Language economy
Language economy is one of the causes of language change . The language economy is understood as the tendency of the speaker and listener to influence forms of language in such a way that communication between the two is guaranteed with the least possible effort for both.
The history of the term
Language economy is often associated with André Martinet's law of least effort ( loi du moindre effort ), but it is much older. Even William Dwight Whitney uses the term economy , and also in Otto Jespersen , the term appears. However, the term is not used consistently in earlier works. For some, this only means “striving for the least amount of effort”; with others, the following crucial aspect comes into play: "... without losing the communicative success". The latter has already been admonished by Francesco Scerbo, recently emphasized again by Elke Ronneberger-Sibold: “Acting economically does not mean doing without, but dividing the available forces so that you need as little of it as possible to achieve your goal - in the Expressed in the language of business: Rationalize ”(Ronneberger-Sibold 1980: 239). So, to stay with the economic metaphor, the economic principle is not cost-oriented, but cost- and benefit-oriented or producer and customer-oriented, to a certain extent the search for the equilibrium price. All factors play a role here, both those relating to costs (motor and cognitive effort in language production) and those relating to benefits (e.g. convincing, presenting, highlighting, establishing relationships, etc.). Only in this extended sense can language economy be accepted as a universal explanation for language innovation.
Language economy as a driving force for speaker and listener
Language economy is not an easy concept. One can distinguish between some aspects, such as the need of the speaker to reduce his articulation effort, for example to omit unstressed endings of words. This is countered by the need of the listener to understand what has been said with as little effort as possible; To do this, the listener must insist that the speaker always make so much effort that he, the listener, is given the necessary information; the speaker cannot leave out as much as he likes if he still wants to be understood. These and other considerations on the economy of language are incorporated into linguistic synergetics (Köhler 1986; 2005), a concept that attempts to integrate the different needs of speakers and listeners (which can be transferred to writers and readers accordingly).
literature
- Joachim Grzega : Name change: how, why, what for? A contribution to English and general onomasiology . Winter, Heidelberg 2004.
- Reinhard Köhler: On linguistic synergetics: structure and dynamics of the lexicon. Brockmeyer, Bochum 1986. ISBN 3-88339-538-2
- Reinhard Köhler: Synergetic Linguistics . In: Reinhard Köhler, Gabriel Altmann, Rajmund G. Piotrowski (eds.): Quantitative Linguistics - Quantitative Linguistics. An international manual. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, pp. 760–774. ISBN 3-11-015578-8
- Hugo Moser: Types of linguistic economy in German today. In: Hugo Moser and others (ed.): Language and Society. 1970 yearbook . Schwann, Düsseldorf 1971, pp. 89-117.
- Peter von Polenz : German language history from the late Middle Ages to the present. Volume I: Introduction, Basic Concepts, 14th to 16th Century. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000. ISBN 3-11-016478-7 . Chapter "Linguistic Economy", pp. 28-3.
- Elke Ronneberger-Sibold: Use of language - language system: economy and change , [Linguistic work 87]. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1980. ISBN 3-484-10379-5 .
