Evolution of grammatical forms: some quantitative approaches

TL;DR

This paper applies statistical physics models to understand how grammatical forms evolve through descent and contact mechanisms, highlighting the emergence of exceptions influenced by language contact.

Contribution

It introduces novel static and dynamical models to analyze language evolution, emphasizing the role of language contact in the emergence of exceptional grammatical forms.

Findings

Unlikely grammatical survivors emerge due to language contact.

Models show the balance between regularization and borrowing influences.

Contact with neighboring languages increases the likelihood of exceptions.

Abstract

Grammatical forms are said to evolve via two main mechanisms. These are, respectively, the `descent' mechanism, where current forms can be seen to have descended (albeit with occasional modifications) from their roots in ancient languages, and the `contact' mechanism, where evolution in a given language occurs via borrowing from other languages with which it is in contact. We use ideas and concepts from statistical physics to formulate a series of static and dynamical models which illustrate these issues in general terms. The static models emphasise the relative numbers of rules and exceptions, while the dynamical models focus on the emergence of exceptional forms. These unlikely survivors among various competing grammatical forms are winners against the odds. Our analysis suggests that they emerge when the influence of neighbouring languages exceeds the generic tendency towards regularisation within individual languages.