Recombination, Feature Pool, and Population Structure Three Factors Bearing on “Grammaticalization”

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 2026
Host editors
  • Salikoko S. Mufwene
  • Enoch O. Aboh
Book title Uniformitarianism in Language Speciation
Book subtitle From Creolistics to Genetic Linguistics
ISBN
  • 9781009628969
ISBN (electronic)
  • 9781009628983
Chapter 12
Pages (from-to) 450-482
Publisher Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Organisations
  • Faculty of Humanities (FGw) - Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) - Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication (ACLC)
Abstract The paper is a critique of grammaticalization. It argues that a uniformitarian approach to the emergence of grammars based on recombination constrained by learning biases as well as competition and selection within the evolving feature pool offers a different perspective on theories of grammaticalization. It is proposed that traditional views of grammaticalization are not accurate, because they conflate the process of change at the individual and population levels.
Document type Chapter
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009628983.013
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