CONTENTS
Prdface = ⅸ
PartⅠ Exposition of the problem
1 The problem of language change = 3
1.1 Why does language change? = 3
1.2 Organism or mechanism? = 5
1.3 Intentions, plans, and consciousness = 9
1.4 Essence, change, and genesis = 13
2 Historical reconstruction = 19
2.1 The origin of language: a story and its interpretation = 19
2.2 Mandeville's paradox = 30
2.3 Conjectural History = 35
3 In the prison of dichotomies = 39
3.1 Nature versus art - instinct versus reason = 39
3.2 Arguments in prison: Schleicher, M u ·· ller, Whitney = 46
3.3 Is language made by people? = 54
PartⅡ Solution and discussion
4 The working of the invisible hand = 61
4.1 Language - a phenomenon of the third kind = 61
4.2 Invisible-hand explanations = 67
4.3 Causal, final, and functional explanations = 78
4.4 Maxims of linguistic actions = 90
4.5 Stasis and dynamics of language = 95
5 Discussion
5.1 L u ·· dtke's law of language change
5.2 On the theory of naturalness
5.3 Diachrony or synchrony?
5.4 Chomsky's I-language
5.5 Popper's World 3
6 Conclusion
6.1 Language change as an evolutionary process
6.2 Resum e ´ and plea for explanatory adequacy
Notes
References
Index
