A new approach to language change

Authors

  • María Mare

Keywords:

Language change, Contention, Linear adjacency, Reanalysis

Abstract

Approaches to language change within current Generative Grammar recognize that there is a
clear relationship between diachronic variation and synchronic variation. However, specific
definitions such as reanalysis, grammaticalization or lexicalization are used to account for
changes over time. In these pages, I try to pursue the idea that we are dealing with linguistic
variation in any case, and that if we revisit language change from late insertion models and recover
other generalizations about the properties of natural languages, it is possible, at least, to question
the need for specific mechanisms of change. This article is a preliminary presentation of a
proposal that should be applied to many more phenomena than those addressed in these pages and
revised in the light of the results. Still, we understand that many of the linkages that we have
established in this paper are not only possible, but also desirable

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Published

2023-12-11

How to Cite

Mare, M. (2023). A new approach to language change. Language and Literature Magazine, (41). Retrieved from http://170.210.83.53/index.php/letras/article/view/5065

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