Non-monotonic functional sequences: A new metric for complexity in heritage languages
Roberta D'Alessandro, Silvia Terenghi
July 2024 

This paper presents some evidence that language change responds to what we call the "monotonicity bias" (see also Terenghi 2022, 2023 for an extensive study of monotonicity). Sequences of functional heads, within given domains, respond to external sollicitation by the contact language being constrained by this bias, which tends to eliminate the values that interrupt monotonicity. Phi features obey this constraint both in contact and in diachrony. This is a first draft: comments and questions are very welcome!

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/006981 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	In Maria Polinsky & Michael T. Putnam (eds.), Formal approaches to complexity in heritage languages, 153–179. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10 . 5281 / zenodo . 12090445
keywords:	monotonicity bias, functional heads, pronouns, dual, word order, morphology, syntax
previous versions:	v1 [December 2022]
Downloaded:	684 times

 

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