Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency
This book argues that major patterns of variation across languages are structured by general principles of efficiency in language use and communication. Evidence for these comes from languages permitting structural choices from which selections are made in performance, e.g. between competing word or...
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| Formato: | Online |
| Lenguaje: | inglés |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110272 |
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| _version_ | 1869514945971879936 |
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| author | A. Hawkins, John |
| author_browse | A. Hawkins, John |
| author_facet | A. Hawkins, John |
| author_sort | A. Hawkins, John |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | This book argues that major patterns of variation across languages are structured by general principles of efficiency in language use and communication. Evidence for these comes from languages permitting structural choices from which selections are made in performance, e.g. between competing word orders and between relative clauses with a resumptive pronoun versus a gap. The preferences and patterns of performance within languages are reflected in the fixed conventions and variation patterns across grammars, leading to a ‘‘Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis.’’ The general theory that is laid out in Hawkins’s Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars (OUP) is extended and updated. New areas of grammar and of performance are discussed, new research findings are incorporated that test Hawkins’s earlier predictions, and new advances in the contributing fields of language processing, linguistic theory, historical linguistics, and typology are addressed. This efficiency approach to variation has far-reaching theoretical consequences of relevance for many current issues in the language sciences. These include the notion of ease of processing and how to measure it, the role of processing in language change, the nature of language universals and their explanation, the theory of complexity, the relative strength of competing and cooperating principles, and the proper definition of fundamental grammatical notions such as ‘dependency.’ The book also gives a new typology of VO and OV languages and their correlating properties seen from this perspective, and a new typology of the noun phrase and of argument structure. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-173136 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| publisherStr | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1731362026-03-01T07:19:30Z Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency A. Hawkins, John Complexity Corpus linguistics Crosslinguistic variation Efficiency Language universals Noun phrase structure OV and VO languages Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis Processing ease Typology thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFF Historical and comparative linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFK Grammar, syntax and morphology This book argues that major patterns of variation across languages are structured by general principles of efficiency in language use and communication. Evidence for these comes from languages permitting structural choices from which selections are made in performance, e.g. between competing word orders and between relative clauses with a resumptive pronoun versus a gap. The preferences and patterns of performance within languages are reflected in the fixed conventions and variation patterns across grammars, leading to a ‘‘Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis.’’ The general theory that is laid out in Hawkins’s Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars (OUP) is extended and updated. New areas of grammar and of performance are discussed, new research findings are incorporated that test Hawkins’s earlier predictions, and new advances in the contributing fields of language processing, linguistic theory, historical linguistics, and typology are addressed. This efficiency approach to variation has far-reaching theoretical consequences of relevance for many current issues in the language sciences. These include the notion of ease of processing and how to measure it, the role of processing in language change, the nature of language universals and their explanation, the theory of complexity, the relative strength of competing and cooperating principles, and the proper definition of fundamental grammatical notions such as ‘dependency.’ The book also gives a new typology of VO and OV languages and their correlating properties seen from this perspective, and a new typology of the noun phrase and of argument structure. 2026-03-01T07:19:26Z 2026-03-01T07:19:26Z 2026-02-28T20:09:22Z 2014 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110272 9780199664993 9780199665006 9780191642869 9780191748547 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/173136 eng open access Oxford University Press 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199664993.001.0001 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199664993.001.0001 db4e319f-ca9f-449a-bcf2-37d7c6f885b1 9780199664993 9780199665006 9780191642869 9780191748547 292 Oxford, United Kingdom open access |
| spellingShingle | Complexity Corpus linguistics Crosslinguistic variation Efficiency Language universals Noun phrase structure OV and VO languages Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis Processing ease Typology thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFF Historical and comparative linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFK Grammar, syntax and morphology A. Hawkins, John Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency |
| title | Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency |
| title_full | Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency |
| title_fullStr | Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency |
| title_short | Cross-Linguistic Variation and Efficiency |
| title_sort | cross linguistic variation and efficiency |
| topic | Complexity Corpus linguistics Crosslinguistic variation Efficiency Language universals Noun phrase structure OV and VO languages Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis Processing ease Typology thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFF Historical and comparative linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFK Grammar, syntax and morphology |
| topic_facet | Complexity Corpus linguistics Crosslinguistic variation Efficiency Language universals Noun phrase structure OV and VO languages Performance–Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis Processing ease Typology thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFF Historical and comparative linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFK Grammar, syntax and morphology |
| url | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110272 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ahawkinsjohn crosslinguisticvariationandefficiency |