Henning Andersen in his well-known and oft-cited (1973) article “Abductive and deductive change” (language 49(4).765–793) distinguishes two types of language change: evolutive change – defined as “change entirely explainable in terms of the linguistic system that gave rise to it” – and adaptive change – defined as “a change not explainable without reference to factors outside the linguistic system in question”. In this paper, we present an overview of the evolutive versus adaptive dichotomy in Andersen’s work and the role this dichotomy has played in the field in ensuing years. While this particular terminology has never taken a central role in discussions of these issues, the terms are still in some use, and the field as a whole has seen a proliferation of various terms focusing on this and similar dichotomies.
Aitchison, Jean1981/1991/2001. Language change: Progress or decay? (1st/2nd/3rd edn.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Andersen, Henning. 1969. A study in diachronic morphophonemics: The Ukrainian prefixes. Language 45.807–830.
Andersen, Henning. 1972. Diphthongization. Language 48.11–50.
Andersen, Henning. 1973. Abductive and deductive change. Language 49. 765–793.
Andersen, Henning. 1974. Towards a typology of change: Bifurcating changes and binary relations. In J. M. Anderson & C. Jones (eds.), Historical linguistics II: Theory and description in phonology: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Historical Linguistics, 17–60. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Andersen, Henning. 1980a. Morphological change: Towards a typology. In Jacek Fisiak (ed.), Historical morphology, 1–50. The Hague: Mouton.
Andersen, Henning. 1980b. Russian conjugation: Acquisition and evolutive change. In Elizabeth Closs Traugott, Rebecca Labrum & Susan C. Shepherd (eds.), Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Stanford, March26–30 1979, 285–301. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Andersen, Henning. 1988. Center and periphery: Adoption, diffusion, and spread. In J. Fisiak (ed.), Historical dialectology, regional and social, 39–83. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Andersen, Henning. 1989. Understanding linguistic innovations. In L. E. Breivik & E. H. Jahr (eds.), Language change: Contributions to the study of its causes,, 5–28. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Andersen, Henning. 2006. Synchrony, diachrony and evolution. In Ole Nedergaard Thomsen (ed.), Competing models of linguistic change, 59–90. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Anttila, Raimo. 1972/1989. Historical and comparative linguistics (1st/2nd edn.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bloomfield, Leonard. 1926. A set of postulates for the science of language. Language 2. 153–164.
Bloomfield, Leonard. 1933. Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Bowern, Claire & Bethwyn Evans (eds.) 2015. The Routledge handbook of historical linguistics. New York: Routledge.
Bynon, Theodora. 1977. Historical linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, Lyle. 1999. Historical linguistics: An introduction (1st edn.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Chomsky, Noam & Morris Halle. 1968. The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.
Crowley, Terry. 1987/1997. An introduction to historical linguistics (1st/3rd edn.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
D’Arcy, Alexandra. 2015. Variation, transmission, incrementation. In Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds.), The Oxford handbook of historical phonology, 583–602. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
D’Arcy, Alexandra & Sali A. Tagliamonte. 2015. Not always variable: Probing the vernacular grammar. Language Variation and Change 27.255–285.
Dorian, Nancy. 1993. Internally and externally motivated change in language contact settings: Doubts about dichotomy. In Charles Jones (ed.), Historical linguistics: Problems and perspectives, 131–155. London: Longman.
Frellesvig, Bjarke. 1995. A case study in diachronic phonology: The Japanese onbin sound changes. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.
Friedman, Victor A.2006. The Balkans as a linguistic area. In Keith Brown (ed.), Elsevier encyclopedia of language and linguistics, vol. 1, 657–672. Oxford: Elsevier.
Galloway, Nicola & Heath Rose. 2015. Introducing global Englishes. New York: Routledge.
Gerritsen, Marinel & Frank Jansen. 1982. The interplay between diachronic linguistics and dialectology: Some refinements of Trudgill’s formula. In John Peter Maher, Allan R. Bomhard & E. F. K. Koerner (eds.), Papers from the 3rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics, 11–38. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hale, Mark. 2007. Historical linguistics: Theory and method. Oxford: Blackwell.
Harris, John. 1985. Phonological variation and change: Studies in Hiberno-English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hernández-Campoy, Juan Manuel & Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre (eds.). 2012. The handbook of historical sociolinguistics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Hinskens, Frans, Peter Auer & Paul Kerswill. 2005. The study of dialect convergence and divergence: Conceptual and methodological considerations. In Peter Auer, Frans Hinskens & Paul Kerswill (eds.), Dialect change: Convergence and divergence in European languages, 1–50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hock, Hans Henrich. 1991. Principles of historical linguistics (2nd edn.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hock, Hans Henrich & Brian D. Joseph. 1996/2009. Language history, language change, and language relationship (1st/2nd edn.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hockett, Charles. 1958. A course in modern linguistics. New York: MacMillan.
Hockett, Charles. 1965. Sound change. Language 41. 185–204.
Hoenigswald, Henry M.1960. Language change and linguistic reconstruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Honeybone, Patrick & Joseph Salmons (eds.). 2015. The Oxford handbook of historical phonology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hopper, Paul J. & Elizabeth Closs Traugott. 1993. Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Itkonen, Esa. 1982. Short-term and long-term teleology in linguistic change. In John Peter Maher, Allan R. Bomhard & E. F. K. Koerner (eds.), Papers from the 3rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics, 85–118. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Janda, Richard D. & Brian D. Joseph.. 2003. On language, change, and language change —or, of history, linguistics, and historical linguistics. The handbook of historical linguistics, ed. by Brian D. Joseph & Richard D. Janda, 3–180. Oxford: Blackwell.
Jeffers, Robert & Ilse Lehiste. 1979. Principles and methods for historical linguistics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Joseph, Brian D.1982. Multiple causation in language contact change. Published in microfiche in ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Database by ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, document #ED205021, February 1982 (pp.17).
Joseph, Brian D.1983. The synchrony and diachrony of the Balkan infinitive: A study in areal, general, and historical linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Reissued in paperback, 2009).
Joseph, Brian D. & Richard D. Janda (eds.) 2003. The handbook of historical linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Keller, Rudi. 1994. On language change: The invisible hand in language. London: Routledge.
Kerswill, Paul & Eivind Torgersen. 2005. Endogeneous linguistic change in inner-London teenage speech as the generator of vowel innovations: Implications for models of innovation, levelling and diffusion. Paper presented at NWAV34, New York University, October 2005. Online: [URL].
King, Robert D.1969. Historical linguistics and generative grammar. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Labov, William. 1965. On the mechanism of linguistic change. Georgetown Monographs on Language and Linguistics 18. 91–114.
Labov, William. 1994. Principles of linguistic change, vol. 1: Internal factors. Oxford: Blackwell.
Labov, William. 2001. Principles of linguistic change, vol. 2: Social factors. Oxford: Blackwell.
Labov, William. 2006. The social stratification of English in New York City (2nd edn.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Labov, William. 2007. Transmission and diffusion. Language 83. 344–387.
Labov, William. 2010. Principles of linguistic change, vol. 3: Cognitive and cultural factors. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lass, Roger. 1997. Historical linguistics and language change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Maher, John Peter, Allan R. Bomhard & E. F. K. Koerner (eds.) 1982. Papers from the 3rd International Conference on Historical Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
McMahon, April. 1994. Understanding language change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ohala, John J.1981. The listener as a source of sound change. Chicago Linguistic Society (Parasession on language and behavior) 17(2). 178–203.
Ringe, Donald & Joseph F. Eska. 2013. Historical linguistics: Toward a twenty-first century reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Roberge, Paul T.2012. The teleology of change: Functional and non-functional explanations for language variation and change. The handbook of historical sociolinguistics, ed. by Juan Manuel Hernández-Campoy and Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre, 369–386. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Sapir, Edward. 1921. An introduction to the study of speech. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
Wang, William S-Y. 1969. Competing changes as a cause of residue. Language 45. 9–25.
Weber, Tobias. 2014. Principles in the emergence and evolution of linguistic features in World Englishes. Hamburg: Anchor Academic Publishing.
Wehmeyer, Ann. 1998. Book Notice on Frellesvig 1995. Language 74. 681–682.
Weinreich, Uriel. 1953. Languages in contact: Findings and problems. New York: Linguistic Circle of New York.
Weinreich, Uriel, William Labov & Marvin I. Herzog. 1968. Empirical foundations for a theory of language change. In Winfred P. Lehmann & Yakov Malkiel (eds.), Directions for historical linguistics: A symposium, 97–195. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Cited by (4)
Cited by four other publications
Lavidas, Nikolaos
2023. Introduction. In Internal and External Causes of Language Change, ► pp. 1 ff.
Joseph, Brian D.
2020. Historical Morphology – Overview and Update. In The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, ► pp. 63 ff.
Joseph, Brian D.
2022. Language Contact and Historical Linguistics. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact, ► pp. 43 ff.
[no author supplied]
2022. Language Contact and Genetic Linguistics. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact, ► pp. 41 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.