Language complexity: Difference between revisions

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'''Language complexity''' is a topic in [[linguistics]] which can be divided into several sub-topics such as [[Phonology|phonological]], [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphological]], [[Syntax|syntactic]], and [[Semantic ComplexitySemantics|semantic]] complexity]].<ref name="Miestamo2008">{{cite book |last1=Miestamo |first1=Matti |first2=Kaius |last2=Sinnemäki |first3=Fred |last3=Karlsson (eds.) |title=Language Complexity: Typology, Contact, Change |volume=94 |___location=Amsterdam |publisher=[[John Benjamins]] |pages=356 |year=2008 |doi=10.1075/slcs.94 |series=Studies in Language Companion Series |isbn=978 90 272 3104 8 }}</ref><ref name="Wurzel2001">{{cite journal |last1=Wurzel |first1=Wolfgang Ullrich |title=Creoles, complexity, and linguistic change |journal=Linguistic Typology |volume=5 |issue=2/3 |pages=377–387 |year=2001 |issn =1430-0532 }}</ref> The subject also carries importance for [[language evolution]].<ref name="Sampson2009">{{cite book |editor1-last=Sampson |editor1-first=Geoffrey |editor1-link=Geoffrey Sampson |editor2-last=Gil |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Gil (linguist) |editor3-last=Trudgill |editor3-first=Peter |editor3-link=Peter Trudgill |date=2009 |title=Language Complexity as an Evolving Variable |series=Studies in the Evolution of Language |volume=13 |___location=Oxford; New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780199545216 |oclc=227962299}}</ref>

Language complexity has been studied less than many other traditional fields of linguistics. While the [[Consensus decision-making|consensus]] is turning towards recognizing that complexity is a suitable research area, a central focus has been on [[Methodology of science|methodological]] choices. Some languages, particularly [[pidgin]]s and [[Creole language|creoles]], 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.<ref name="Joseph2012">{{cite journal |last1=Joseph |first1=John E. |first2=Frederick J. |last2=Newmeyer |author-link2=Frederick Newmeyer |title='All Languages Are Equally Complex': The rise and fall of a consensus |journal=Historiographia Linguistica |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=341–368 |year=2012 |doi=10.1075/hl.39.2-3.08jos }}</ref>