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Explorations into Markedness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Michael Shapiro
Michael Shapiro*
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Abstract

The thesis of this paper is that explanation in linguistics must refer to a deductively formulated theory of language couched in terms of semiotic universals. A theory of this kind, utilizing complementarity and markedness as formal universals, is developed and applied as the explanans of linguistic phenomena from Russian, Spanish, English, and Old Balto-Slavic. Two other fundamental notions are exploited with the aim of demonstrating the explanatory importance of the functional relationship between rule components and distinctive-feature hierarchies in phonology, morphology, and morphophonemics. These notions facilitate a coherent, internally consistent examination of linguistic aetiology and permit inferences about the nature of teleological explanation.1

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 1972 , pp. 343 - 364
Copyright
Linguistic Society of America 1972

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