Modern Social Science Research

The study delves into the phenomenon of competition in language at various levels and proposes four resolutions to linguistic competition: override, separation, compromise, and deadlock/blocking. Moravcsik (2010) elucidates these resolutions in the context of syntactic structures, where the isomorphism between form and meaning is violated. The study outlines how these resolutions can be applied beyond syntax to other disciplines like phonology, morphology, biology, physics, astronomy, and philosophy. For instance, in phonology, the conflict of German fricatives being both single and multi-segmental is resolved by contextualizing them in different scenarios. In morphology, the unusual central position of affixes in Tagalog is explained by the need for a consonantal onset, thus necessitating a compromise in grammatical rules. The document emphasizes the importance of competitive resolutions in theoretical construction across disciplines, as they provide explanations for discrepancies between expectations and reality. It concludes by categorizing the outcomes of competitive motivations into separation, deadlock, override, and compromise, highlighting their roles in different grammatical and linguistic phenomena.

Competing motivation; Resolution; Separation; Block; Override; Compromise