The Challenge of Complexity: Morphological Change And

The challenge of complexity: What these (and other) cases have in common is that the morphological system as a whole is Morphological change and language contact in Walser German improved in terms of its overall regularity insofar as overt coding and new constraints are introduced. In this sense, the system has become more manageable – and therefore simple – for the speakers because the inflectional behavior is predictable on the basis of contextual properties. On the other Livio Gaeta hand, it cannot be denied that these changes have rendered the system more complex in accordance (University of Turin) with Nichols’ (2009: 112) suggestion that also “information required for describing the system should enter into the definition of complexity, and therefore constraints should be regarded as increasing Keywords: complexity, language change, morphology, language contact, linguistic island complexity”. Recently, a big debate has started focusing on the role of complexity (and of its conceptual counterpart References simplicity) in language and specifically in morphology (cf. Miestamo et al. 2008, Sampson et al. Baechler, Raffaela and Guido Seiler (eds) (2016), Complexity, Isolation, and Variation, Berlin: De 2009, Baerman et al. 2015, Baechler et al. 2016). In particular, the hypothesis has been discussed Gruyter. according to which language contact is taken to favor processes of simplification, and accordingly to Baechler, Raffaela (2016), Inflectional complexity of nouns, adjectives and articles in closely related militate against morphological complexity: “Contact-induced grammatical change is likely to (non-)isolated varieties, in R. Baechler, and G. Seiler (eds), Complexity, Isolation, and produce outcomes simpler (in some sense) than the original ones, affecting thus the overall typology Variation, Berlin: De Gruyter, 15–39. of a language” (Karlsson et al. 2008: viii; see critically Meakins et al. 2019). Baerman, Matthew, Dunstan Brown and Greville C. Corbett (eds) (2015), Understanding and In this paper, the relevance of the notion of complexity for morphological change will be Measuring Morphological Complexity, Oxford: Oxford University Press. discussed with the help of data coming from Walser German varieties spoken in linguistic islands Dal Negro, Silvia (2004), The Decay of a Language: The Case of a German Dialect in the Italian which stand in close contact with the surrounding Romance varieties and in the last decades have Alps, Bern: Lang. undergone a dramatic process of language decay (cf. Dal Negro 2004). Besides clear phenomena of Meakins, Felicity, Xia Hua, Cassandra Algy and Lindell Bromham (2019), Birth of a contact simplification like case-reduction (cf. Baechler 2016), a number of changes are observed representing language did not favor simplification, Language 95(2), 294–332. interesting innovations whose status in terms of increase or decrease of complexity is not easy to Karlsson, Fred, Matti Miestamo and Kaius Sinnemäki (2008), Introduction: The problem of language define. In particular, in Guryner Titsch in which verb classes normally display syncretism of the 1st complexity, in M. Miestamo, K. Sinnemäki and F. Karlsson (eds) (2008), Language ps. sg./pl. (e.g. ʃri:ba ‘I/we write’, ʃribʃt / ʃri:bat ‘thou / you write’, etc.) while modals diverge insofar complexity: typology, contact, change, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, vii–xiv. as they distinguish 1st ps.sg. and pl. by means of a suffix -u: myas / myassu ‘I / we must’, etc., the Miestamo, Matti, Kaius Sinnemäki and Fred Karlsson (eds) (2008), Language complexity: typology, so-called short-formed verbs which go back to the model of ʃri:ba but largely consist of auxiliary and contact, change, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins. other semi-grammaticalized verbs developed a number differentiation in the 1st ps.pl. similar to Nichols, johanna (2009), Linguistic complexity: A comprehensive definition and survey, in G. modals recruiting a suffix -v: lɒ: / la:v ‘I / we let’, etc. In Greschòneytitsch the traditional opposition Sampson, D. Gil and P. Trudgill (eds), Language complexity as an evolving variable, Oxford: between strong and weak verbs has been remodeled according to the constructional context. The Oxford University Press, 110–25. strong verbs, traditionally displaying a nasal suffix in the past participle, retain the nasal suffix when Sampson, Geoffrey, David Gil and Peter Trudgill (eds) (2009), Language complexity as an evolving the past participle is found in a construction displaying agreement – as in the passive construction: variable, Oxford: Oxford University Press. d’gròssò lougò ésch gwäschn-e kanget ‘the big laundry[F.SG] has been washed-F.SG’ – while the dental suffix typical of the weak verbs is found in a construction in which no agreement is found – as in the (active) perfect construction: heintsch ... d’husgspònnto wollschtrangna gwäschet ‘they have washed the home-spun wool strand’. .

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