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Putting Back the Clock in Variation Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Derek Bickerton
Derek Bickerton*
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii
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Abstract

The presentation of Washabaugh 1977 represents a retrograde step in the analysis of creole systems. Though he may be correct in his belief that the constraints on complementizer variation were inadequately stated in Bickerton 1971, his decision to replace that analysis by one based on lexical diffusion and the perception of surface structures is vitiated by a number of errors, both analytic and statistical, and ignores what is most interesting about linguistic change, i.e. the capacity of the human mind to make quite abstract generalizations about broad linguistic categories.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , June 1977 , pp. 353 - 360
Copyright
Copyright © 1977 by Linguistic Society of America

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References

Bickerton, Derek. 1971. Inherent variability and variable rules. Foundations of Language 7. 457–92.Google Scholar
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Peet, William Jr. 1976. Subject relativization in Hawaiian English. Dissertation, University of Hawaii.Google Scholar
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