Cover not available

In:Exaptation and Language Change
Edited by Muriel Norde and Freek Van de Velde
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 336] 2016
► pp. 37–55

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Being exacting about exapting

An exaptation omnibus

Published online: 24 February 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.336.02jos
For historical linguists, exaptation is an attractive notion, offering an overt link with biological evolution. Nonetheless, one can ask whether it represents something substantive about linguistic change or is merely an appealing metaphor. I critically assess exaptation, using case studies suggesting that speakers in crafting new ‘grammar’ simply make use of material on hand. Whether it is ‘junk’ (Lass 1990) or not is immaterial to the speaker; what matters is a model’s availability, often a very ‘localised’ one. Through these examples, I argue that ‘exaptation’ reduces to regular and well-understood processes of diachronic morphology, particularly analogy, not limited to any component of grammar. The material forming the model for innovation can be highly restricted and can itself be an irregular bit of the grammar. Similarly, any parallels with ‘grammaticalization’ derive from these developments all being ways that speakers creatively make connections among elements in their language and act on them.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sanskrit reduplication
  • 3.An English temporal neologism
  • 4.Another relevant English neologism
  • 5.Towards a conclusion – Some salient observations
  • 1.Conclusion – Reexamining the key questions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (25)
References
Anttila, Raimo. 1972. An Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1989. Historical and Comparative Linguistics. (= Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 6.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins (2nd edn. of Anttila 1972). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brinton, Laurel & Dieter Stein. 1995. “Functional Renewal”. Historical Linguistics 1993 (= Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 124) ed. by Henning Andersen, 33–47. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, W. 2000. Explaining Language Change. An evolutionary approach. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Cuypere, L. 2005. “Exploring Exaptation in Language Change”. Folia Linguistica Historica 26.13–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1991. “The Last Stages of Grammatical Elements: Contractive and expansive desemanticization”. Approaches to Grammaticalization (= Typological Studies in Language, 19) ed. by Elizabeth C. Traugott & Bernd Heine, 301–314. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2004. “Directionality in Language Change, with Special Reference to Unidirectionality in Grammaticalization”. Up and Down the Cline – The Nature of Grammaticalization (= Typological Studies in Language, 59) ed. by Olga Fischer, Muriel Norde, & Harry Perridon, 17–44. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd. 2003. “On Degrammaticalization”. Historical Linguistics 2001 (= Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 237) ed. by Barry J. Blake & Kate Burridge, 163–179. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, P.J. 1991. “On some principles of grammaticalization”. Approaches to Grammaticalization (= Typological Studies in Language, 19) ed. by Elizabeth C. Traugott & Bernd Heine, 17–35. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul. 1994. “Phonogenesis”. Perspectives on Grammaticalization (= Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 109) ed. by William Pagliuca, 29–45. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janda, Richard D. and Brian D. Joseph. 1985. “One Rule or Many? Sanskrit Reduplication as Fragmented affixation”. Proceedings of the Second Eastern States Conference on Linguistics [ESCOL ‘85], 103–119. Columbus: OSU Department of Linguistics. [Reprinted in slightly revised form in Studies on Language Change. Ohio State University Working Papers in Linguistics 34 (1986), pp. 84–107.]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, Brian D. 1998. “Historical Morphology”. The Handbook of Morphology ed. by Arnold Zwicky & Andrew Spencer, 351–373. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004. “Rescuing Traditional (Historical) Linguistics from Grammaticalization ‘Theory’”. Up and Down the Cline – The Nature of Grammaticalization (= Typological Studies in Language, 59) ed. by Olga Fischer, Muriel Norde, & Harry Perridon, 44–71. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. “How Accommodating of Change is Grammaticalization? The case of ‘lateral shifts’”. Logos and Language. Journal of General Linguistics and Language Theory 6.2.1–7.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2011. “Grammaticalization: A general critique”. Handbook of Grammaticalization ed. by Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine, 193–205. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2014. “What Counts as (an Instance of) Grammaticalization?”. Refining Grammaticalization (Special Issue) ed. by Ferdinand von Mengden and Horst Simon. Folia Linguistica Historica 48.361–384.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, Brian D. and Janda, Richard D. 1988. “The How and Why of Diachronic Morphologization and Demorphologization”. Theoretical Morphology: Approaches in modern linguistics ed. by Michael Hammond & Michael Noonan, 193–213. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lass, Roger. 1990. “How to Do Things with Junk: Exaptation in language evolution”. Journal of Linguistics 26.79–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Narrog, Heiko. 2007. “Exaptation, Grammaticalization, and Reanalysis”. California Linguistic Notes 32(1). <[URL]>.
Norde, Muriel. 2009. Degrammaticalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth C. 2004. “Exaptation and Grammaticalization”. Linguistic Studies Based on Corpora ed. by M. Akimoto, 133–156. Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van de Velde, Freek. 2006. “Herhaalde exaptatie. Een diachrone analyse van de Germaanse adjectiefflexie” [“Iterative Exaptation. A diachronic analysis of the Germanic adjectival inflection”]. Nederlands tussen Duits en Engels ed. by M. Hüning, A. Verhagen, U. Vogl & T. van der Wouden, 47–69. Leiden: Stichting Neerlandistiek Leiden.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van de Velde, Freek and Muriel Norde. This volume. “Exaptation: taking stock of a controversial notion in linguistics”.
Vincent, Nigel. 1995. “Exaptation and Grammaticalization”. Historical Linguistics 1993 (= Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 124) ed. by Henning Andersen, 433–445. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Whitney, William D. 1889. Sanskrit Grammar. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Joseph, Brian D. & Angela Ralli
2024. Something out of nothing. In Historical Linguistics 2019 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 367], ► pp. 240 ff. DOI logo
Kuo, Yueh Hsin
2020. Reinforcement by realignment in diachronic construction grammar. Constructions and Frames 12:2 ► pp. 206 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue