1. The omnipresence and general properties of linguistic change derive from the nature of language as an activity.
2. The antagonistic forces of expressivity and inertia lead to the introduction of new voluminous expressions and to the reduction of existing expressions, resp.
3. Grammaticalization and lexicalization are reductive changes in the significative system.
4. Reduction of significative units implies their shifting down to lower complexity levels.
5. Shift down to lower complexity levels is concomitant with automatization of (holistic) call from the inventory and of (analytic) formation.
6. Reductive changes are essentially unidirectional.