The Growth and Maintenance of Linguistic Complexity (Studies in Language Companion Series)

"This book studies linguistic complexity and the processes by which it arises and is maintained, focusing not so much on what one can say in a language as how it is said. Complexity is not seen as synonymous with ""difficulty"" but as an objective property of a system -- a measure of the amount of information needed to describe or reconstruct it. Grammatical complexity is the result of historical processes often subsumed under the rubric of grammaticalization and involves what can be called mature linguistic phenomena, that is, features that take time to develop. The nature and characteristics of such processes are discussed in detail, as well as the external and internal factors that favor or disfavor stability and change in language."Dr. Östen Dahl is the author of 'The Growth and Maintenance of Linguistic Complexity (Studies in Language Companion Series)', published 2004 under ISBN 9781588115546 and ISBN 1588115542.