1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910963797403321

Autore

Dahl Osten

Titolo

The growth and maintenance of linguistic complexity / / Osten Dahl

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, : John Benjamins, 2004

ISBN

9786612254406

9789027295255

9027295255

9781282254404

1282254405

9781423761365

1423761367

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (343 p.)

Collana

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

Disciplina

401/.43

Soggetti

Complexity (Linguistics)

Language and languages

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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