A formal approach to “grammaticalization”

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to the well-known diachronic phenomenon of grammaticalization in terms of a modified version of Chomsky's (1995: chapter 4) minimalist approach to syntax, combined with the general approach to language change outlined in Clark and Roberts (1993). The central idea that we follow is that grammaticalization involves the reanalysis of lexical material as functional material. We argue that the reason this kind of change is so common is that the reanalysis involves structural simplification, a kind of change that is preferred by the parameter-setting device, according to Clark and Roberts (1993). A number of well-known cases of grammaticalization are discussed: the development of English modal auxiliaries, the development of agreement markers from pronouns, the development of negation and N-words, and the development of wh-pronouns. In the last two cases a different kind of simplification is involved: the lexical subset principle, which requires lexical items to be interpreted in the smallest set of contexts consistent with the input. Both the lexical subset principle and the tendency toward structural simplification stem from the same property of computational conservativity that characterizes the parameter-setting device.