Cover not available
Part of
New Trends in Grammaticalization and Language Change
Edited by Sylvie Hancil, Tine Breban and José Vicente Lozano
[Studies in Language Companion Series 202] 2018
► pp. 75–104

Analogy

Its role in language learning, categorization, and in models of language change such as grammaticalization and constructionalization

| University of Amsterdam

This paper investigates and surveys the role played by analogy in language learning and processing, and its position in models of change such as grammaticalization and diachronic construction grammar. I will illustrate the importance of analogy by looking at Hermann Paul’s Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte (1880), indicating that his ideas on how languages are learned and change are closely connected and pervaded by analogical notions. These ideas have recently become current again, after long neglect within linguistic models since the 1950s, and now form the basis for experiments and recent work in cognitive science. The presence of analogy in change will be highlighted through a review of a number of recent diachronic studies, where I will argue that analogy helps to explain the development of the new constructions there investigated.*

Keywords: analogy, categorization, constructionalization, language learning, networks, system mapping
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Analogy in usage-based models: Construction grammar and grammaticalization
  • 3.Analogy
    • 3.1Analogy and Herman Paul’s Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte (1880 [1909])
    • 3.2Analogy and cognitive science
  • 4.The influence of analogy in morphosyntactic change
    • 4.1A case study where analogy is not given a primary role
    • 4.2Case studies where analogy is given a primary role
  • 5.A brief conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.202.04fis
References
Auer, Peter & Murray, Robert W.
2015 Hermann Paul’s ‘Principles of Language History’ Revisited. Translations and Reflections. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Bao, Zhiming
2010  Must in Singapore English. Lingua 120: 1727–1737.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barðdal, Jóhanna
2008 Productivity. Evidence from Case and Argument Structure in Icelandic [Constructional Approaches to Language 8]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barðdal, Jóhanna, Smirnova, Elena, Sommerer, Lotte & Gildea, Spike
(eds) 2015 Diachronic Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language 8]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barðdal, Jóhanna & Gildea, Spike
2015 Epistemological context, basic assumptions and historical implications. In Barðdal, Smirnova, Sommerer & Gildea (eds), 1–50.Google Scholar
Bergs, Alexander & Diewald, Gabriëlle
(eds) 2008 Constructions and Language Change. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chalmers, David J., French, Robert M. & Hofstadter, Douglas R.
1992 High-level perception, representation, and analogy: A critique of artificial intelligence methodology. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 4: 185–211. [URL]DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Croft, William
2000 Explaining Language Change. An Evolutionary Approach. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
2001 Radical Construction Grammar. Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective. Oxford: OUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Smet, Hendrik
2009 Analyzing reanalysis. Lingua 119: 1728–1755.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 Grammatical interference: Subject marker for and the phrasal verb particles out and forth. In Traugott & Trousdale (eds), 75–104.Google Scholar
2012 The course of actualization. Language 88: 601–633.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 How gradual change progresses: The interaction between convention and innovation. Language Variation and Change 28: 83–102.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Smet, Hendrik & Fischer, Olga
2017 The role of analogy in language change: Supporting constructions. In The Changing English Language: Psycholinguistic Perspectives, Marianne Hundt, Sandra Mollin & Simone Pfenninger (eds), 240–268. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Smet, Hendrik, Ghesquière, Lobke & Van de Velde, Freek
(eds) 2015 On Multiple Source Constructions in Language Change [Benjamins Current Topics 79]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Deacon, Terence W
1997 The Symbolic Species. The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain. New York NY: Norton.Google Scholar
Denison, David
2002 History of the sort of construction family. Ms. [URL]
Edwin, E. A.
1973 Analogy and Association in Linguistics and Psychology. Athens GA: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Entwisle, Doris R., Forsyth, Daniel F. & Muuss, Rolf
1964 The syntactic-paradigmatic shift in children’s word associations. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 3: 19–29.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ervin, Susan M.
1961 Changes with age in the verbal determinants of word-association. The American Journal of Psychology 74: 361–372.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Olga
1997 The grammaticalisation of infinitival to in English compared with German and Dutch. In Language History and Linguistic Modelling. A Festschrift for Jaček Fisiak on his 60th Birthday, Raymond Hickey & Stanisław Puppel (eds), 265–280. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2000 Grammaticalisation: Unidirectional, non-reversable? The case of to before the infinitive in English. In Pathways of Change. Grammaticalization in English [Studies in Language Companion Series 53], Olga Fischer, Anette Rosenbach & Dieter Stein (eds), 149–169. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007 Approaches to Morphosyntactic Change from a Functional and Formal Perspective. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
2011 Grammaticalization as analogically driven change? In The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization, Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine (eds), 31–42. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
2015 The influence of the grammatical system and analogy in processes of language change: The case of the auxiliation of HAVE-TO once again. In Studies in Linguistic Variation and Change: From Old to Middle English, Fabienne Toupin & Brian Lowrey (eds), 120–150. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Fischer, Olga, De Smet, Hendrik & Van der Wurff, Wim
2017 A Brief History of English Syntax. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Olga & Olbertz, Hella
In press. The role played by analogy in processes of language change: The case of English HAVE-to compared to Spanish TENER-que. In Categories, Constructions and Change in English Syntax [Studies in English Language Series], Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, Willem B. Hollmann, Emma Moore & Linda Van Bergen eds Cambridge CUP
Fried, Mirjam
2013 Principles of constructional change. In Hoffmann & Trousdale (eds), 419–437.Google Scholar
Gentner, Dedre
2003 Why we’re so smart. In Language in Mind. Advances in the Study of Language and Thought, Dedre Gentner & Susan Goldin-Meadow (eds), 195–235. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
2010 Bootstrapping the mind: Analogical processes and symbol systems. Cognitive Science 34: 752–775.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gentner, Dedre, Anggoro, Florencia K. & Klibanoff, Raquel S.
2011 Structure mapping and relational language support children’s learning of relational categories. Child Development 82: 1173–1188.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gentner, Dedre, Holyoak, Keith J. & Kokinov, Boicho K.
(eds) 2001 The Analogical Mind. Perspectives from Cognitive Science. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gentner, Dedre & Namy, Laura L.
2006 Analogical processes in language learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science 15: 297–301.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gentner, Dedre & Smith, Linsey
2012 Analogical reasoning. In Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, 2nd edn, Vilayanur S. Ramachandran (ed.), 130–136. Oxford: Elsevier.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, Adèle E.
2013 Constructionist approaches. InHoffman & Trousdale(eds), 15–31.Google Scholar
Hashimoto, Naomi, McGregor, Karla K.
& Graham, Anne 2007 Conceptual organization at 6 and 8 years of age: Evidence from the semantic priming of object decisions. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 50: 161–176.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin
1989 From purposive to infinitive – A universal path of grammaticization. Folia Linguistica Historica 10: 287–310.Google Scholar
Hilpert, Martin
2013 Constructional Change in English. Developments in Allomorphy, Word Formation, and Syntax. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, Thomas
2013 Abstract phrasal and clausal constructions. In Hoffman & Trousdale (eds), 307–328.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Thomas & Trousdale, Graeme
(eds) 2013 The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar. Oxford: OUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hofstadter, Douglas
1995 Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies. Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought. New York NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
2001 Epilogue. Analogy as the core of cognition. In Gentner, Holyoak & Kokinov (eds), 499–538.Google Scholar
2013 The nature of categories and concepts. Lecture delivered at Stanford, March 6, 2013. Made available on Youtube, March 2014.Google Scholar
Hofstadter, Douglas & Sander, Emmanuel
2013 Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking. New York NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Kalénine, Solène, Peyrin, Carole, Pichat, Cédric, Segebarth, Christoph, Bonthoux, Françoise & Baciu, Monica
2009 The sensory-motor specificity of taxonomic and thematic conceptual relations: A behavioural and fMRI study. NeuroImage 44: 1152–1162.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaltenböck, Gunther, Heine, Bernd & Kuteva, Tania
2011 On thetical grammar. Studies in Language 35: 852–897.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaltenböck, Gunther & Heine, Bernd
2014 Sentence grammar vs. thetical grammar: Two competing domains. In Competing Motivations in Grammar and Usage, Brian MacWhinney, Andrej Malchukov & Edith Moravcsik (eds), 348–363. Oxford: OUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel
2011 Thinking Fast and Slow. London: Allen Lane/Penguin.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul
1974 Remarks on analogical change. In Historical Linguistics, Vol. I., John M. Anderson & Charles Jones (eds), 257–275. Amsterdam: North Holland.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, David W
1979 Principles of Diachronic Syntax. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Malkiel, Yakov
1993 Etymology. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noël, Dirk
2016 For a radically usage-based diachronic construction grammar. Belgian Journal of Linguistics 30: 39–53.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017 Radically usage-based diachronic construction grammar and the development of non-deontic be bound to. Lingua 199: 72–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paul, Hermann
1909 [1880] Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte, 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Pulvermüller, Friedemann
2002 The Neuroscience of Language. On Brain Circuits of Words and Serial Order. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Rice, Keren
2000 Morpheme Order and Semantic Scope. Word Formation in the Athapaskan Verb. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sommerer, Lotte
2015 The influence of constructions in grammaticalization: Revisiting category emergence and the development of the definite article in English. In Barðdal, Smirnova, Sommerer & Gildea (eds), 107–138.Google Scholar
Steels, Luc
2011 Introducing Fluid Construction Grammar. In Design Patterns in Fluid Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language 11], Luc Steels (ed.), 3–30. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Fluid Construction Grammar. In Hoffman & Trousdale (eds), 153–167.Google Scholar
Strong, Herbert Augustus
1889 Principles of the History of Language. New York NY: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs
2008a Grammaticalization, constructions and the incremental development of language. Suggestions from the development of degree modifiers in English. In Variation, Selection, Development. Probing the Evolutionary Model of Language Change, Regine Eckardt, Gerhard Jager & Tonjes Veenstra (eds), 219–250. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
2008b The grammaticalization of NP of NP patterns. In Bergs & Diewald (eds), 23–45.Google Scholar
2008c “All that he endeavoured to prove was” …: On the emergence of grammatical constructions in dialogual and dialogic contexts. In Language in Flux: Dialogue Coordination, Language Variation, Change and Evolution, Robin Cooper & Ruth Kempson (eds), 143–177. London: Kings College Publications.Google Scholar
2015 Toward a coherent account of grammatical constructionalization. In Barðdal, Smirnova, Sommerer & Gildea (eds), 51–80.Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs & Trousdale, Graeme
(eds) 2010 Gradience, Gradualness and Grammaticalization [Typological Studies in Language 90]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Constructionalization and Constructional Changes. Oxford: OUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trousdale, Graeme
2012 Grammaticalization, constructions and the grammaticalization of constructions. In Grammaticalization and Language Change. New Reflections [Studies in Language Companion Series 130], Kirstin Davidse, Tine Breban, Lieselotte Brems & Tanja Mortelmans (eds), 167–198. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Construction grammar. In The Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics, Merja Kytö & Pavi Pahta (eds), 65–78. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vincent, Nigel & Borjärs, Kersti
2010 Grammaticalization and models of language. In Traugott & Trousdale (eds), 279–299.Google Scholar
Willems, Klaas
2016 Georg von der Gabelenz and ‘das lautsymbolische gefühl’. A chapter in the history of iconicity research. In From Variation to Iconicity. Festschrift for Olga Fischer, Anne Bannink & Wim Honselaar (eds), 439–452. Amsterdam: Pegasus.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Kuo, Yueh Hsin
2020. Reinforcement by realignment in diachronic construction grammar. Constructions and Frames 12:2 ► pp. 206 ff. DOI logo
Kuo, Yueh Hsin
2021. A constructional account of the loss of the adverse avertive schema in Mandarin Chinese. In Lost in Change [Studies in Language Companion Series, 218], ► pp. 131 ff. DOI logo
Kuo, Yueh Hsin
2022. Bidirectionality between modal and conditional constructions in Mandarin Chinese. Diachronica 39:1 ► pp. 88 ff. DOI logo
Ungerer, Tobias
2022. Review of Sommerer & Smirnova (2020): Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar. Journal of Historical Linguistics 12:2 ► pp. 317 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2021. A constructional account of the loss of the adverse avertive schema in Mandarin Chinese. In Lost in Change [Studies in Language Companion Series, 218], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 may 2023. 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.