Paul 1880 vs. 1886 vs. 1920...; Bloomfield 1933/1965

[Scott DeLancey]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
On Sat, 9 May 1998 manaster at umich.edu wrote:
 
> As far as the order of adpositions and other function
> words (conjunctions) is concerned, unless I am mistaken,
> there are in fact well-known data indicating that in
> situations where they end up in the "wrong" place
> there is a strong tendency to "fix" the order.  If
> memory serves, is it not the case that in Indo-Iranian
> again (and in Ethiopian Semitic and elsewhere) we do
> find languages which are OV but have inherited
> prepositions or clause initial subordinating conjunctions
> etc., and that there is a strong tendency (manifested,
> predictably enough, much more in colloquial than in literary
> languages) to "fix" this.
 
I don't know the facts here--my understanding is that the "fixing"
generally involves, not erstwhile prepositions changing their position,
but the innovation of new postpositions.  If so, this is exactly what
one would expect.  New adpositions--in fact, new anything--must
arise from existing structures, and if the existing structures from
which they can arise are head-initial, then the new structures will
be head-initial.
    If there are cases of "remediation" in which preexisting adpositions
actually change their position, I would be very interesting in details
or references.
 
> This is a sweeping generalization
> of course and with many exceptions, but I think it is broadly
> right.  And if so, then again we would seem to have to acknowledge
> an invisible hand (alias UG or the like) which seems to
> guide language change in the direction of replacing
> systems that are impossible or unnatural by ones which
> are possible or natural.
 
"Invisible hand" is a very appropriate metaphor here--the original
concept, in economics, refers not to some teleological force
which guides change in certain directions, but to apparent patterns
produced by the mechanical operation of local tendencies.
 
Scott DeLancey
Department of Linguistics
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403, USA
 
delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html