Reviews for On Language Change: The Invisible Hand in Language

The average rating for On Language Change: The Invisible Hand in Language based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-23 00:00:00 Andy Rogers Da Keller qua Ausbildung und gewöhnlichem Forschungsoutput kein historischer Sprachwissenschaftler ist, bin ich mit Argwohn an die Lektüre seines "Sprachwandels" gegangen, fand jedoch eine erfrischend klare und lesbare (im Gegensatz zu Lass' großmeisterlichem "Explanation in Language Change" von 1980, auf das Keller auch Bezug nimmt) philosophisch-wissenschaftstheoretische Darlegung vor. Das Buch ist sorgfältig geschrieben und die Lektüre ist anregend.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-10-13 00:00:00 Joseph Brown Nice book about what might cause language change... I thought. In fact it's not so much about language change per se, but about the effect of the "invisible hand", which leads the people to follow a trend that they themselves never actually planned. Keller seeminly likes to cite various authors, maybe to show how much he read, and also goes on in lengthy discussions about the phonemena that eventually lead to changes. Unfortunately, he almost entirely neglects citing examples from real life changes... maybe this book should rather bear the title "Gewohnheitswandel" or simply "The theory of the invisible hand". It was a nice read, though I expected much more of it...