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Outliers, Impact, and Rationalization in Linguistic Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Sali A. Tagliamonte ,
Alexandra D’Arcy  and
Celeste Rodríguez Louro
Sali A. Tagliamonte*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Alexandra D’Arcy*
Affiliation:
University of Victoria
Celeste Rodríguez Louro*
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia
*
Tagliamonte, Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, Sid Smith Hall, Room 4077, 4th Floor, 100 St George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S3G3 Canada, [sali.tagliamonte@utoronto.ca]
[adarcy@uvic.ca] (D’Arcy)
[celeste.rodriguezlouro@uwa.edu.au] (Rodríguez Louro)
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Abstract

Quotative be like is a rapid global innovation, yet no evidence pinpoints when it arose, under what circumstances, or the consequences of its emergence. Using a data set spanning four cities and two hemispheres, we document systemic regularity across time and space. The results force us to confront three issues: the uniformitarian principle, the criterion of face-to-face contact in the diffusion of language change, and the nature of language as a complex adaptive system. Be like is an outlier, it has had a major impact on the linguistic system, and it can only be rationalized by hindsight, demonstrating the possibility of significant random events outside the predictable structures and processes in language. We conclude by suggesting that be like is a (linguistic) black swan event (Taleb 2010).

Keywords

be likelinguistic changediffusionuniformitarianismcomplex adaptive systemblack swan event

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 92 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 824 - 849
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Linguistic Society of America

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