Contents › Section 5: Sociolinguistics, historical development and politics › answer 17 of 45
Do languages change at different rates?
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I agree with all the answers here. I would recommend Dixon's 'Rise and Fall of Languages' http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rise-Fall-Languages-R-Dixon/dp/0521626544/ where he explores some of these issues in depth. I particularly found his analogy with 'punctuated equilibria' very useful. But he also addresses questions of language boundaries and relatedness. Well worth a read, even if a bit controversial in places.
© Dominik Lukeš. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Originally published on Linguistics Stack Exchange, attributed there to Dominik Lukes (profile).