Forthcoming: Language change for the worse

Dankmar W. Enke   Larry M. Hyman   Johanna Nichols   Guido Seiler   Thilo Weber  

Synopsis

Many theories hold that language change, at least on a local level, is driven by a need for improvement. The present volume explores to what extent this assumption holds true, and whether there is a particular type of language change that we dub language change for the worse, i.e., change with a worsening effect that cannot be explained away as a side-effect of improvement in some other area of the linguistic system. The chapters of the volume, written by leading junior and senior scholars, combine expertise in diachronic and historical linguistics, typology, and formal modelling. They focus on different aspects of grammar (phonology, morphosyntax, semantics) in a variety of language families (Germanic, Romance, Austronesian, Bantu, Jê-Kaingang, Wu Chinese, Greek, Albanian, Altaic, Indo-Aryan, and languages of the Caucasus). The volume contributes to ongoing theoretical debates and discussions between linguists with different theoretical orientations.

Chapters

  • Language change for the worse
    Dankmar W. Enke, Larry M. Hyman, Johanna Nichols, Guido Seiler, Thilo Weber
    Chapter 1
  • High vowel fricativization in Northern Wu Chinese and its neighbors
    Matthew Faytak
    Chapter 2
  • Postoralized and devoiced nasals in Panãra (Jê)
    ND > NT
    Myriam Lapierre
    Chapter 3
  • Loss of number in the English 2nd person pronoun
    A change for the worse, but due to a change for the better?
    Christine Elsweiler, Judith Huber
    Chapter 4
  • Clitic doubling in Albanian dialects from the perspective of functional transparency
    Veton Matoshi
  • Who needs posterior infinitives
    Tabea Reiner
    Chapter 6
  • The particular-characterizing contrast in Marathi and its historical basis
    Ashwini Deo
  • The complexification of Tungusic interrogative systems
    Andreas Hölzl
    Chapter 8
  • For better and/or for worse
    Complexity and person hierarchies
    Johanna Nichols
    Chapter 9
  • Can language evolution lead to change for the worse?
    Gerhard Jäger
    Chapter 10
  • How to use evolutionary game theory to study evolutionary aspects of grammar
    Roland Mühlenbernd
    Chapter 11
  • Languages as public goods and language change as a tragedy of the commons
    Gerhard Schaden
    Chapter 12

Statistics

Language change for the worse

Published

October 2, 2020
LaTeX source on GitHub

Series

Studies in Diversity Linguistics
Cite as
Enke, Dankmar W., Hyman, Larry M., Nichols, Johanna, Seiler, Guido & Weber, Thilo (eds.). Forthcoming. Language change for the worse. (Studies in Diversity Linguistics). Berlin: Language Science Press.
Copyright (c) 2020 Dankmar Enke, Larry Hyman, Johanna Nichols, Guido Seiler, Thilo Weber (Volume Editor)

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.