Diachronic Explanations Research Articles

“An Excellent Fortress for His Armies, a Refuge for the People”: Egyptological, Archaeological, and Biblical Studies in Honor of James K. Hoffmeier

“An Excellent Fortress for His Armies, a Refuge for the People”: Egyptological, Archaeological, and Biblical Studies in Honor of James K. Hoffmeier

Prosody of Compound Words in the Kitagata Dialect of Fukui Prefecture: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations as to Why Shiki-hozon (Tone Preservation Rule) does not Apply to All Compound Words

Prosody of Compound Words in the Kitagata Dialect of Fukui Prefecture: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations as to Why <i>Shiki-hozon</i> (Tone Preservation Rule) does not Apply to All Compound Words

Finding the best fit for direct and indirect causation: a typological study

AbstractThe contrast between direct and indirect causation is the most widely discussed semantic distinction in the literature on causative constructions. This distinction has been claimed to correlate with a number of formal parameters, such as formal distance, productivity and length, which are linked to different functional and diachronic explanations based on the principles of iconicity and economy. The present study tests these claims on a typologically representative sample of languages from 46 diverse families, examining four formal variables and their association with (in)directness of causation. According to the data, formal length displays the most pervasive association with the semantic distinction in question, which supports the economy-based explanation. In addition, the relative prominence of the other formal parameters depends on the type of causatives and their stage of grammaticalization.

Making Visible 'The Invisible Hand': The Mission of Social Simulation

Sometimes in the literature of Social Simulation it seems that the problem is just to provide new (kind of) data to the social sciences and policies, and that, in order to do so, one has to refer to classical cognitive or social theories, implement them, and run some experiment. In my view, this is a reductive and subordinated attitude, which in the end will offer only a limited contribution to the social sciences. Let me be a bit provocative on this. Do we realize that social theories have – in general - been built without any true experimental method? Do we realize that in many cases social theories have not been grounded on really operational or formal concepts? It is true that Social Simulation is “the most promising approach to the social sciences”, provided that we conceive it in a more radical way. As Axelrod claimed, computer-based simulation is a third scientific approach, which should be added to the traditional ‘inductive’ and ‘deductive’ ones (Axelrod 1997). Indeed, simulation is so important and crucial because it finally provides the social sciences with a truly “experimental” method for the validation and adjustment of the models and, in particular, for the specification of working architectures and not mere formal descriptions. As we will see later in this contribution, such experimental support is even more crucial for the development of new social policies and strategies than for social theory per se. After all, we cannot experiment in real social contexts with real people and their everyday life! In particular we should stress the role of Agent-based social simulation (ABSS). Science in fact cannot be satisfied with just “laws” of the phenomenon under study; detecting regularities and describing their time course or expected outcomes is not enough, and neither is finding mere correlations. What about the causal mechanism producing that regularity, that outcome? An explicit modeling of proximate causes is a fundamental level of explanation and understanding, like the diachronic, historical, developmental, or evolutionary explanations. However, ABSS is not simply a generative approach (that might just be useful for developing theories) but also a synthetic, constructive approach: a radically operational approach. When creating an ABSS model, the phenomenon is engineered and even re-produced. As a consequence, ABSS is fundamental in my view for studying two crucial issues: Combined and complex effects; emergence; “Proximate” mechanisms, behind the phenomenon; hidden, underlying “causes” of the observable behavior. In a sense, computer simulation makes ‘visible’ and ‘tangible’ the hidden, background mechanisms that are assumed behind an observable (not necessarily social) phenomenon. And in such a way it provides us with explicit and clear (operational) models.

Self-Organization and Categorical Behavior in Phonology

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

Rethinking ‘Thinking for Speaking’

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

Subject Agreement in Marovo: Diachronic Explanations of Synchronic Conditions

In many Oceanic languages, subject arguments are indexed by preverbal markers within the verb complex. In Marovo, an Oceanic language of the Solomon Islands, such subject markers show unusual synchronic behavior, in that their presence is conditioned by both morphosyntactic and pragmatic characteristics of the clause. Thus, in Marovo preverbal subject markers occur obligatorily with certain clause-initial discourse connective particles and with the negative particle. Subject markers also occur outside of these morphosyntactic environments, where their use contrasts with that of other expressions of the subject argument, including lexical or pronominal noun phrases or the lack of overt expression. Within this context of subject expression more generally, the occurrence of Marovo subject markers can be seen to be determined by the discourse role of the subject argument. It is argued here, through comparison of Marovo subject marking with that in closely related languages, that these synchronic condition shave diachronic explanations.

Diachronic Explanations of Sound Patterns

AbstractPhonological systems show clear signs of being shaped by phonetics. Sound patterns are overwhelmingly phonetically ‘natural’, in that they reflect the influence of physical constraints on speech production and perception, and categorical phonological processes often mirror low‐level gradient phonetic effects. The question of how best to explain and model the influence of phonetics on phonology has been approached in different ways, one of which situates the locus of explanation in the diachronic domain of language change, in particular sound change. On this view, recurrent sound patterns merely reflect recurrent sound changes with phonetic origins, typically in speech perception. Explicit models of sound change are reviewed and illustrated, in particular Ohala's listener‐based model and Blevins’ Evolutionary Phonology framework, and the relevance of exemplar‐based models of speech production and perception is also noted. Current issues of controversy regarding the adequacy of diachronic vs. synchronic explanations for the typology of sound patterns are surveyed.

Case Marking Strategies in Subordinate Clauses in Pilbara Languages—Some Diachronic Speculations*

This paper considers possible diachronic explanations for the range of case marking patterns found in subordinate clauses in languages of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. There are two parameters to consider in comparing patterns across the area. First, complements and adjuncts of verbs in dependent clauses may have patterns of case marking different from those of independent finite clauses. Second, nominal suffixes functioning as complementizing case may occur either just on the verb of the dependent clause or on all subconstituents of the dependent clause. Two possible paths of development for subordinate clauses are described. Some dependent clauses arise out of nominalizations through the instantiation of a nominalized verb's argument structure and in languages with a high degree of multiple case marking it follows naturally that in such clauses complementizing case would be distributed to all subconstituents. Other dependent clause types arise through changes in which main clause adjuncts of different kinds are reanalyzed as arguments of a nominalized verb. The recognition of these different sources explains a range of complex patterns of case marking choice in subordinate clauses and provides an account of the distribution of complementizing case in different construction types and in different languages.

Mimetic gemination in Japanese: A challenge for Evolutionary Phonology

Blevins's Evolutionary Phonology attempts to derive most if not all synchronic phonological patterns from diachronic changes: “[R]ecurrent synchronic sound patterns are a direct reflection of their diachronic origins, and, more specifically … regular phonetically based sound change is the common source of recurrent sound patterns. Evolutionary Phonology … investigates this hypothesis and explores its consequences for phonological theory” (Blevins 2006: 120). Evolutionary Phonology suggests that, to avoid duplication in linguistic theory, diachronic explanations must take priority over synchronic explanations whenever possible: “[P]rincipled diachronic explanations for sound patterns replace, rather than complement, synchronic explanations, unless independent evidence demonstrates, beyond reasonable doubt, that a separate synchronic account is warranted” (Blevins 2004a: 5).

The Amphichronic Program vs. Evolutionary Phonology

Evolutionary Phonology. Evolutionary Phonology seeks to derive typological generalizations from recurrent patterns of language change, themselves assumed to be rooted in perception, production, and acquisition. The goal is to eliminate UG by providing diachronic explanations for the cross-linguistic evidence that has been used to motivate it.

An acquisitional approach to disharmonic word-order/affixation pairings

Various proposals have been put forward to explain the typological skewing produced by the universal preference for suffixing as opposed to prefixing. These proposals have focused either on processing or on diachronic explanations (or a combination of both). In the present paper it is argued that a developmental approach is more comprehensive than either of these. It can explain exceptions from typologically universal tendencies as well as the tendencies themselves in terms of alternative ways of balancing off basic acquisitional principles involved already at the holophrastic stage of development. The long-term stability of certaina priori‘disharmonic’ or unusual combinations of features is emphasised. What is needed to give support to the model is data from the acquisition of languages with rich morphologies. The available data is examined for evidence and a framework is proposed as a guide to future investigations.

Phonetics and Phonology of Transparent Vowels in Hungarian

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

Establishing a Community of Practice on the Internet: Linguistic Behavior in Online Japanese Communication

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

Positional Markedness as a By-Product of the Learning Situation

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

Analogical Modeling: Exemplars, Rules, and Quantum Computing

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

Another Look at Australia as a Linguistic Area

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

The Status of the Morpheme in Georgian Verbal Morphology

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

The Diachronic Influences of Perception: Experimental Evidence from Turkish

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

WANT TO/WANNA: Verbal Polysemy versus Constructional Compositionality

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)