The growth and maintenance of linguistic complexity / Osten Dahl.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dahl, Östen.

Series:

Studies in language companion series ; v. 71.

Studies in language companion series, 0165-7763 ; v. 71

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Complexity (Linguistics).

Language and languages.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (343 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : John Benjamins, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book studies linguistic complexity and the processes by which it arises and is maintained, focusing not so much on what one can say in a language as how it is said. Complexity is not seen as synonymous with "difficulty" but as an objective property of a system - a measure of the amount of information needed to describe or reconstruct it. Grammatical complexity is the result of historical processes often subsumed under the rubric of grammaticalization and involves what can be called mature linguistic phenomena, that is, features that take time to develop. The nature and characteristics of

Contents:

The Growth and Maintenance of Linguistic Complexity; Editorial page; Title page; LCC page; Table of Contents; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Information and redundancy; 3. Complexity, order, and structure; 4. Languages as non-genetically inherited systems; 5. Aspects of linguistic knowledge; 6. Maturation processes; 7. Grammatical maturation; 8. Pattern adaptation; 9. Featurization; 10. Incorporating patterns; 11. Stability and change; 12. Final discussion; Appendix A; References; List of abbrevations used in glosses; Language index; Author index; Subject index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612254406

9789027295255

9027295255

9781282254404

1282254405

9781423761365

1423761367

OCLC:

65181302