We are now ready to examine the analogous situation in the significative system with regard to the same question: Are there types of oriented and of non-oriented variation?

Some of the types of variation we have seen in previous lectures are non-oriented.

• Analogical change is not intrinsically oriented. Whether a is replaced by b or b is replaced by a depends entirely on whether we use a construction like b or a construction like a as an analogical model.
• Reanalysis is not intrinsically oriented. Whether we reanalyse a | b c as a b | c or vice versa depends on whether we use a construction resembling the latter or the former as an analogical model.
• Conversion is not intrinsically oriented. Whether we convert a word belonging to category C1 into category C2 or vice versa depends entirely on the context in which we put the word in order to coerce it into the target category.

Conversion from a minor to a major class has sometimes been adduced as a case of degrammaticalization. It is, however, just the mirror image of conversion from a major-class to a minor-class item. It is a process of word formation which involves use of the item concerned in a different context. Grammaticalization takes place in situ; i.e. it does not involve the shift of the item concerned into a different context.