Analogy (linguistics)

Analogy as a linguistic term is the adjustment of a (especially phonetic) form to one or more existing form (s). As a cognitive operation (and thus as a speaking strategy), it is always available to the speakers and plays a special role in grammatical change and language acquisition. It was accepted by the young grammarians as a counterbalance to the principle of the invariability of the sound laws and in this teaching it is the second main factor in language change .

The analogy is based on the association of either verbally corresponding words or grammatically corresponding word forms which are then adapted to one another. More precisely, it consists in applying a proportion according to the following scheme:

${\displaystyle a_{1}:b_{1}=a_{2}:b_{2}}$

Here a ₁ , a ₂ and b _{1 are} given; and b ₁ is similar to a ₁ . Based on this similarity, it is concluded that the fourth form must be b ₂ . There are z. B. a ₁ = live , a ₂ = lived and b ₁ = weave . Then b ₂ = wove . The originally handed down form wob does not appear in the application of proportion; it can therefore be replaced in the long term by the analogous form. However, the original form and the new form can compete for a while. If the analogy prevails, there will be a balance within the linguistic system and thus its simplification ( linguistic economy ).

Analogy in language development

Frequently cited examples of the effect of the analogy in the history of language are German bake - past tense baked instead of buk according to the model German hacken - past tense chopped and German at night according to the German model of the day (s) . Other examples: Frühneuhochdeutsch I / he what was High German I / he was replaced, with the singular was adapted to the shapes of the plural; Early New High German du darft / solt / wilt has been replaced by New High German you may / should / want , whereby the 2nd person singular of some modal verbs has been adjusted to the forms of the large number of verbs.

Analogy as a speaking strategy

In language acquisition research , the analogy is considered one of several strategies that children use to cope with certain learning processes. You take a form you have already learned as a model in order to create forms you have not yet mastered. This is how, for example, the frequently observed weak preterita of verbs that are inherently strong: * (I) singed and the like. In the same way, different plural forms often come about: instead of dogs, for example * dogs or * dogs . The same strategy is used by adults when they use a term for which they are not entirely familiar with the conditions of use. If wrong forms of language arise through the application of the analogy, one speaks of over-generalization .

Direction of analogy

If the inflection of a word shows irregularities, there is a tendency to eliminate these irregularities (= language economy ). The case of modal verbs mentioned in the section Analogy in Language Development is a prime example of this: Almost all verbs in early New High German expressed the 2nd person singular with the ending -st , but a few with -t . Both forms could serve as models for redesigning the other. The likely direction, however, is that the few verbs that have -t follow the many others. That is exactly what happened.

The Polish linguist Witold Mańczak has dealt with the general question of the direction in which such transformation processes take place . He put forward a number of hypotheses as to which shapes should probably serve as models for the remodeling. These hypotheses include the assumption that the singular of the words affects their plural rather than the other way round, the indicative affects the other modes rather than the other way round, and so on.

literature

• Karl-Heinz Best : Problems of analogy research. (= Commentationes Societatis Linguisticae Europaeae ; VI). Hueber, Munich 1973.
• Hadumod Bußmann (Ed.): Lexicon of Linguistics. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-520-45203-0 .
• Wolfgang Butzkamm u. Jürgen Butzkamm: How children learn to speak. Child development and human language. Francke, Tübingen / Basel 1999, ISBN 3-7720-2731-8 .
• Yali Gao: Analogy and Word Formation. A word formation theory application of Wilhelm von Humboldt's concept of analogy . Dissertation, University of Passau 2000 ( full text ).
• Hermann Paul : Principles of the history of language. Berlin 1880.

Web links

Wiktionary: analogy  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Analogy as a mechanism of grammatical change

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the process of redesigning the strong verbs, the auxiliary verb sein and the modal verbs, see Karl-Heinz Best, Spracherwerb, Sprachwandel und Wortschatzwucht in texts. On the scope of the Piotrowski law. In: Glottometrics 6, 2003, pp. 9–34 (PDF full text ); Karl-Heinz Best, Quantitative Linguistics. An approximation . 3rd, heavily revised and supplemented edition, Peust & Gutschmidt, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-933043-17-4 , especially pp. 107-109.
2. ^ Butzkamm & Butzkamm 1999: 215.
3. ↑ Nora Wiedenmann: Slips of the tongue and attempts to clear them up. A literature review. Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, Trier 1992, ISBN 3-88476-054-8 , pages 64-66.
4. ^ Helmut Glück (editor): Metzler Lexikon Sprach. 4th, updated and revised edition. Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2010. ISBN 978-3-476-02335-3 . Keyword over-generalization .
5. ↑ Witold Manczak: Fréquence et évolution. In: Statistique et analyze linguistiques. Colloque de Strasbourg (20-22 April 1964). Presses Universitaires der France, Paris 1966, pp. 99-103.