World Englishes between Simplification and Complexification

Let us turn to the latter, more far-reaching issue first, namely to the notions of complexity/ complexification vs. simplicity/simplification. These are currently widely debated notions in the study of language typology and language variation, as can be seen from recent book publications such as Kusters (2003), Dahl (2004), Miestamo/Sinnemäki/Karlsson (to appear 2008) or Gil/Trudgill/ Sampson (to appear 2008). One of the hotly debated issues is, for example, the socalled “equi-complexity axiom” or “equi-complexity dogma”, which goes back at least to the American Structuralism of the 1950s (but can ultimately be found in various guises since Wilhelm von Humboldt’s days), according to which all languages, more exactly the grammars of all languages, are equally complex. Here is a relevant quotation from Charles Hockett (1958: 180–81):