Mechanisms of variation and selection in language change

What drives language change? This is actually an ambiguous question, since language change, like other evolutionary phenomena, is a two-step process: the generation of variation and its propagation through a population. In this presentation, I describe some recent proposals for mechanisms for both steps. The generation of variation is traditionally described in terms of intentional behaviors of agents (speakers). However, recent work in phonology and grammar suggest nonintentional mechanisms, that is, indeterminacies in the communication process out of the intentional control of the speaker, also play a significant role. Propagation is traditionally described in terms of what might be called social fitness: certain linguistic variants are differentially replicated due to social values attached to them. Recent proposals argue for a major role for neutral evolution; some of these proposals have been tested by evolutionary models of language change.

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