus of the University of Stavanger, itself an area steeped in early history and facing the North Sea.

The LiTra project forms part of the Middle English Scribal Texts research programme at the University of Stavanger.