Non-linguistic Conditions for Causativization as a Linguistic Attractor

Abstract

An attractor, in complex systems theory, is any state that is more easily or more often entered or acquired than departed or lost; attractor states therefore accumulate more members than non-attractors, other things being equal. In the context of language evolution, linguistic attractors include sounds, forms, and grammatical structures that are prone to be selected when sociolinguistics and language contact make it possible for speakers to choose between competing forms. The reasons why an element is an attractor are linguistic (auditory salience, ease of processing, paradigm structure, etc.), but the factors that make selection possible and propagate selected items through the speech community are non-linguistic. This paper uses the consonants in personal pronouns to show what makes for an attractor and how selection and diffusion work, then presents a survey of several language families and areas showing that the derivational morphology of pairs of verbs like fear and frighten, or Turkish korkmak ‘fear, be afraid’ and korkutmak ‘frighten, scare’, or Finnish istua ‘sit’ and istutta ‘seat (someone)’, or Spanish sentarse ‘sit down’ and sentar ‘seat (someone)’ is susceptible to selection. Specifically, the Turkish and Finnish pattern, where ‘seat’ is derived from ‘sit’ by addition of a suffix—is an attractor and a favored target of selection. This selection occurs chiefly in sociolinguistic contexts of what is defined here as linguistic symbiosis, where languages mingle in speech, which in turn is favored by certain demographic, sociocultural, and environmental factors here termed frontier conditions. Evidence is surveyed from northern Eurasia, the Caucasus, North and Central America, and the Pacific and from both modern and ancient languages to raise the hypothesis that frontier conditions and symbiosis favor causativization.

Mountain linguistics

“…Nichols (2018:6) says that “[i]n mountain areas, languages generally spread uphill from the economically better‐connected and more densely populated lowlands to the more isolated highlands,” a pattern which is conceived of “a general response of languages to verticality relations” (Nichols, 2013:39). On the dialectal level, such a pattern is emerging in the Sierra Miwok languages (Haynie, 2012:52,56).…”

“…Comrie, 2008:132). On the basis of the distinction of spread and accretion zones, in later work Nichols (2004, 2013, 2015, 2018) has developed a general model for language use, language geography, and language dynamics in mountain areas. According to this model, the widespread tendency for highlanders to learn lowland languages combined with the attractor properties of mountain areas entail that linguistic features and indeed entire languages tend to spread uphill (cf.…”

“…The disentanglement of these phenomena is, while necessary for purposes of exposition, likely artificial and obscures their interconnectedness. A general model for language geography and language dynamics in mountain areas that reflects this interconnectedness has been developed by Johanna Nichols (2013, 2015, 2016, 2018). This model is discussed in Section 5.…”

Evidence for Britain and Ireland as a linguistic area

“…e.g. Milroy & Milroy 1992, Dahl 2004, Bornkessel-Schlesewsky & Schlesewsky 2009, Fagyal et al 2010, Trudgill 2011, Maddieson & Coupé 2015, Clarke & Heyes 2017, Nichols 2018.…”

Perceptions of Physical Activity Promotion, Transportation Support, Physical Activity, and Body Mass: an Insight into Parent-Child Dyadic Processes

“…As suggested by Davison and Birch [ 7 ], parental support is a key parental predictor of child PA and body mass. However, our previous analyses conducted in parent-child dyads showed that an overall PA support reported by parents did not predict the overall PA levels in children with overweight/obesity [ 12 ]. However, our previous analyses [ 12 ] tested the effects of a global index of parental PA support (combining instrumental, emotional, transportation support) on child PA.…”