ABSTRACT
Virtual identity between hermeneutic philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, and semiotics supports exactly the primacy of history in human affairs. Metatheory determines the nature of explanation that is proper for language change. In the 1970s, sociolinguistics started making inroads by pointing out that language change happens in a social context whose factors guide the change, which is also true of history as we know it. The sign's relation to the dynamic object, the main impetus in the sign, has had partial success. This is the icon-index-symbol continuum, and its success resides in the acceptance of iconicity as a force of change. Iconicity has been used by two groups for the explanation of language change. According to Rudi Keller, language change is unambiguously not teleological, although partially goal-directed. Keller draws a stricter line between intended action and planned action, and this necessitates a division on the finalistic side. Keller takes as an example some German terms referring to women.
