[A paper presented at the Round Table discussion on the problem "Regularities in Natural Language Dynamics" at Qualico-97, Chair of the round table discussion: Sheila Embleton]
Major Tendences in Micro- and Macro-Dynamics
of Natural Language Lexical System
Anatoliy A. Polikarpov
1.There are some attempts to model Natural Language Lexical System change in time in quantitative aspect. They differ in language levels, subsystems attracting investigators' attention, in depth, in complexity of the subject, etc. The most important among them, in my opinion, were quantitative models elaborated by G.K.Zipf, M.Swadesh and M.V. Arapov. Zipf's model [1949] concerns some specific equilibrium of long-term language memory economy ("language", or "paradigmaticeconomy") of a typical speaker and operative apprehension economy ("speech", or "syntagmatic economy") of a typical hearer in speech activity. The main point is that equilibrium is a result of mutually opposed directions for "price" changes of each of them in the result of changes happened with a counterpart. But there was not put a question by G. K. Zipf on possible regular changes of "price" for different kinds of economy in different socio-communicative conditions resulting in changes of the whole optimum result. In my works [1976; 1979; 1986; 1987; 1993; 1994; 1995] these questions were put on the ground of System Linguistics approach [Melnikov, 1978; 1988]. The main point was that in the sutuation of noticeable spread of some language on a wider community (on native speakers of other languages) the "price" for "paradigmatic economy" for an average communicant should increase. It is a result, first, of impossibility for nonnative speakers to master their new language skills immediately. It, further, leads to often omission of some specific categories of signs from native speakers speech, i.e., to narrowing of the commonly used core of language signs and constructions.
2.This stage of the adaptive process could be called "speech adaptation". Stabilizing of the situation in 2-3 generations leads, eventually, to fixing of preserved sign units and the following reconstruction of relations between them in the form of redistribution of the overall set of semantic functions among preserved sign elements, and to beginning of adaptation of preserved elements to newly acquired bunches of functions (usually much more volumous for each of remaining signs, even in the absense of some most specific, idiosyncratic language functions completely thrown away by the new communicative practice as unaffordable now for a new "average speaker").
This stage of the adaptive process could be called "language adaptation". It is realized for language elements (morphemes, words and phrases) in some stochastically formed order. Two main selective criteria are present in the process.
The first, affixes, grammar words and grammar expressions are difficult for use, due to specific grammar idiomaticity present in their meanings. The more idiomatic meanings, the greater difficulty of acquisition of them for nonnative speakers and less chances for preserving them is present in a system.
The second, rare words covering some specific (or peripheral) are as of the whole semantic space of a community are difficult for use and acquisition. The rarer a word, the greater is a difficulty for an average speaker to obtain knowledge of its meanings.
Disappearing of the situation of intensive language spread (as a result of growing homogeneity, i.e., levelling individual language knowledges during the process of mutual - "plus" and "minus" - teaching of elements and patterns present in communication) inescapably leads to arising of the reverse process - of syntheticization of a language system. This is naturally determined by the back change in the "price" of each mentioned kinds of "economy" in favour of greater significance in new conditions of the "syntagmatic economy". Newly acquired equilibrium of "prices", where the whole cost resulting from summing up of two types of economy is an optimizing parametre, limits continuation of changes in any direction.
This view now is elaborated further within the model of the word life cycles [Polikarpov, 1988; 1993; 1994; 1995; 1997].
See some additional components for it in the abstract of my paper "Semasiological and Word-formational Processes in Natural Language Lexical Evolution" also submitted for the Qualico97.
3. Some other trend in quantitative modelling of language historical development is present by works of M.Swadesh and his successors. Glottochronological model by M.Swadesh up to now is the most popular view of some general regularities of lexicon survival in time. It, really, had opened a new page in formal description of some global tendencies of language (here - lexical) development. But it appeared to be weak in explanation of different rates of a core vocabulary decay for different languages and that of a vocabulary of the same language in different historical periods. Moreover, there was not even put a question about some possible regularities for the decay process of different parts of an overall vocabulary of some language, or, at least, for a core vocabulary (100-200 words). Namely, there was not even drop a hint on some possible dependence of words' historical fate (more or less safe existence in time) on their own grammatic, semantic and other system features. Basing on the ideas of the word life cycle model the last problem was experimentally studied by M. Kapitan (see, for instanse, his paper in JQL, 1994, v.1, N3 [Kapitan, 1994]) using data from the history of Romance languages - from classical Latin to modern Italian, panish, Portugese, French, Rumanian and some others. Analysis of Slavic, Germanic and other languages data on this point are also in progress at the Laboratory for General and Computational Lexicology and Lexicography of Moscow University.
At last, system regularities for the process of replacement of words leaving the vocabulary by new (entering) words and for their
further existence-development was not considered in Swadesh's model at all. So, the whole problem of the system process of vocabulary renovation and evolution was not even put.
On the whole, Swadesh's model was highly restricted onthologically, made a stress only on the phenomenology of words' falling out, not explaining it, not even hinting on possible typological causes and mechanizms of different languages' words falling out rate. That is because the process of "decay" was not integrated in some more complex onthological (communicative) picture of language existence (including lexicon renovation process varying in its degree for languages of different typology and languages existing in different communicative conditions).
4. A specific model for the integration of various factors of language existence-evolution, called a model of the word life cycle, takes as its initial postulate presence of some specific ability in any language sign (say, a word) - so called associative-semantic potential. The potential is manifested by the more explicitely presented ability of any meaning to enter into assosiative links with senses and other meanings which forms the basis for the principal hinting-quessing mechanizm (sense - meaning - sense) acting in Natural Language communication. Associative-semantic, or, simply, semantic potential of a word is determined and can be measured by the degree of its first meaning's concreteness, "dencity" of semantic components contained in it. During time life, being used in communication, a word gradually spends the potential. Spending of it manifests itself basically in two main processes.
First, in change of any word meaning during its communicative life-use (beginning from the first meaning) in the direction of its growing abstractness, i.e., loss of semantic components while inescapable broadening of its sense scope during each communicative act. It means that in any act of communication different speakers are, naturally, trying to apply meanings to slightly different areas than they previously used to. It leads, correspondingly to the neutralizing and, eventually, omitting of those components of any meaning which become unrelated in time to any component of senses covered by it.
Second, spending of the potential manifests itself in attraction-acquisition by any meaning of new meanings (in the process of fixing some most useful in this respect associative links of a meaning with senses and converting some of them into new meanings). Spending in this case means making of some components of some maternal meaning already busy by some associative links and therefore unable (or less able) for the same converting other senses into meanings.
Besides, it should be taken into account, that each of new meanings should be, on the average, more abstract than each parental one. It is predetermined by the evolutionary preference for a meaning (as compared to other possible ways) to acquire not any meanings, but, better, those meanings which are relatively more abstract and therefore - more stable than any other among possible senses-candidates for a role of a new meaning. Greater stability of more abstract meanings can be explained by their ability to cover a broader sense sphere and therefore - by their lesser dependence on changes in any local extralinguistic (sense) sphere of the meaning as compared to any more concrete meaning.
Abstractivization of any meaning in its history and getting by a word of more and more abstract meanings in its history are two kinds of processes determining basic micro-dynamics of any word (and, moreover, dynamics of any sign of other language levels in their own history). Abstractivization processes, as the strongest ones, predetermine any other microprocesses in any word life cycle. This, naturally, presupposes arising of all basic lexical system regularities, i.e., regularities in macro-dynamics of the whole vocabulary of a language.
Individual variations of the semantic potential among words concern the degree of activity of any word initial meaning (its productivity in giving birth to new meanings) and stability (its ability to resist to unfavorable factors, to exist some certain time not falling out from language). This determines level of activity and stability of each next word meaning (because of the mentioned above regular dependence of the ability of any next meaning on the ability of its predecessor) and the life cycle of the word on the whole - involving many other language system parameters: semasiological (synonymy, antonymy, homonyny, etc.), phraseological, morphemic, word-formational, flectional, phonological, frequency of use, length, etc.
Individual variations of the semantic potential for the whole setof words entering language at some certain period of time are not chaotic, they should follow some distribution pattern. Most of words should be extremely unstable and inactive. The greater the level of word activity or stability, the smaller proportion of words entering some moment into a language posesses this level of them. The rarest among others should be words extremely active and at the same time extremely stable.
5. Important step in quantitative modelling of language evolution consists in assuming the idea of irreversibility of mentioned parameters change for any word in its history. It determines any vocabulary (and language on the whole) inescapable renewal. In the case of stable communicative conditions it leads mainly to the replacement, proportional renewal of elements without noticeable change of structural features of a vocabulary, and that of a language on the whole. But according to changes in some typologically relevant comunicative conditions (e.g., arising of a mentioned above significant spread of some language on some nonnative speakers of it or arising after some period of intencive language "mixture" of an opposite situation of stable community functioning with the absense of the noticeable ethnic mixture for some relatively long period of time and corresponding growth of the degree of language homogeneity of it) this eventually leads to some significant change of its typological shape, e.g., analytic or back - synthetic - restructuring. In the case of analytical development and corresponding shrinking of lexical vocabulary communicants redistribute the whole bulk of lexical functions between remaining lexical items which leads to the increase of the average functional load for each of them - increase of the number of meanings and frequency of use. Naturally, it further leads to increase of the average speed of a word life cycle, faster wearing out, on the average, of each of the units of the whole lexical system and, correspondingly, to faster (but with specific coefficients) wearing out of units of the root and affixal systems of language.
6. Someone can observe in objective language reality different rates of vocabulary replacement in different communicative conditions according not only to mentioned above factors, but according also to socially determined changes in the size of the sense sphere covered by a language, shrinking or rising of some language use in the same spheres (e.g., in the situations of becoming dominant or, on the contrary, oppressed language in a multiligual society), shrinking or rise of the community size, etc., and, of course, according to various combinations of all of these factors.
All this, seemingly, is in a clear contradiction with claims of M. Swadesh and some of his successors on some constant, universal norm of changes for any vocabulary in time. Real linguistic evolutionary mechanizms are communicative in their nature and should be studied beginning from the microlevel of their organization. Only this, with the combination of the information on relevant boundary conditions of a community existence, can give an opportunity to approach closer than before to the understanding of real mechanizms of language life and evolution, to understanding language system tendences and laws.
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