Dynamics of Morphological Productivity: The Evolution of Noun Classes from Latin to Italian

In Dynamics of Morphological Productivity, Francesco Gardani explores the evolution of the productivity of the noun inflectional classes of Latin and Old Italian, covering a span of almost 2,000 years - an absolute novelty for the theory of diachrony and for Latin and Italo-Romance linguistics. By providing an original set of criteria for measuring productivity, based on the investigation of loanword integration, conversions, and class shift, Gardani provides a substantial contribution to the theory of inflection, as well as to the study of the morphological integration of loanwords. The result is a wealth of empirical facts, including data from the contact languages Etruscan, Ancient Greek, Germanic, Arabic, Byzantine Greek, Old French and Provençal, accompanied by brilliant and groundbreaking analyses.