Abstract
This article sets out to link the philosophical interpretation of evolution to one of its basic corollaries: emergence. An emergent process is one characterized by the generation of a new quality. In languages, where word formation devices include compounding, grammatically analyzable structures are increasingly replaced with synthetic compounds that are insusceptible to paraphrase.
Emergence arises and endures by means of cumulative cultural evolution and learning, collectively termed the ‘ratchet effect’ in Tomasello's theory. This article cites two nearly identical parables of cumulative cultural evolution: one by Tomasello and the other one by Leontev, adopted from Pieron.
Subsequently, the article describes a concrete area of semiotic, specifically linguistic, research on emergence: language reform, with special regard to its successful implementation in nineteenth-century Hungary. By way of conclusion, two ideas are offered for further analysis: (a) emergence and cultural shifts (the potential change of semiotic systems), particularly in the twenty-first-century information society; (b) the social responsibility of applied linguists and, in general, scholars. While the ratchet effect is clearly still with us, the question arises whether there is any social momentum that forces it to stop or reverse.
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