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197:, a creole language, as "the world's least complex language". According to linguists, this claim was "not founded on any serious evidence", and it was removed from later editions. Apparent complexity differences in certain areas were explained with a balancing force by which the simplicity in one area would be compensated with the complexity of another; e.g.
242:, and other secondary features which are most typically absent in creoles. McWhorter's notion that "unnatural" language contact in pidgins, creoles and other contact varieties inevitably destroys "natural" accretions in complexity perhaps represents a recapitulation of 19th-century ideas about the relationship between language contact and complexity.
217:
mechanism. Revisiting the idea of differential complexity, McWhorter argued that it is indeed creole languages, such as
Saramaccan, that are structurally "much simpler than all but very few older languages". In McWhorter's notion this is not problematic in terms of the equality of creole languages because simpler structures convey
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only through an elaboration that would give them the necessary structural and lexical complexity that would meet the requirements of an advanced civilization. At the same time, languages described as 'primitive' were naturally considered to reflect the simplicity of their speakers. On the other hand,
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Many researchers suggest that several different concepts may be needed when approaching complexity: entropy, size, description length, effective complexity, information, connectivity, irreducibility, low probability, syntactic depth etc. Research suggests that while methodological choices affect the
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Measuring complexity is considered difficult, and the comparison of whole natural languages as a daunting task. On a more detailed level, it is possible to demonstrate that some structures are more complex than others. Phonology and morphology are areas where such comparisons have traditionally been
245:
During the years following McWhorter's article, several books and dozens of articles were published on the topic. As to date, there have been research projects on language complexity, and several workshops for researchers have been organised by various universities. Among linguists who study this,
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argued against the compensation hypothesis. McWhorter contended that it would be absurd if, as languages change, each had a mechanism that calibrated it according to the complexity of all the other 6,000 or so languages around the world. He underscored that linguistics has no knowledge of any such
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made. For instance, linguistics has tools for the assessment of the phonological system of any given language. As for the study of syntactic complexity, grammatical rules have been proposed as a basis, but generative frameworks, such as the
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At a general level, language complexity can be characterized as the number and variety of elements, and the elaborateness of their interrelational structure. This general characterisation can be broken down into sub-areas:
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in the most straightforward manner, while increased language complexity is largely a question of features which may not add much to the functionality, or improve usefulness, of the language. Examples of such features are
62:, are considered simpler than most other languages, but there is no direct ranking, and no universal method of measurement although several possibilities are now proposed within different schools of analysis.
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ideas about superiority of the languages of establishment. The first known quote that puts forward the idea that all languages are equally complex comes from Rulon S. Wells III, 1954, who attributes it to
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All languages have a complex grammar: there may be relative simplicity in one respect (e.g., no word-endings), but there seems always to be relative complexity in another (e.g., word-position).
189:. While laymen never ceased to consider certain languages as simple and others as complex, such a view was erased from official contexts. For instance, the 1971 edition of
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and the
Simpler Syntax framework, have been less successful in defining complexity and its predictions than non-formal ways of description.
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Di Garbo, Francesca; Olsson, Bruno; Wälchli, Bernhard (2019). Di Garbo, Francesca; Olsson, Bruno; Wälchli, Bernhard (eds.).
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Di Garbo, Francesca; Olsson, Bruno; Wälchli, Bernhard (2019). Di Garbo, Francesca; Olsson, Bruno; Wälchli, Bernhard (eds.).
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results, even rather crude analytic tools may provide a feasible starting point for measuring grammatical complexity.
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268:: variety of parts, such as phoneme inventory size, number of distinctions in a grammatical category, e.g. aspect
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667:"Language Complexity in Historical Perspective: The Enduring Tropes of Natural Growth and Abnormal Contact"
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Wurzel, Wolfgang
Ullrich (2001). "Creoles, complexity, and linguistic change (Source does not exist )".
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is turning towards recognizing that complexity is a suitable research area, a central focus has been on
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noted that some nations "which appear to be at the very lowest grade of intellectual culture", such as
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Language complexity has been studied less than many other traditional fields of linguistics. While the
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Hawkins, John A. (2014). "Major contributions from formal linguistics to the complexity debate". In
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Throughout the 19th century, differential complexity was taken for granted. The classical languages
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Grammatical Gender and
Linguistic Complexity, Volume 1: General Issues and Specific Studies
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Language universals and linguistic complexity: Three case studies in core argument marking
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Linguistic Complexity, Volume 2: World-Wide Comparative Studies
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902:. Studies in Diversity Linguistics. Vol. 27. Berlin: Language Science Press.
863:. Studies in Diversity Linguistics. Vol. 26. Berlin: Language Science Press.
471:(2012). "'All Languages Are Equally Complex': The rise and fall of a consensus".
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McWhorter, John H. (2001). "The world's simplest grammars are creole grammars".
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1010:. Studies in the Evolution of Language. Vol. 13. Oxford; New York:
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The
Practical Study of Languages; A Guide for Teachers and Learners
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Miestamo, Matti; Sinnemäki, Kaius; Karlsson (eds.), Fred (2008).
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there is still no universally accepted consensus on this issue.
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Arends, Jacques (2001). "Simple grammars, complex languages".
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Joseph, John E.; Newmeyer, Frederick J. (2012-01-01).
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which can be divided into several sub-topics such as
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complexity. The subject also carries importance for
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713:. Oxford Linguistics. Oxford; New York:
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759:Complexity: A Philosophical Overview
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504:. Oxford. pp. 1–2.
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