Language change and universals

Abstract

Introduction As traditionally understood, universals of language are cross-linguistic generalizations concerning synchronic grammars, and their explanations usually appeal to functional principles thought of in a synchronic domain. It stands to reason, however, that any synchronic pattern must have a diachronic dimension, since that pattern had to come into being in some way. One could even argue, as I did in Bybee (1988), that we cannot be sure of the validity of a functional explanation for a synchronic universal unless we can confirm that that functional consideration was applicable in the formation of the synchronic pattern. That is, all explanations of synchronic universals must have a diachronic dimension. In the current chapter, I outline a position on the role of diachrony in universals, whose logical consequence is that the true universals of language are not synchronic patterns at all, but the mechanisms of change that create these patterns. This position is an extension of the theory of diachronic typology formulated and practiced by Joseph H. Greenberg, to whom this chapter is dedicated. In several papers, Greenberg proposed a method for the study of typology and universals which he called dynamic comparison or diachronic typology. In this method, typological patterns are shown to emerge from common diachronic changes that arise in related and unrelated languages. It has become clear subsequently that what Greenberg elaborated in the many domains of language that he studied was not a comparative methodology so much as a theory of language that has great potential for explanation.

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