There re patterns which simply cannot discerned without lo oking at language at multiple oints in time Diachronic analysis is the domain of histo rical linguistics Because devices fo reco rding sounds and thus also sp eech have only een round fo ab ID: 76828
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DiachronicAnalysisdiachronic(dia=throughout;chron=time).Therearepatternswhichsimplycannotbediscernedwithoutlookingatalanguageatmultiplepointsintime.Diachronicanalysisisthedomainofhistoricallinguistics.Becausedevicesforrecordingsounds(andthusalsospeech)haveonlybeenaroundforaboutacentury,thevastmajorityofdatausedforhistoricallinguisticsistextual(butwhereavailable,spokenlanguageremainsprimaryevidence).3KindsofLanguageChangeLanguagesundergochangeatalllinguisticlevels:phonetic,phonemic,morphological,syntactic,semantic.1.Phonetic:OldEnglishhadthesoundu-umlaut,whilethatsoundisnolongerpresentinmodernEnglish(ME).2.Phonemic:OldEnglishregarded[v]asanallophoneof/f/,whileinME/v/isaphonemeitself.3.Morphological:OldEnglishhadcaseendingsonnormalnounstodistinguishindirectobjectsanddirectobjects.MEhasnosuchmarking.4.Syntactic:OldEnglishallowedallquestionstobeformedbyinvertingthesubjectandtheverb.MEonlyallowsthiswithauxiliaries,anduses"do"otherwise.5.Semantic:InOldEnglish,\girl"referredtoyoungmenandwomen.4HistoricalLinguisticsWhatisHistoricalLinguistics?Historicallinguisticsisthestudyofhowlanguageschangeovertimeandoftheirrelationshipswithotherlanguages.Alllanguageschangeovertime,andnotrandomly.Therearemanypatternsandgeneralizationswecanmakeuponexaminingthehistoriesofvariouslanguages.Lookingforthesehistoricalpatternsoflanguagesfallswithinthegeneralaimoflinguistics:to ndpatternsinhumanlanguagesingeneral.Linguistics201,DetmarMeurersHandout14(April21,2004)1TwoApproachestotheStudyofLanguageSofarwehavebeenconcentratingexclusivelyonalanguageatonepointintime(usuallynow,themodernformofalanguage).Thissortofanalysisiscalledsynchronic(syn=same;chron=time).Butwemayalsostudythehistoryofalanguageorlanguagestodiscoverpatternswhichareonlyevidentwhencomparingalanguagewithitselfatdi erentstagesofitsdevelopment.Anexample:EnglishofShakespeare'stime\Whatthinkestthou?"ModernEnglish:\Whatdoyouthink?"Weseeherebothsyntacticchange(wordorder),morphologicalchange(verbendings),andlexicalchange(\thou"wascommon,nowobsolete).2 WhyDoLanguagesChange?BorrowingsBorrowingsfrequentlyobscuretherelationshipoflanguagesby\coveringthetracks"ofhistoricaldevelopment.Forexample,theLatinwordforbeerwas\cerevisia".Spanishpreservedthiswordintheform\cerveza".French,however,whileitisadirectdescendantofLatin,chosetoborrowtheword\Bier"fromtheGermantribesitsspeakerswereincontactwith(French:biere).7AttitudesTowardsLanguageChangeLanguagechangehasfrequentlybeenresistedthroughouttheages.Oneofthemostprominentexamplesofsuchresistancehasbeentheformationoflanguageacademies,institutionsorganizedtoattempttoregulate,stop,orevenreverselanguagechange.Suchorganizationsseethemselvesas\defending"theirlanguagefromthe\invasion"of\barbaric"termsfromotherlanguages,orelsepreventing\vulgarspeech"from\corrupting"thelanguageasawhole.Whilesuchgovernmente ortstostoplanguagechangecanforcenewspapersandbookpublisherstoconformtospeci cguidelines,theycannotcontrolhowpeoplespeak,anditistherethatlanguagechangeoriginates.Youcannotpreventlanguagechangewithanyamountofforce{itisaninherentpartofeverylivinghumanlanguage.8WhyDoLanguagesChange?LanguagesplittingAlanguagemaysplitintotwoormorelanguagesifthespeakersbecomeseparatedintotwoormoregroupswithlittleornocontact.ExampleLatin:AftertheheydayoftheRomanEmpire,Latin-speakingpeopleswerescatteredfarandwidearoundEuropeandeventuallylostcontactwithpeopleinotherregions.ThustheLatinofpeoplelivinginIberiaeventuallybecameSpanish,PortugueseorCatalan,peopleinGaulspokeFrenchandProvencal,andsoonforalltheRomancelanguages.5WhyDoLanguagesChange?LanguagecontactLanguagecontactalsoplaysamajorroleinlanguagechange.Iftwogroupsofpeoplespeakingtwodi erent(possiblycompletelyunrelated)languagescomeinclosecontactwitheachother(fortrade,etc.),theneachgroup'slanguagemaybegintoadoptfeaturesoftheother's.Vocabularyisfrequentlyaddedtoalanguagethroughlanguagecontact.(e.g.:skunk,moccasin,chipmunkfromNativeAmericanlanguages).Lessfrequentlyphonetic,phonemic,andevensyntactic,morphologicalandsemanticborrowingcanoccur.6 iftwolanguagesshowasigni cantamountofsimilarity,thenonecanconcludethattheyarerelated.Thisworkstogetherwiththeregularityhypothesisinthefollowingway:Saywehavetwolanguages,AandB,whichshowagooddealofsimilarity.Weconcludebytheregularityhypothesisthatthesourceofthesimilarityisnotsuper cial,buthasarisenthroughregular,\normal"change.Then,becausethetwolanguagesaresimilar,weconcludebytherelatednesshypothesisthattheyaregeneticallyrelatedinsomeway.Inthefamilytreemodel,languagesaretreatedmuchlikehumansareinafamilytree{theyhave\mothers",\sisters",and\daughters".Themodelisrepresentedbyatree,witholdergenerationsatthetopanddescendantsatthebottom.Ifalanguageisconnectedtoalanguagedirectlyaboveitbya\branch",thenthelowerlanguageisadaughterofthehigherlanguage.Sistersarelanguageswhichhavethesamemother.11EvaluationoftheFamilyTreeModelProf:Easytoseerelationships.Contra:Divisionbetweenlanguagesandtheirdescendantsisdeceptivelyclear.Itdoesnotrepresentinternalvariationatall.12ModelsofLanguageChangeWhenwesaythatlanguagesare\related",whatexactlydowemean?TheFamilyTreeModelTheWaveModel9TheFamilyTreeModelThefamilytreemodelwasthe rstattemptatdepictingtherelationshipsbetweenlanguages.Itrestsontwoassumptions:1.TheRegularityHypothesis:thisistheideathatlanguageschangeinregularways{theydonotexhibitwild,randomchangeswhichseemtofollownopatterns.Thisisnecessarybecausewithoutit,observedsimilaritiesbetweenlanguageswouldnotleadustoconcludethattheycamefromacommonsourcewhichhasdivergedin\regular"ways{theycouldjustaseasilyhavecomefromcompletelydi erentsources,buthavechangedsofundamentallyanderraticallythattheyenduphavingmanysimilarities.2.TheRelatednessHypothesis:Thisisthehypothesiswhichsaysthat10 WhatifYouDon'tHaveRecordsofaLanguage?Howdoweknowaboutsupposedmotherlanguagesifthereareusuallynospeakersoftheselanguagesandfrequentlynotexts?Theanswerisreconstruction.Wereconstructvanishedlanguagesbycomparingfeaturesoftheirdescendantlanguages.Thismethodisknownasthecomparativemethod:youcomparevariouslanguagesandlookforsimilaritieswhichmayindicateageneticlink.Itisknownasthecomparativemethodbecauseitisonlyvalidifmultiplelanguagesareused.Onehasnoideawhichfeaturesofalanguageinisolationareduetoinheritanceorborrowing,andonlycomparisonwithotherlanguagescanclarifythis.15SoundChange{andwhyitisstudiedSoundchangeisthemostcommonlystudiedformoflanguagechangeindiachroniclinguistics.Thereareseveralreasonsforthis:1.Momentum:Soundchangewasthealmostexclusivefocusofpasthistoricallinguists.Thusthegreatestamountofexistinghistoricalworkisonsoundchange.2.CloseLinkstoOtherSortsofChange:Soundchangeplaysapartinalmosteveryaspectoflanguagechange.Asanexample,themorphologicalandsyntacticchangesthatcamefromthelossofcaseendingsinOldEnglishwereinlargepartduetothecharacteristicGermanic rst-syllablestresswhichtendedtomakethecaseendingsgarbledandthereforeindistinguishable,leadingspeakersto ndothermeansofexpressinggrammaticalrelations.16TheWaveModelMotivation:Correctsomeoftheproblemswiththefamilytreemodel.Theideaisthatinsteadofhavingde nitedelineationsbetweenlanguages,thereare\waves"oflinguisticchangewhicha ectsomelanguagesbutnotothers,andtendtospreadouttootherlanguagesnearby.Pro:Representsdialectsandthecontinuumswhichalwaysexistbetweentheminasatisfyingway.Representsthefactthatlanguagesdonotsplitawayfromtheirmotherscleanly,itisalwaysagradualprocess.Contra:Diculttotellwhatlanguagedescendsfromwhat,therearesomanyrelationshipsdepictedthatoverallpatternsbecomehardtopickout.13ProblemsWithBothTheoriesThesetheoriesemergedoverahundredyearsago,whenhistoricallinguisticswasstillinitsinfancy.Sincethenwehavediscoveredthatsomeoftheassumptionstheyrestonarenotassolidasoncethought.Languagescanberemarkablysimilarin,e.g.,syntax(cf.KoreanandJapanesewhicharealmostisomorphic)butnotberelatedatall.Languageborrowingcanbringunrelatedlanguagesclosertogetherina\regular"way,yettheymaynotbe\related"genetically.Thisaddsfurthercomplicationstothehistoricallinguist'stask,astheymusttrytodiscoverwhichpartsofalanguagecomefromhistoricaldevelopmentandwhichcomefromborrowing.14 TypesofSoundChangePhonologicalprocesseswhicharedependentonthephoneticenvironmentarereferredtoasconditioned,thosewhicharenotasunconditioned.ConditionedSoundChanges:Assimilation:Twosoundsbecomemorelikeeachotherwhentheyarenearortouching.e.g.,wulfas ! Dissimilation:Twosoundsbecomelesslikeeachotherwhennearortouching.e.g., \n ! \n Deletion:Soundsaredeletedincertainenvironments.e.g., \r! \rInsertion:Soundsareinsertedincertainenvironments.e.g., \n ! \n 19ConditionedSoundChanges:Monophthongization:Diphthongsbecomemonophthongs.e.g.,rule( )[iw]Diphthongization:Monophthongsbecomediphthongs.e.g.,MidE( )[u]!ModE[aw](house,mouse)Metathesis:Theorderofsoundschange.e.g.,ask!aksRaising/Lowering:Thepositionofthetonguebecomeseitherhigherorlowerwhenproducingcertainsounds.e.g.,mete!meat( ! \n )Backing/Fronting:Thepositionofthetonguebecomeseithermoreforwardormoreback.e.g.,path ! 203.FamilyRelationshipsBasedonSoundChange:Itisbycomparingsoundchangesandsimilaritiesthatwedeterminewhichlanguagesaregeneticallyrelatedtowhich.Soundsarefarmorestableovertimethanaresyntax,semantics,morphology,orotheraspectsoflanguage.4.TheClearestSortofLanguageChange:Soundchangeiseasiertodealwithatabeginninglevel,andthemethodsusedtransfertothestudyofothersortsoflanguagechange.17WhatisaSoundChange?Phonologicalprocessesmayberestrictedtocertainsituationsorcertainspeakers,ortheymaybeacceptedbyallspeakersofagivenlanguage.Anexampleoftheformerisfoundinvariouscontractionssuchas\wanna",whicharerestrictedtocasualconversation,andnotacceptedinformalsituations.Anexampleofthelatterwouldbetheaspirationofword-initialvoicelessstopsinEnglish.SoundChangeisaphonologicalprocesswhichhasbeenacceptedbyallspeakersofalanguage(ordialect).Soundchangestendtospreadfromspeakertospeakergraduallyinawave-likepatternuntiltheyareuniformlyusedbyallspeakersinalinguisticscommunity.Theydonotspontaneouslyoccureverywhereinalanguage.18