PRZYPADEK I PRAWIDŁOWOŚĆ W PRZEMIANACH SYSTEMU SŁOWOTWÓRCZEGO
Indeterminacy and Regularity in Word Formation System Transformations

Summary/Abstract: The author's task has been to show a history of language as a territory of knowledge which can enrich and complete the analysis of contemporary language word formation. The adequate profiling of word formation studies gives us such a chance and allows us to observe the dynamics of language phenomena in wider perspective. The aim of the study makes it necessary to take a clear standing in such fundamental questions as indeterminacy and regularity in the course of language transformation. Adopting the Moderate version of historiography, the author shows, on the one hand, the indeterminacy of word-formation changes and on the other - the areas where their regularity allows us to go along the evolutionary lines, thus enabling us to make prognoses about the future. The evolution of the language does not have fixed aims, it does not have the teleological character although it is possible to show the areas of language self-regulation and such implication rules as: 'if an element x appears in a language, it should be expected that, in a short time, an element y will arise'. Linguists cannot predict the fate of words. No one can predict which of the various means used for achieving communication will be chosen by the native speaker.

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