Priming and unidirectional language change

Jäger G, Rosenbach A (2008)
Theoretical Linguistics 34(2): 85-113.

Zeitschriftenaufsatz | Veröffentlicht | Englisch
 
Download
Restricted Jaeger___Rosenbach_2008_end.pdf
Autor*in
Jäger, Gerhard; Rosenbach, Anette
Abstract / Bemerkung
In this paper we argue that the psycholinguistic mechanism of priming may account for the empirical observation that grammaticalization processes typically proceed in one direction only. It is shown how two well-known unidirectional changes, i.e. the development from spatial to temporal expressions and phonological reduction, may be connected to cases of asymmetric priming as reported in the psycholinguistic literature. In these cases a form or concept A primes a form or concept B, but not vice versa, and this cognitive asymmetry corresponds precisely to the observed unidirectional pathway from A to B in diachronic change. Ultimately, then, we argue that what appears as diachronic trajectories of unidirectional change is decomposable into atomic steps of asymmetric priming in language use. More generally, we also suggest that priming is the ‘missing link’ in evolutionary models of language change in that it provides for a plausible linguistic replicating mechanism, i.e. an ‘amplifier’ of linguistic units. This is a programmatic paper which should bring to attention the potential of fruitfully applying insights from psycholinguistic research to some central issues of historical linguistics. Specifically, our approach allows for the formulation of falsifiable predictions that can be tested with present-day speakers, under the uniformitarian assumption that the same cognitive mechanisms that we find to be operating in present-day speakers also have operated in past speakers of a language.
Erscheinungsjahr
2008
Zeitschriftentitel
Theoretical Linguistics
Band
34
Ausgabe
2
Seite(n)
85-113
ISSN
0301-4428
eISSN
1613-4060
Page URI
https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2097072

Zitieren

Jäger G, Rosenbach A. Priming and unidirectional language change. Theoretical Linguistics. 2008;34(2):85-113.
Jäger, G., & Rosenbach, A. (2008). Priming and unidirectional language change. Theoretical Linguistics, 34(2), 85-113. https://doi.org/10.1515/THLI.2008.008
Jäger, Gerhard, and Rosenbach, Anette. 2008. “Priming and unidirectional language change”. Theoretical Linguistics 34 (2): 85-113.
Jäger, G., and Rosenbach, A. (2008). Priming and unidirectional language change. Theoretical Linguistics 34, 85-113.
Jäger, G., & Rosenbach, A., 2008. Priming and unidirectional language change. Theoretical Linguistics, 34(2), p 85-113.
G. Jäger and A. Rosenbach, “Priming and unidirectional language change”, Theoretical Linguistics, vol. 34, 2008, pp. 85-113.
Jäger, G., Rosenbach, A.: Priming and unidirectional language change. Theoretical Linguistics. 34, 85-113 (2008).
Jäger, Gerhard, and Rosenbach, Anette. “Priming and unidirectional language change”. Theoretical Linguistics 34.2 (2008): 85-113.
Volltext(e)
Name
Jaeger___Rosenbach_2008_end.pdf
Access Level
Restricted Closed Access
Zuletzt Hochgeladen
2019-09-06T08:57:31Z
MD5 Prüfsumme
172cf5b81a2f96eac42f92d9723e8beb


Export

Markieren/ Markierung löschen
Markierte Publikationen

Open Data PUB

Web of Science

Dieser Datensatz im Web of Science®
Suchen in

Google Scholar