In:Language Complexity: Typology, contact, change
Edited by Matti Miestamo, Kaius Sinnemäki and Fred Karlsson
[Studies in Language Companion Series 94] 2008
► pp. 167–190
Why does a language undress? Strange cases in Indonesia
Published online: 6 February 2008
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.94.12mcw
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.94.12mcw
I have argued in various presentations that it is inherent to natural grammars to maintain a considerable level of complexity over time: simplifications occur, but are counterbalanced by complexifications due to grammaticalization, reanalysis, and new patterns created by phonetic erosion. I argue that only extensive acquisition by adults makes grammars simplify to a significant overall degree. Creoles are the extreme case, but languages like English, Mandarin Chinese, Persian, and Indonesian are less complex than their sister languages to a degree that correlates with their extensive histories of non-native acquisition at certain points on their timelines. In this paper I address a few cases in Indonesia that challenge my stipulation. The grammatical simplicity of Riau Indonesian and the languages of East Timor is due to adult acquisition. Meanwhile, a few completely analytic languages on Flores suggest either that my stipulation must be taken as a tendency, or that we can take the nature of the languages as spurs for investigating sociological disruption in the past.
Cited by (13)
Cited by 13 other publications
Alexander Adelaar & Antoinette Schapper
Awwad, Mousa, Marwan Jarrah & Ekab Al-Shawashreh
Solovyev, Valery Dmitrievich, Marina Ivanovna Solnyshkina & Danielle S. McNamara
Andrason, Alexander
Fedorova, Kapitolina
2021. The choice of forms in contact varieties. In Language contact in the territory of the former Soviet Union [IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society, 50], ► pp. 345 ff.
Brunelle, Marc
2020. The loss of affixation in Cham. In Austronesian Undressed [Typological Studies in Language, 129], ► pp. 97 ff.
Elias, Alexander
2020. Are the Central Flores languages really typologically unusual?. In Austronesian Undressed [Typological Studies in Language, 129], ► pp. 287 ff.
Gil, David
2020. Dual heritage. In Austronesian Undressed [Typological Studies in Language, 129], ► pp. 119 ff.
McWhorter, John
2020. Concluding reflections. In Austronesian Undressed [Typological Studies in Language, 129], ► pp. 483 ff.
Schapper, Antoinette
2020. The origins of isolating word structure in eastern Timor. In Austronesian Undressed [Typological Studies in Language, 129], ► pp. 391 ff.
Adelaar, Alexander
Liu, Haiyong
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 december 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.
