Preverbs and Idiomatization in Gothic

Drawing on his research in 2007-08 for a PhD in linguistics at the University of Georgia, Bucsko, now a Spanish teacher at a Georgia high school, explores preverbs, which are added to the front of over half of verbs in Gothic, often changing the meaning but sometimes not. He focuses on their meaning-changing function, particular changes in meaning, or idiomatization, in which the resultant form does not mean simply the sum of its parts, but takes on a new meaning that may or may not be clearly related to the meanings of the original forms. He investigates what idiomatization categories can be identified for Gothic, under what circumstances idiomatization does and does not occur, whether it is possible to model that, and whether such a model can predict when idiomatization is likely to occur and if so in what direction. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

John M. Bucsko, ?Jack? to most people, has had a varied career in the education and information technology fields. After three years of service as a computer programmer in the United States Marine Corps, he attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a BA and an MA in general linguistics. He served on the faculty of the Linguistics Department at the University of Pittsburgh for six years as Director of the Language Acquisition Institute (the Uncommonly Taught Languages Program) and also taught both linguistics and ESOL. For nearly two decades, he worked in the information technology area, specializing for a dozen years in artificial intelligence, followed by general technology and management consulting. Dr. Bucsko returned to teaching at the secondary level in 2002 and earned a PhD in linguistics from the University of Georgia. He currently teaches Spanish at Johns Creek High School outside of Atlanta, Georgia.