Internal and external dynamics in language: evidence from verb regularity in a historical corpus of English.

ABSTRACT: Human languages are rule governed, but almost invariably these rules have exceptions in the form of irregularities. Since rules in language are efficient and productive, the persistence of irregularity is an anomaly. How does irregularity linger in the face of internal (endogenous) and external (exogenous) pressures to conform to a rule? Here we address this problem by taking a detailed look at simple past tense verbs in the Corpus of Historical American English. The data show that the language is open, with many new verbs entering. At the same time, existing verbs might tend to regularize or irregularize as a consequence of internal dynamics, but overall, the amount of irregularity sustained by the language stays roughly constant over time. Despite continuous vocabulary growth, and presum

SUBMITTER: Cuskley CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4118841 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature