Part of
Continuity and Change in GrammarEdited by Anne Breitbarth, Christopher Lucas, Sheila Watts and David Willis
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 159] 2010
► pp. 269–302
Edited by Anne Breitbarth, Christopher Lucas, Sheila Watts and David Willis
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 159] 2010
► pp. 269–302
The impact of failed changes
We study linguistic changes that failed, and their relation to successful changes. The inclusion of failed changes into Kroch’s logistic model of linguistic change is possible and, in fact, necessary. The logistic functions are solutions of a differential equation that also describes how failed changes are temporal-dynamically related to successful changes: the failed change is the first derivative of the successful change. We interpret this relation in Weerman’s Peripheral Rules Model: failed changes are L2 innovations supported by peripheral rules rather than by core grammar, which are subsequently accommodated and modified by L1 adopters and turned into a successful change. Two case studies support the claims: the rise of the reflexive in Dutch and the rise of do-support in English.
Cited by (31)
Cited by 31 other publications
Brook, Marisa
2024. Obsolescence and abortive innovations in variationist approaches to language change. Language and Linguistics Compass 18:4 
Llopis Cardona, Ana & Salvador Pons Bordería
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Pons Bordería, Salvador
2024. Chapter 6. How are linguistic changes in the 20th century to be studied?. In Language Change in the 20th Century [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 340], ► pp. 188 ff.
García García, Luisa & Richard Ingham
2023. Language Contact Effects on Verb Semantic Classes: Lability in Early English and Old French. In Medieval English in a Multilingual Context [New Approaches to English Historical Linguistics, ], ► pp. 343 ff.
Mackenzie, Ian
2022. The Genesis of Spanish /θ/: A Revised Model. Languages 7:3 ► pp. 191 ff.
Gotthard, Lisa
2019. WhyDo-Support in Scots is Different. English Studies 100:3 ► pp. 314 ff.
Gotthard, Lisa
2024. Subject-verb agreement and the rise of do -support in the period of anglicisation of Scots. In Keys to the History of English [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 363], ► pp. 53 ff.
Mackenzie, Ian E.
2019. The wh-System: Free Relatives, Double Articulation and Free Choice. In Language Structure, Variation and Change, ► pp. 163 ff.
Mackenzie, Ian E.
2019. Preliminary Concepts: Old Spanish, How to Measure the Speed of Change and the Structure of the Corpus. In Language Structure, Variation and Change, ► pp. 1 ff.
Mackenzie, Ian E.
2019. Negation: Dispensing with the Clutter. In Language Structure, Variation and Change, ► pp. 205 ff.
Mackenzie, Ian E.
2019. Constituent Fronting: Focus, Discourse and Fashion. In Language Structure, Variation and Change, ► pp. 23 ff.
Mackenzie, Ian E.
2019. Clitic Linearization: A Tale of Successful and Failed Changes. In Language Structure, Variation and Change, ► pp. 75 ff.
Mackenzie, Ian E.
2019. Conclusion: Change and Continuity. In Language Structure, Variation and Change, ► pp. 247 ff.
Octavio de Toledo y Huerta, Álvaro S.
2019. Large Corpora and Historical Syntax: Consequences for the Study of Morphosyntactic Diffusion in the History of Spanish. Frontiers in Psychology 10
Ho-Cheong Leung, Alex & Wim van der Wurff
2018. Chapter 6. Anaphoric reference in Early Modern English. In The Noun Phrase in English [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 246], ► pp. 143 ff.
Kauhanen, Henri & George Walkden
2018. Deriving the Constant Rate Effect. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 36:2 ► pp. 483 ff.
KAUHANEN, HENRI
2017. Neutral change. Journal of Linguistics 53:2 ► pp. 327 ff.
Eric Mathieu & Robert Truswell
2017. Micro-change and Macro-change in Diachronic Syntax,
Postma, Gertjan
2017. Chapter 10. The rise and fall of the passive auxiliary weorðan in the history of English. In Word Order Change in Acquisition and Language Contact [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 243], ► pp. 213 ff.
Breitbarth, Anne
2014. The History of Low German Negation,
Breitbarth, Anne
2014. The development of negation in Low German. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. 143 ff.
Breitbarth, Anne
2014. Introduction. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. 1 ff.
Breitbarth, Anne
2014. The expression of standard negation. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. 16 ff.
Breitbarth, Anne
2014. Conclusion. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. 175 ff.
Breitbarth, Anne
2014. Indefinites in the scope of negation. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. 55 ff.
Breitbarth, Anne
2014. Theoretical background. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. 109 ff.
[no author supplied]
2014. Preface. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. viii ff.
[no author supplied]
2014. List of tables. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. ix ff.
[no author supplied]
2014. List of figures. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. xii ff.
[no author supplied]
2014. Series preface. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. vii ff.
[no author supplied]
2014. Copyright Page. In The History of Low German Negation, ► pp. iv ff.
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