Convergence as a mechanism of language change

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
AD BACKUS
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Mechanisms Of Change ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Rightful Place ◽  
Language And Cognition

This issue of Bilingualism: Language and Cognition is about convergence, a type of language change that is contact-induced and results in greater similarity between two languages that are in contact with each other. In Backus (forthcoming), I have attempted an overview of contact-induced language change, focusing on causal factors, on mechanisms of change, and on the actual changes. In this conclusion, I will try to give convergence its rightful place in this general typology, referencing the contributions to this volume where appropriate.

Analogy as driving force of language change: a usage-based approach to wo and da clauses in 17th and 18th century German

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melitta Gillmann
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Language Change ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Mechanisms Of Change ◽  
Mutual Attraction ◽  
Associative Network ◽  
High Level

Abstract This paper presents a case study conducted on 17th and 18th century German corpora, confirming that both attraction and differentiation are important mechanisms of change, which interact with socio-symbolic properties of constructions. The paper looks at the frequencies and semantics of wo ‘where’ clauses at the beginning of the New High German period, which are compared to the frequencies and semantics of the connector da ‘there, since’ in the same period. The study reveals that the subordinating connectors wo and da overlapped in their functions and were highly polysemous (or semantically vague), establishing spatial, temporal, causal, conditional, and contrast links between clauses. This suggests that the connectors had become functionally similar by means of mutual attraction; however, they differed in that they belonged to different registers. Over the course of the 18th century, the polysemy of wo and da clauses reduced. Being gradually confined to one single meaning, the connectors became less similar. This differentiation occurs because the connectors aligned to distinct high-level schemas in the associative network. The study confirms that analogy is crucial to both attraction and differentiation of functionally overlapping constructions. While attraction involves analogy of specific instances of constructions, differentiation occurs in analogy to high-level abstract constructions in the associative network.

Are there principles of grammatical change?

1999 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTIN HASPELMATH
Keyword(s):  
Chaos Theory ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Parameter Setting ◽  
Deterministic Theory ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Theory Of History ◽  
Language And Cognition ◽  
Development Of Language ◽  
Grammatical Change

David Lightfoot,The development of language: acquisition, change, and evolution. (Maryland Lectures in Language and Cognition 1.) Malden, MA & Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. Pp. xii+287.The central thesis of The development of language is that there are no principles of grammatical change, so that ‘historicist’ or deterministic approaches to diachronic change are misguided. Instead, Lightfoot argues that language change can only be understood by taking the perspective of the ‘growth’ (i.e. acquisition) of an individual's biological grammar, which may end up with a different parameter setting from the parent's generation when the trigger experience changes. Such events of grammatical change are abrupt and unpredictable, and Lightfoot suggests that they can be understood better from the point of view of catastrophe theory and chaos theory than under a deterministic theory of history as was common in the nineteenth century.

Language Change

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Aitchison
Keyword(s):  
Language Change

An Application of the HFACS Method to Aviation Accidents in Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Munene
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Human Factor ◽  
Flight Training ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Aviation Accidents ◽  
Factors Analysis ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
Decision Errors

Abstract. The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) methodology was applied to accident reports from three African countries: Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. In all, 55 of 72 finalized reports for accidents occurring between 2000 and 2014 were analyzed. In most of the accidents, one or more human factors contributed to the accident. Skill-based errors (56.4%), the physical environment (36.4%), and violations (20%) were the most common causal factors in the accidents. Decision errors comprised 18.2%, while perceptual errors and crew resource management accounted for 10.9%. The results were consistent with previous industry observations: Over 70% of aviation accidents have human factor causes. Adverse weather was seen to be a common secondary casual factor. Changes in flight training and risk management methods may alleviate the high number of accidents in Africa.

Evolution, Tools, Language, and Cognition: Only a Few Breaks With Tradition

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 718-720
Author(s):  
Charles Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Language And Cognition

Tuning in to Teens: Investigating moderators of program effects and mechanisms of change of an emotion focused group parenting program.

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane E. Kehoe ◽  
Sophie S. Havighurst ◽  
Ann E. Harley
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Program ◽  
Mechanisms Of Change ◽  
Program Effects

Causal Factors of Gulf War Illness

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine N. Nguyen ◽  
Kendal C. Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Gulf War ◽  
Gulf War Illness ◽  
Causal Factors
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