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Exaptation and Language Change
Edited by Muriel Norde and Freek Van de Velde
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 336] 2016
► pp. 57–92

Co-opting exaptation in a theory of language change

In contrast with exaptation, which has been widely discussed over the last years, its conceptual counterpart in evolutionary biology, namely adaptation, does not seem to play any significant role in the actual linguistic debate. In the paper, the attempt is made to integrate this conceptual pair into our linguistic epistemology basically extending Lindblom’s (1998) model of adaptive changes beyond the domain of phonological change. In this light, adaptive changes are characterized as oriented and responding to a general design of economy and plasticity, while exaptive changes are normally non-oriented and result from the refunctionalization of (partially pre-adapted) linguistic material.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Exaptation as the counterpart of grammaticalization
    • 1.2Accommodating exaptation into a theory of language change
  • 2.Adaptation and exaptation in an evolutionary approach
  • 3.The role of adaptation in language change
    • 3.1Towards an adaptive model of language change
    • 3.2Modeling phonological change in adaptive terms
    • 3.3Extending the adaptive model beyond phonological change
  • 4.Exaptation as the counterpart of adaptation
    • 4.1Exaptive changes in phonology
    • 4.2Exaptive changes in syntax
    • 4.3Exaptive changes in mophology
      • 4.3.1From inflection to derivation
      • 4.3.2Spandrels?
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 24 February 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.336.03gae
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