8. Conclusion
8. 结论
Zhongwei Shen 沈钟伟

Abstract 摘要

One of the significant issues raised by the lexical diffusion theory is what the mechanism of sound change is. In order to understand the change mechanism better, this study starts with examining of the basic concepts of the theory of lexical diffusion, and the evidence that supports the theory. After careful consideration of the old evidence, we realized that 1) to prove the viewpoints of lexical diffusion, we need richer data drawn from speech communities, and 2) to account for the dynamics process of sound change requires a diffusion theory at a population level.

8.1 Towards a Theory of Dynamic Diffusion
8.2 The Findings
8.3 Lexical Irregularity and Lexical Diffusion
8.4 Lexical Irregularity and Lexical Regularity