The question of complexity, as in what makes one language more 'complex' than another, is a long-established topic of debate amongst linguists. Recently, this issue has been complemented with the view that languages are complex adaptive systems, in which emergence and self-organization pla...

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Bibliographic Details

Other Authors:	Mufwene, Salikoko S. (Editor), Pellegrino, François 1971- (Editor), Coupé, Christophe 1977- (Editor)
Format:	Electronic eBook
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2017
Series:	Cambridge approaches to language contact
Subjects:	Complexity (Linguistics) Discourse analysis Linguistic analysis (Linguistics) Linguistik Sprachentwicklung Komplexität Sprache Konferenzschrift > 2011 > Lyon Aufsatzsammlung
Online Access:	BSB01 Volltext
Summary:	The question of complexity, as in what makes one language more 'complex' than another, is a long-established topic of debate amongst linguists. Recently, this issue has been complemented with the view that languages are complex adaptive systems, in which emergence and self-organization play major roles. However, few students of the phenomenon have gone beyond the basic assessment of the number of units and rules in a language (what has been characterized as 'bit complexity') or shown some familiarity with the science of complexity. This book reveals how much can be learned by overcoming these limitations, especially by adopting developmental and evolutionary perspectives. The contributors include specialists of language acquisition, evolution and ecology, grammaticization, phonology, and modeling, all of whom approach languages as dynamical, emergent, and adaptive complex systems
Item Description:	Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 17 Jul 2017)
Physical Description:	1 online resource (xii, 251 pages)
ISBN:	9781107294264
DOI:	10.1017/9781107294264