Grammaticalization as optimization
Grammaticalization as optimization
This chapter takes the issue of grammaticalization back to its theoretical foundation. It lays out the argument for a reversion to the Neogrammarian position by examining in detail the types of change that have come to be known as degrammaticalization. These involve change of a functional element to something less functional, or less restricted in its distribution, such as the ‘deflexion’ of the English and Swedish genitive suffixes to become phrasal affixes or clitics. Degrammaticalization poses a challenge for those who insist that change linking lexical to functional status is unidirectional. However, it is argued that both grammaticalization and degrammaticalization are subtypes of analogical change. It is shown that known examples of degrammaticalization involve analogy of the familiar type: paradigm leveling or proportional analogy. Grammaticalization is analogy of a sort closely bound up with the generative conception of language: analogy with exemplars provided by universal grammar. Grammaticalization may thus introduce changes with no model in the surface data of the preceding generation (for example, a modal auxiliary) because this model is provided by UG.
Keywords: Neogrammarian position, degrammaticalization, deflexion, genitive suffices, phrasal affixes, clitics, language, analogy
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