TRAMES 4, 3, 1999
Martin Ehala. Stable states and impossible changes: the limits of teleological
explanation in diachronic linguistics
Tallinn Pedagogical University
Abstract
The paper concentrates on the problem of cross-linguistic word-order regularities,
known as Natural Serialisation Principle. It is argued that the teleological
nature of this principle is due to a too broad understanding of the notion
of state for a linguistic system. If the notion of state is applied to
smaller subsystems of the whole word-order system, the apparent teleological
tendencies within this whole can be modelled without referring to the future.
Using the theory of self-organisation, the possible stable and unstable
states for the system of word order are defined, and possible paths of
word-order change specified. The model is tested against an unsuccessful
language planning attempt in Estonian, undertaken by Johannes Aavik. It
is concluded that the causes for Natural Serialisation Principle derived
from the psycholinguistic constraints on language production and understanding.
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