Re: The Future Language

Artem Kouzminykh wrote:
> AFAIK natlangs generally become simplier
> with time, not more complex, as you demonstrated...
They don't become simpler or more complex *overall*.  Both tendencies
exist in languages, and have a tendency to more-or-less balance out.  A
language may lose case, becoming morphologically less complex, and
therefore develop more rigid word order.  Therefore, more complex syntax
may be required for things like questions and focus.  And, of course,
case can be acquired, as happened in the Finno-Ugric languages.

Any statement that languages tend to develop in a single linear
direction should be taken with suspicion.  Language has existed for so
long that any linear tendency would've been completed by now.  If
languages tended to become more regular with time, there'd be no such
thing as irregularity by now, or if they tended to become less regular,
there'd be no patterns by now.  Sometimes there's a circular tendency,
like isolating -> agglutinating -> fusional -> isolating

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