Individuality in Language Change

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Individuality in Language Change is written by Lynn Anthonissen and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 3110725843 (ISBN 10) and 9783110725841 (ISBN 13).

Linguists have typically studied language change at the aggregate level of speech communities, yet key mechanisms of change such as analogy and automation operate within the minds of individual language users. Drawing on lifespan data from 50 authors and the intriguing case of the special passives in the history of English, this study addresses three fundamental issues relating to individuality in language change: (i) how variation and change at the individual level interact with change at the community level; (ii) how much innovation and change is possible across the adult lifespan; (iii) and to what extent related linguistic patterns are associated in individual cognition. As one of the first large-scale empirical studies to systematically link individual- and community-based perspectives in language change, this volume breaks new ground in our understanding of language as a complex adaptive system.