Internal vs external motivations for linguistic change

Abstract

This paper begins by proposing that linguistic change is speaker-based and notes that the phenomenon known as language contact is actually contact between speakers of different languages. It is further noticed that language-contact explanations for change have been avoided or understated in traditional language histories, and internal explanations for change preferred. It is noted that all linguistic innovations, whether they originate internally or externally, are passed from speaker to speaker in broadly the same way and can assume a regular distribution in a variety even when they are externally triggered. Several examples of language contact and change are discussed from the point of view of speaker-activity and the distinction between innovation and change. It is suggested that as language contact, although socio-politically motivated, is linguistically accidental, structuralist language-based approaches will have difficulty in accommodating language contact into an overarching theory of change.

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