Hardback: ISBN: 1588115542 Pages: x, 336 pp. Price: U.S. $ 138.00
Hardback: ISBN: 9027230811 Pages: x, 336 pp. Price: Europe EURO 115.00
Abstract:
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 such processes are discussed in detail, as well as
the external and internal factors that favor or disfavor stability and change in
language.
Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
Morphology
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