Throughout my career I have tried to understand the structure of language through the cognitive processes that are active when language is used and the resulting usage patterns. One important source of insight into these issues is language change. I have investigated language change in individual languages and in large crosslinguistic surveys. I have used the crosslinguistic and diachronic methods to study phonology, morphology, grammaticalization (change in both form and meaning) and constructional change.

Educational History

• University of Texas Austin, BA Spanish and English 1966
• San Diego State University, MA Linguistics 1970
• University of California, Los Angeles, PhD Linguistics 1973

Books by Joan L. Bybee

Author

• Bybee, Joan. 2015. Language Change. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bybee, Joan. 2010. Language, usage and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bybee, Joan. 2007. Frequency of use and the organization of language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Bybee, Joan. 2001. Phonology and language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins and William Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar: tense, aspect and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1985. Morphology: a study of the relation between meaning and form. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Korean translation by Seongha Rhee and Hyun Jung Koo. Soeul: Hankook Publishing Company. 2000.
• Hooper, Joan B. 1976. An introduction to natural generative phonology. New York: Academic Press.

Co-editor

• Bybee, Joan and Michael Noonan (eds.) 2001. Complex sentences in grammar and discourse: essays in honor of Sandra A. Thompson. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Bybee, Joan and Paul Hopper (eds.) 2001. Frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Bybee, Joan, John Haiman and Sandra Thompson (eds.) 1997. Essays on language function and language type. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Bybee, Joan and Suzanne Fleischman (eds.) 1995. Modality in grammar and discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

• Bell, Alan and Joan B. Hooper (eds.) 1978. Syllables and segments. Amsterdam: North Holland.

Journal Articles

• Bybee, Joan and Ricardo Napoleão de Souza. 2019. Vowel duration in English adjectives in attributive and predicative constructions. Language and Cognition. 11.4: 555-581. doi:10.1017/langcog.2019.32
• Bybee Joan and Shelece Easterday. 2019. Consonant strengthening: a crosslinguistic survey and articulatory account. Linguistic Typology 23, 2; 10.1515/lingty-2019-0015.
• Bybee, Joan. 2017. Grammatical and lexical factors in sound change: a usage-based approach. Language Variation and Change 29.3.
• Bybee, Joan, Richard J. File-Muriel and Ricardo Napoleão de Souza. 2016. Special reduction: a usage-based approach. Language and Cognition. 8.3: 421 – 446.
• Bybee, Joan. 2011. How plausible is the hypothesis that population size and dispersal are related to phoneme inventory size? Introducing and commenting on a debate. Linguistic Typology 15: 147-153.
• Beckner, Clay, Richard Blythe, Joan Bybee, Morten Christiansen, William Croft, Nick Ellis, John Holland, Jinyun Ke, Diane Larsen-Freeman, and Tom Schoenemann. 2009. Language is a complex adaptive system. Language Learning 59 Supplement: 1-26.
• Beckner, Clay and Joan Bybee. 2009. A usage-based account of constituency and reanalysis. Language Learning 59: 27-46.
• Bybee, Joan and Rena Torres Cacoullos. 2008. Phonological and grammatical variation in exemplar models. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 1(2): 399-413.
• McClelland, James and Joan Bybee. 2007. The gradience of gradience: a reply to Jackendoff. The Linguistic Review 24(4): 437-455.
• Bybee, Joan. 2006. From usage to grammar: the mind's response to repetition. Language 82(4): 711-733.
• Bybee, Joan and David Eddington. 2006. A usage-based approach to Spanish verbs of 'becoming. Language 82(2): 323-355.
• Bybee, Joan and James L. McClelland. 2005. Alternatives to the combinatorial paradigm of linguistic theory based on domain general principles of human cognition. In Nancy A. Ritter (ed.), The Role of Linguistics in Cognitive Science, Special Issue of The Linguistic Review 22(2-4): 381-410.
• Bybee, Joan. 2005. Restrictions on phonemes in affixes: A crosslinguistic test of a popular hypothesis. Linguistic Typology 9: 165-222.
• Bybee, Joan. 2005. La liaison: Effets de fréquence et constructions. Langages 158: 24-37.
• Bybee, Joan. 2002. Word frequency and context of use in the lexical diffusion of phonetically conditioned sound change. Language Variation and Change 14: 261-290.
• Bybee, Joan. 2002. Phonological Evidence for Exemplar Storage of Multiword Sequences. SSLA 24: 215-221.
• Bybee, Joan. 1999. Use impacts morphological representation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 22: 1016-1017.
• Bybee, Joan and Joanne Scheibman. 1999. The effect of usage on degrees of constituency: the reduction of don't in English. Linguistics 37(4): 575-596.
• Bybee, Joan, Paromita Chakraborti, Dagmar Jung and Joanne Scheibman. 1998. Prosody and segmental effect: Some paths of evolution for word stress. Studies in Language 22: 267-314.
• Bybee, Joan. 1998. "Irrealis" as a grammatical category. Anthropological Linguistics 40: 257-271.
• Bybee, Joan. 1998. A functionalist approach to grammar and its evolution. Evolution of Communication 2: 249-278.
• Bybee, Joan. 1995. Regular morphology and the lexicon.Language and Cognitive Processes 10: 425-455.
• Bybee, Joan and Jean Newman. 1995. Are stem changes as natural as affixes? Linguistics 33: 633-654.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1994. A view of phonology from a cognitive and functional perspective. Cognitive Linguistics 5-44: 285-305.
• Bybee, Joan L. and Östen Dahl. 1989. The creation of tense and aspect systems in the languages of the world. Studies in Language 13-1: 51-103.
• Bybee, Joan L. and Carol Lynn Moder. 1983. Morphological classes as natural categories. Language 59: 251-270.
• Bybee, Joan L. and Dan I. Slobin. 1982. Rules and schemas in the development and use of the English past tense. Language 58: 265-289.
• Bybee, Joan L. and Elly Pardo. 1981. On lexical and morphological conditioning of rules: a nonce-probe experiment with Spanish verbs. Linguistics 19: 937-968.
• Bybee, Joan L. and Mary Alexandra Brewer. 1980. Explanation in morphophonemics: changes in Provencal and Spanish preterite forms. Lingua 52: 201-242.
• Bybee, Joan. 1980. Morphophonemic change from inside and outside the paradigm. Lingua 50: 45-59.
• Hooper, Joan Bybee. 1980. A note on reconstruction as evidence for linguistic theory. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 25: 21-24.
•  Hooper, Joan Bybee. 1980. A note on reconstruction as evidence for linguistic theory. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 25: 21-24.
• Hooper, Joan Bybee. 1980. Formal and substantive approaches to phonology. Language and speech 23, Part I: 125-133.
• Hooper, Joan Bybee. 1979. Child morphology and morphophonemic change. Linguistics 17: 21-50.
• Hooper, Joan B. and Blair A. Rudes. 1977. Archi-segments: reply to Bolozky. Glossa 11: 106-114.
• Hooper, Joan B. and Tracy Terrell. 1976. Stress assignment in Spanish: a natural generative analysis. Glossa 10: 64-110.
• Hooper, Joan B. 1975. The archi-segment in natural generative phonology. Language 51: 536-560.
• Terrell, Tracy and Joan B. Hooper. 1974. A semantically based analysis of mood in Spanish. Hispania 57: 484-494.
• Hooper, Joan B. and Sandra A. Thompson. 1973. On the applicability of root transformations. Linguistic Inquiry 4: 465-497. Reprinted in Minori Uasui (ed.) Trends in Foreign Linguistics. Tokyo: Eichosha. 1975.

• Hooper, Joan B. 1972. The syllable in phonological theory. Language 48: 525-540.

Chapters in Books 

• Bybee, Joan and Carol Lynn Moder. 2017. Chunking and changes in compositionality in context. In Hundt, Marianne, Sandra Mollin, Simone E. Pfenninger (eds.) The hanging English Language: Psycholinguistic Perspectives, 148-170. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bybee, Joan. 2015. Articulatory processing and frequency of use in sound change. In P. Honeybone and J. Salmons (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Historical Phonology, 467-484. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Bybee, Joan and Rena Torres Cacoullos. 2015. Grammaticalization and variation of WILL and SHALL in Shakespeare’s Comedies. In Rena Torres Cacoullos, Nathalie Dion and André Lapierre (eds.) Linguistic variation: confronting fact and theory. New York: Routledge, 131-146.
• Bybee, Joan and Clayton Beckner. 2015. Emergence at the cross-linguistic level: Attractor dynamics in language change. In Brian MacWhinney and William O’Grady (eds.) The Handbook of Language Emergence, 183-200. Wiley Blackwell.
• Bybee, Joan and Clayton Beckner. 2014. Language use, cognitive processes and linguistic change. In Claire Bowern and Bethwyn Evans (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics, pp. 503-518. London and New York: Routledge.
• Bybee, Joan. 2014. Analytic and holistic processing in the development of constructions. In Inbal Arnon, Marisa Casillas, Chigusa Kurumada and Bruno Estigarribia (eds.) Language in interaction: Studies in honor of Eve V. Clark, pp. 303-313. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
• Bybee, Joan L. 2013. Usage-based theory and exemplar representation. In Thomas Hoffman and Graeme Trousdale (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar, pp. 49-69. Oxford University Press.
• Bybee, Joan. 2012. Domain-general processes as the basis for grammar. In Maggie Tallerman and Kathleen R. Gibson (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution, pp. 528-536. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Bybee, Joan. 2012. Patterns of lexical diffusion and articulatory motivation for sound change. In Maria-Josep Solé and Daniel Recasens (eds.) The initiation of sound change: perception, production and social factors, p. 211-234. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
• Bybee, Joan. 2011. Usage-based theory and grammaticalization. In Heiko Narrog and Bernd Heine (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization, 69-78. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Bybee, Joan and Clay Beckner. 2009. Usage-based theory. In H. Narrog and B. Heine (eds.) Handbook Linguistic Analysis, 827-855. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Bybee Joan. 2010. Markedness: iconicity, economy and frequency. In Jae Jong Song (ed.) Handbook of Linguistic Typology, 131-147. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Bybee, Joan. 2009. Grammaticization: implications for a theory of language. In J. Guo, E. Lieven, S. Ervin-Tripp, N. Budwig, S. Ozcaliskan, and K. Nakamura (eds.), Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Psychology of Language: Research in the Tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin. New York: Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. 345-355.
• Bybee, Joan. 2009. Language universals and usage-based theory. In M.H. Christiansen, C. Collins, and S. Edelman (eds.), Language Universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 17-40.
• Bybee, Joan and Rena Torres Cacoullos. 2009 . The role of prefabs in grammaticization: How the particular and the general interact in language change. In Roberta Corrigan, Edith Moravcsik, Hamid Ouali, and Kathleen Wheatley (eds.). Formulaic Language, Volume I, 187-217. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, Typological Studies in Language
• Beckner, Clay, and Joan Bybee. 2009. A usage-based account of constituency and reanalysis. Language Learning 59: Suppl. 1, December, 29–48.
• Bybee, Joan. 2008. Formal universals as emergent phenomena: the origins of structure preservation. In J. Good (ed.), Language Universals and Language Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 108-121.
• Bybee, Joan. 2008. Usage-based grammar and second language acquisition. In P. Robinson and N. Ellis (eds.), Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge. 216-236.
• Sosa, Anna Vogel and Joan Bybee. 2008. A cognitive approach to clinical psychology. In M. Ball, M. Perkins, N. Muller, and S. Howard (eds.), Handbook of Clinical Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
• Bybee, Joan. 2007. Diachronic linguistics. In D. Geeraerts and H. Cuyckens (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 945-987.
• Bybee, Joan. 2006. Where does grammar come from? In E. M. Rickerson and Barry Hilton (eds.), The Five-Minute Linguist: Bite-sized essays on Language and languages. Oakville, CT: Equinox. 50-53.
• Bybee, Joan. 2006. Language change and universals. In R. Mairal and J. Gil (eds.), Linguistic Universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 179-194.
• Bybee, Joan. 2003. Los mecanismos de cambio como universales linguísticos. In R. Mairal and J. Gil (eds.) En Torno a Los Universales Linguáísticos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 245-263.
• Bybee, Joan. 2003. Mechanisms of change in grammaticization: The role of frequency. In B. D. Joseph and J. Janda (eds.) The Handbook of Historical Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell. 602-623.
• Bybee, Joan. 2003. Cognitive processes in grammaticalization. In M. Tomasello (ed.) The New Psychology of Language, Volume II. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. 145-167.
• Bybee, Joan. 2002. Lexical diffusion in regular sound change. In D. Restle and D. Zaefferer (eds.) Sounds and Systems: Studies in Structure and Change. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 58-74.
• Bybee, Joan. 2002. Sequentiality as the basis of constituent structure. In T. Givón and B. Malle (eds.), The Evolution of Language out of Pre-Language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 107-132.
• Bybee, Joan. 2001. Main clauses are innovative, subordinate clauses are conservative: consequences for the nature of constructions. In J. Bybee and M. Noonan (eds.) Complex sentences in grammar and discourse: Essays in honor of Sandra A. Thompson. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.1-17.
• Bybee, Joan and Michael Noonan. 2001. Introduction. In J. Bybee and M. Noonan (eds.) Complex sentences in grammar and discourse: Essays in honor of Sandra A. Thompson. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. vii-ff.
• Bybee, Joan. 2001. Frequency effects on French liaison. In J. Bybee and P. Hopper (eds.) Frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 337-359.
• Bybee, Joan and Paul Hopper. 2001. Introduction to frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure. In J. Bybee and P. Hopper (eds.) Frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 1-24.
• Bybee, Joan. 2000. Lexicalization of sound change and alternating environments. In M. Broe and J. Pierrehumbert (eds.) Laboratory phonology V: Acquisition and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 250-268.
• Bybee, Joan. 2000. The phonology of the lexicon: Evidence from lexical diffusion. In M. Barlow and S. Kemmer (eds.) Usage-based models of language. Stanford: CSLI. 65-85.
• Bybee, Joan and Sandra Thompson. 2000. Three frequency effects in syntax. Berkeley Linguistic Society 23: 65-85.
• Bybee, Joan. 1999. Usage based phonology. In M. Darnell, E. Moravcsik, F. Newmeyer, M. Noonan and K. Wheatley (eds.) Functionalism and formalism in linguistics, volume I: General papers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 211-242.
• Bybee, Joan. 1998. The emergent lexicon. CLS 34: The panels. Chicago Linguistics Society. 421-435.
• Bybee, Joan. 1997. Semantic aspects of morphological typology. In J. Bybee, J. Haiman and S. Thompson (eds.) Essays on language function and language type. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Bybee, Joan. 1996. Modelo de redes en morfología. Actas del XI congreso internacional de la Asociación Lingüística y Filología de América Latín. Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 59-74.
• Bybee, Joan and Suzanne Fleischman. 1995. Issues in mood and modality. Introductory essay for the volume. In J. Bybee and S. Fleischman (eds.) Modality in grammar and discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 1-14.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1995. The semantic development of past tense modals in English. In J. Bybee and S. Fleischman (eds.) Modality in grammar and discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 503-517.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1995. Diachronic and typological properties of morphology and their implications for representation. In L. Feldman (ed.) Morphological aspects of language processing. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 225-246.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1995. Spanish tense and aspect from a typological perspective. In P. Hashemipour, R. Maldonado and M. van Naerssen (eds.) Studies in language learning and Spanish linguistics in honor of Tracy Terrell. San Francisco: McGraw Hill. 442-457.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1994. The grammaticization of zero: Asymmetries in tense and aspect systems. In W. Pagliuca (ed.) Perspectives on grammaticalization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 235-254.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1994. Productivity, regularity and fusion: How language use affects the lexicon. In R. Singh and R. Desrochers (eds.) Trubetzkoy's orphan: Proceedings of the Montreal roundtable "Morphonology: Contemporary responses". Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 247-69. Accompanied by: Goad, Heather. Productivity, derivational morphology and atypical populations: Comments on Bybee. 270-9. Bybee, Joan L. A reply to Goad. 280-3. Productivity and the lexicon: Discussion. With comments by Bybee, Dressler, Goad, Janda, Kehayia, Kiparsky, Singh, and Tiffou. 284-94.
• Bybee, Joan L., William Pagliuca and Revere Perkins. 1991. Back to the future. In E. Traugott and B. Heine (eds.) Approaches to grammaticalization, Vol. II. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 17-58.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1991. Natural morphology: The organization of paradigms and language acquisition. In C. Ferguson and T. Huebner (eds.) Second language acquisition and linguistic theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 67-91.
• Bybee, Joan L., William Pagliuca and Revere Perkins. 1990. On the asymmetries in the affixation of grammatical material. In W. Croft, K. Denning and S. Kemmer (eds.) Studies in diachronic typology for Joseph H. Greenberg. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 1-42.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1988. Semantic substance vs. contrast in the development of grammatical meaning. Berkeley Linguistic Society 14: 247-264.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1988. The diachronic dimension in explanation. In J. Hawkins (ed.) Explaining language universals. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 350-379.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1988. Morphology as lexical organization. In M. Hammond and M. Noonan (eds.) Theoretical morphology. Academic Press. 119-141.
• Bybee, Joan L. and William Pagliuca. 1987. The evolution of future meaning. In A. Giacalone Ramat, O. Carruba and G. Bernini (eds.) Papers from the VIIth International Conference on Historical Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 109-122.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1986. On the nature of grammatical categories: a diachronic perspective. In S. Choi (ed.) Proceedings of the Second Eastern States Conference on Linguistics. 17-34.
• Bybee, Joan L. and William Pagliuca. 1985. Cross-linguistic comparison and the development of grammatical meaning. In J. Fisiak (ed.) Historical semantics, historical word formation. The Hague: Mouton. 59-83.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1985. Diagrammatic iconicity in stem - inflection relations. In J. Haiman (ed.) Iconicity in syntax. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 11-47.
• Bybee, Joan L. and Dan I. Slobin. 1982. Why small children cannot change language on their own: Evidence from the English past tense. In A. Alqvist (ed.) Papers from the Fifth International Conference on Historical Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 29-37.
• Hooper, Joan Bybee. 1981. The empirical determination of phonological representations. In Terry Myers et al. (eds.) The cognitive representation of speech. Amsterdam: North Holland. 347-357.
• Hooper, Joan Bybee. 1980. Child morphology and morphophonemic change. In J. Fisiak (ed.) Historical morphology. The Hague: Mouton. 157-187.
• Hooper, Joan B. 1979. Substantive principles in natural generative phonology. In D. Dinnsen (ed.) Current phonological theories. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 106-125.
• Hooper, Joan B. 1979. The link between markedness and rule naturalness. Proceedings of the XIIth International Congress of Linguists. Insbruck: Insbrucker Beitrage zur Sprachwissenschaft. 777-780.
• Bell, Alan and Joan B. Hooper. 1978. Issues and evidence in syllabic phonology. In Bell and Hooper (eds.) Syllables and segments. Amsterdam: North Holland. 3-22.
• Hooper, Joan B. 1978. Constraints on schwa deletion in American English. In Jacek Fisiak (ed.) Recent developments in historical phonology. The Hague: Mouton. 183-207.
• Hooper, Joan B. 1977. Substantive evidence for linearity: vowel length and nasality in English. In Woodford Beach et al. (eds) Papers from the Thirteenth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. 152-164.
• Hooper, Joan B. 1976. Word frequency in lexical diffusion and the source of morphophonological change. In William Christie (ed.) Current progress in historical linguistics. Amsterdam: North Holland. 95-105.
• Hooper, Joan B. 1975. On assertive predicates. In John Kimball (ed.) Syntax and semantics IV. New York: Academic Press. 91-124.

• Hooper, Joan B. 1974. Rule morphologization in natural generative phonology. Proceedings of the Parasession on Natural Phonology. Chicago Linguistic Society. 160-170.

Encyclopedia Entries

• Bybee, Joan L. 2000. Lexical, morphological and syntactic symbolization. Morphology: A handbook on inflection and word formation, Vol. I. Eds. G. Booij, C. Lehmann and J. Mugdan, 370-377. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
• Bybee, Joan L. 2000. Verb. Morphology: A handbook on inflection and word formation Eds. G. Booij, C. Lehmann and J. Mugdan, 794-808. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1993. Change and morphological universals. R. E. Asher (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Pergamon Press and Aberdeen University Press.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1991. Verbs. Oxford International Encyclopedia of Linguistics William Bright, Editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Bybee, Joan L. 1991. Tense and aspect. Oxford International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. William Bright, Editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Reviews

• Bybee, Joan. 2007. Review of Adele E. Goldberg, Constructions at work: the nature of generalization in language. Journal of Child Language 34.692-697.
• Bybee, Joan. 1989. Review of T. Givon, Function, structure and language acquisition. Journal of Child Language 16: 452-454.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1986. Tense and aspect. Review article. Östen Dahl, Tense and aspect systems. Studies in Language. 447-458.
• Bybee, Joan L. 1985. Review of Jürgen Klausenburger, Morphologization: Studies in Latin and Romance morphophonology. Romance Philology, 355-362. Hooper, Joan B. 1979. Review of Naomi S. Baron, Language acquisition and historical change. Linguistics 17: 540-550.

• Hooper, Joan B. 1977. Review of Eli Fischer-Jorgensen. Trends in phonological theory: a historical introduction. Language 53: 215-218.