Chance and Necessity in Language Evolution

• 발행기관: 한국생성문법학회
• 저자명: Sang Doh Park
• 간행물 정보: 『생성문법연구』제35권 제4호, 533~552쪽, 전체 20쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 언어학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2025.11.30

국문 초록

This paper undertakes a diachronic analysis of modal systems in English, Dutch, and French from the perspective of chance and necessity in biological evolution. It is proposed that the initial impetus for language change originates from accidental alterations in the featural specification of lexical items, analogous to genetic mutations arising by chance. Once a particular featural shift occurs, subsequent changes follow as a matter of necessity, driven by the grammatical logic of the modified featural configuration. The dynamic of this mechanism is observable in the historical resetting of parametric values associated with modals in the three languages under investigation. Notably, each phase in language evolution unfolds within the constraints imposed by Universal Grammar.

목차

1. Introduction

2. Chance and Necessity in Biological and Linguistic Evolution

3. The Grammaticalization of English Pre-modals

4. The Emergence and Survival of Do-Support in English

5. Dutch Modals in Language Evolution

6. Three Tracks in Language Evolution

7. Concluding Remarks

References

키워드

chance and necessity language evolution modal system pre-modal do-support grammaticalization

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