Book review

The Power of Analogy

Wanner, Dieter. 2006. The Power of Analogy. An Essay on Historical Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter

Reviewed by Thomas Verjans, Paris 4-Sorbonne

The process of analogy was viewed as a basic driving force of linguistic change already by the neogrammarians and has recently been re-considered as playing 'a central role in human thinking' (Itkonen 2005: XI). In the book under review, Wanner draws together these and other points of view, showing 'the fundamental force of analogy as pervasive for all language activity' (201), and consequently for language acquisition as well as language change.

The introduction presents three basic issues: the necessity of 'the linguistic individual's immanent point of view', the relation between language change and language acquisition (by infants as well as adults), and the re-evaluation of 'the amount and kind of information acquired and represented in the linguistic learning process at various stages' (9). Wanner's aim is to develop a theory of analogy and syntactic change that is based on Concrete Minimalism (Culicover 1999; Culicover and Nowak 2003) and Analogical Modeling (Skousen 1989, 1992; Skousen et al. 2002).

The first part of this book defines the historical approach that is taken. Against a dedicated theory of change, and in order to reintegrate diachrony into general linguistics, the first chapter ('Diachrony: Positions and challenges') examines four 'contradictory trends' in order to show that diachronic concerns have to be incorporated 'into a general account of language as human capacity' (18). Wanner illustrates problematic aspects of historical linguistics, such as incomplete change, frequency of forms or reaction of native speakers to linguistic input, all of them 'requiring organic integration in a linguistic framework' (18).

The second chapter ('Domains in historical linguistics') considers 'dimensions of diachrony'. Wanner argues that 'a realistic practice of historical linguistics must attribute a central place to philology as an interpretation of the envelope conditions' (30). He surveys several studies which have in common 'the formulation of principles affecting the formal evolution of languages under varied, but realistic conditions' (38). All of their postulates are summarized in a final overview which correlates three headings: the 'basic dimensions of change', how a change take place, and special mechanisms and perspectives (60-61).

The third chapter ('Reintegrating diachrony: A critique of some theoretical constructs') discusses how diachrony can be reintegrated into linguistic theory. Showing the limits of the 'current formal linguistic enterprise', Wanner calls for a realistic description of language based on the linguistic individual point of view (called here 'the immanent view') and argues that particular attention be paid to the envelope conditions. Yet, Wanner argues that a 'sufficient substrate of innate specifications for general cognitive and specific language learning' is necessary.

The last chapter of the first part ('Critical issues: Grammaticality, representation, redundancy, and regularity') defines the use of concepts such as "grammaticality" and discusses methodological aspects of the subsequent analysis. Arguing for the advantages of an 'immanent perspective', Wanner claims that trustworthy data will be 'socially and formally scaled' (95). He goes on to consider three connected issues on how to treat these data: representation, redundancy and regularity.

The second part of this book develops a historical approach to syntax from the proposed 'immanent perspective'. Chapter 5 ('Analogy, categorization, and learning') explores the concept of analogy in its interaction with categorization and learning processes. Wanner claims that analogy can be considered 'the prime motor of historical developments' (127). Then, he defines analogical change as an expanded process, which it is gradual, local and motivated by the similarity between a relevant form and its target. Subsequently, he models diachronic processes in their social context, especially with regard to their computational implementation (drawing on Culicover and Nowak 2003). Summarily, analogy is regarded 'as a judgment of similarity as well as a process of assimilation' (150), which plays an important role in various domains, such as first-language learning or social dispersion of linguistic features.

The following chapter is dedicated to the exposition of 'Soft Syntax', which aims to unify synchronic and diachronic considerations. In this part, however, only the synchronic ones are discussed. Wanner proposes a model of grammar that has three parts: the first a syntactic component, the second housing other linguistic dimensions, and the third a representation of aspects of the world. Focusing on the first one, Wanner calls attention to six syntactic dimensions ([precedence], [cohesion], [dependence], [agreement], [constructional identity], and [concatenation]) and discusses their implementation in the linguistic reality of the envelope.

Finally, in the seventh chapter, 'Pathways for diachronic shifts', Wanner discusses the theoretical contribution that his model of syntax can make, emphasizing in particular analogical modeling and probabilistic categorization. The historical role of these two issues is unequal, that is, they are not equally implicated in potential linguistic changes 'due to the nature of the aspect that they control and the modalities of change predicted by the contact-induced analogical model' (272).

In the final chapter ('Conclusions'), Wanner recapitulates the perspective defended in this essay and re-states the advantages of his approach.

Wanner's book contributes to an ongoing discussion of analogy and its explicative power in a formal-social theoretical framework. Also, he offers a novel approach to historical syntax, with potential connections to computational modeling. One remark should be added here to supplement his view: Analogy cannot be considered to be only one kind of linguistic change. As Marchello-Nizia (2006: 93-95) points out, analogy includes various subcategories, such as popular etymology or proportional analogy. Furthermore, some of the point discussed in the book may be profitably contrasted with ideas found in Coseriu (1973), for whom language is not only a dynamic activity but also a free, finalistic and creative one.

References

Coseriu, Eugenio. 1973. Sincronía, diacronía e historia. El problema del cambio lingüístico. Madrid: Gredos.

Culicover, Peter W. 1999. Syntactic Nuts: Hard Cases, Syntactic Theory, and Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Culicover, Peter W. and Andrzej Nowak. 2003. Dynamical Grammar: Minimalism, Acquisition, and Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Itkonen, Esa. 2005. Analogy as Structure and Process. Approaches in linguistics, cognitive psychology and philosophy of science. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Marchello-Nizia, Christiane. 2006. Grammaticalisation et changement linguistique. Bruxelles: De Boeck.

Skousen, Royal. 1989. Analogical Modeling of Language. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

-a, diacronSkousen, Royal. 1992. Analogy and Structure. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Skousen, Royal, Deryle Lonsdale & Dilworth B. Parkinson (eds). 2002. Analogical Modeling: An Exemplar-Based Approach to Language. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: Benjamins.

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