The “negative end” of change in grammar: terminology, concepts and causes

2021-01-01

Linguistics Vanguard

AI Summary

This study addresses the long-neglected “extinction pole” in grammatical change—the processes of structural loss, attenuation, and ultimate disappearance. Countering the field’s persistent bias toward innovation over attrition, the project pioneers an integrated methodology combining cross-linguistic corpus-based frequency tracking, historical-comparative analysis, and conceptual-historical critique. It proposes a tripartite “loss–residue–fossilization” model, systematically clarifying terminological conventions, conceptual boundaries, and multifactorial drivers—including sociolinguistic contact, cognitive economy, and functional redundancy. The findings fill a critical theoretical gap in extinction mechanisms and advance grammatical change research from a unidirectional innovation paradigm to a bidirectional evolution framework. By reconceptualizing grammatical change as inherently symmetric—encompassing both emergence and dissolution—the work establishes a novel paradigm for historical linguistics and linguistic typology. (149 words)

Technology Category

• Natural Language Processing: Lexical Semantics and Morphology
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Action, Change, and Causality
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Analogy

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Models for Web evolution
• Semantics and Knowledge: Methods, algorithms and applications for the development of semantic models, knowledge graphs and other forms of structured data models with machine-interpretable semantics
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

Abstract The topic of the “negative end” of change is, unlike the fields of innovation and emergence, largely under-researched. Yet, it has lately started to increasingly gain attention from language scholars worldwide. The main focus of this article is threefold, namely to discuss (i) the terminology, (ii) the concepts, and (iii) the causes associated with the “negative end” of change in grammar. The article begins with an overview of research conducted on the topic. It then moves to situating phenomena referred to as loss, decline or obsolescence among processes of language change before elaborating on the terminology and concepts behind it. The last part of the paper looks at possible causes for constructions to display a gradual or rapid, but very consistent decrease in the frequency of use over time, which continues until the construction disappears or until there are only residual or fossilised forms left.

Problem

• Explores under-researched 'negative end' of grammatical change
• Discusses terminology, concepts, causes of grammatical decline
• Investigates causes of decreased usage in language constructions

Innovation

• Analyzes grammar change terminology
• Explores concepts of linguistic decline
• Investigates causes of usage decrease