10 - On the development of complex constructions

Summary

The problem

In chapter 7 we discussed a number of processes by which clauses are fused, resulting in change from a more complex to a less complex structure. Given that languages do continue to have complex structures, change cannot be uniformly in the direction of simplification. We examine here the questions of how and why complex structures are renewed.

It is extremely common in natural languages for relative pronouns to be formally identical to or derived from Q-words in the same language. This raises a second question to be addressed in this chapter: what is the relationship between these two kinds of pronouns? While they may be somewhat less common, there are numerous other dependent clause types that bear a similarity to questions of one kind or another. This, in turn, raises the question of what relation dependent clauses (or certain types of dependent clauses) bear to questions.

In section 10.2 we outline the traditional view that hypotaxis develops out of parataxis and discuss several interpretations of it; in section 10.3 we develop a simple alternative hypothesis. Section 10.4 provides a treatment of the relationship of questions to subordinate clauses, and in section 10.5 we propose an analysis of the origins of complex constructions.