GG and change

[Jan Terje Faarlund]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
At 18:01 30.07.98 EDT, Isidore Dyan wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>How about contemplating whether language change is inevitable. If it is
>not, theren should be some stable languages somewhere, If it is, then it
>must be inherent in all languages and thus a universal.
>
I think you can find a stable language if you look in the following type of
society: A society where no member ever changes profession or personal
relationships, where there is no outside contact, no immigration, no births
and no deaths. For languages spoken in other types of societies, change is
of course inevitable, not because change is a universal of language, but
because language after all is ALSO a cultural object transmitted through
the behavior of biological individuals.
 
The idea that change should be a universal is meaningless since language
universals are based on generalizations over properties of *systems*. When
a language changes, a system changes, and this new system must again obey
whatever constraints are imposed by UG. Change in itself cannot be part of
the system. The only interesting connection between universals and change
is the fact that no change can lead to a result which violates UG.
 
 
********************************************
Professor Jan Terje Faarlund
Universitetet i Oslo
Institutt for nordistikk og litteraturvitskap
Postboks 1013 Blindern
N-0315 Oslo (Norway)
 
Tel. (+47) 22 85 69 49 (office)
     (+47) 22 12 39 66 (home)
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