Variability of Formal Reduction in Grammaticalization

Abstract

This paper explores the coexistence phenomena of many particles in their longer and shorter forms, in which the latter are result of formal reduction. The variable degrees of reduction is such that the reduction is either in the form of partial reduction or omission of entire particle, or of construction involving the particle. Special attention is given to the facts that (i) there are forms that suffer the result of phonological loss/erosion in that they became morpho-syntactically deformed by not being able to comply with the morpho-syntactic rules; (ii) there are forms that became homophonous with their antonyms with no apparent conflict; and (iii) most of the forms in variation do not exhibit clear semantic differences, or the form-meaning isomorphism. It is also argued in the paper that, contra common conceptions, the variations are often not correlated with particular speech communities or genres, though, in general, more conservative forms are relatively more frequently used in the written language variety. The variation and contingent reduction contribute to the genesis of new grammatical forms and reorganization of grammar as a result of massive reduction, which brings forth an implication that grammar is constantly in the flux. It is also shown that, despite the widely accepted view that semantic change precedes formal change, some of the forms do not exhibit noticeable semantic differences between the conservative forms and their innovative, and reductive, counterparts.