Currently, the language sciences place together four different forms of mental activity on one plane of language, which results in confusion. This paper presents arguments from metaphysics, hermeneutics, and semiotics to demonstrate that there are actually three planes of language (a biologically-based information processing plane, a literal…

Several hypotheses are developed concerning the semantic-pragmatic shifts that take place in the development of grammatical markers such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs and sentence connectives. Over time, grammatical markers shift from being primarily referential to more pragmatic meanings, from propositional to textual to attitudinal. (PMJ)

The size of linguistic elements (morphemes, words or word groups) varies proportionately with their frequency. Because word frequency is unstable, this balance can be disturbed. When elements become too long in relation to their frequency, they are reduced. Examples from Latin illustrate the theory. (PMJ)