Abstract
This article contains some thoughts on the role of bilingual cognition in the diachronic change of morphological paradigms, with a focus on contact-induced change. In a first step, a general typology of paradigm change is proposed, based on a distinction between three levels of linguistic organization (the sign/Level 1, the category/Level 2, and the dimension/Level 3), and two types of change (neutralization and differentiation), thus distinguishing six types of paradigm change. Examples of these types (taken from the pertinent literature) are discussed, and two questions are addressed in each case: (i) To what extent does contact-induced paradigm change of a specific type differ from internal change? (ii) What are (potentially) the underlying cognitive processes motivating each type of change? The hypothesis is explored that there is a correlation between the three levels of analysis and three types of cognitive processes involved in paradigm change. It is suggested that change at Level 1 is typically based on analogy, change at Level 2 is often sensitive to frequency of use, and change at Level 3 may imply conceptual transfer, as discussed in recent work on weak relativity effects in the context of bilingual cognition.
