Historical linguistics

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Historical linguistics the history of language

• Origins
• Lexical, social, and cognitive theories
• Mutability
• Dialectal differences
• Stages of English
• Symbolic shifts
• Linguistic study
• Reconstruction
• Language families

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Bow-wow theory

• Language arose from onomatopoeia
• Making noises to represent elements in the
  environment animals, rain, expulsive gas,

?
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Bow-wow theory

• Language arose from onomatopoeia (iconic)
• Making noises to represent elements in the
  environment animals, rain, expulsive gas,

?
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Pooh-pooh theory(AKA the ouch theory)

• Language arose from spontaneous emotional noises
• Sighs, moans, cries, ejections of surprise, fear,
  delight,

?
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Pooh-pooh theory(AKA the ouch theory)

• Language arose from spontaneous emotional noises
  (indexical)
• Sighs, moans, cries, ejections of surprise, fear,
  delight,

?
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Bow-wow pooh-pooh theories

• Lexical theories
• Nothing about syntax
• Nothing about phonology, morphology,
• Not mutually exclusive

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Yadda, yadda, yadda
that language evolved among humans to replace
social grooming because the grooming time
required by our large groups made impossible
demands on our time. Language, I argue, evolved
to fill the gap because it allows us to use the
time we have available for social interaction
more efficiently.
?
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Yo-he-ho theory

• Language arose in muscular and rhythmic efforts
  accompanying group work
• Gathering, distributing, distance-pursuit of
  prey,

?
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Yo-he-ho theory

• Language arose in muscular and rhythmic efforts
  accompanying group work (indexical)
• Gathering, distributing, distance-pursuit of
  prey,

?
Homo sapien 1
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Hmmmmm theory
a prelinguistic musical mode of thought and
action

• Communicative system
• Holistic
• Rhetorical
• Multimodal
• Rhythmic (indexical)
• Melodic
• Mimetic (iconic)

?
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Throwing madonna theory

• Nursing (left-side)
• Motor/linguistic sequencing
• Structural
• Non-lexical
• Piggy-backing theory

?
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Piggybacking traits (exaptation)

• Bone
• Gills
• Feathers
• Penguin wings
• Speech!

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Neuron packing theory
To be, or not to be. That is the question.
The origin of language may have to do with
certain physical laws relating to neuron packing
or regulatory mechanisms.
?
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Language origins sub-total

• Bow-wow and pooh-pooh
• Lexical
• Social
• Throwing Madonna, Neuron-packing
• Non-lexical (syntactic)
• Cognitive
• Yadda-yadda-yadda
• Non-lexical
• Social
• Ye-ho-ha, Hmmmmm
• Non-lexical
• Cognitive-Social

NotMutuallyExclusive
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Early modern English

• I am no orator, as Brutus is
• But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
• That love my friend and that they know full well
• That gave me public leave to speak of him
• For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
• Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
• To stir men's blood
• Julius Caesar, c1599

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Middle English

• Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
• The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
• And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
• Of which vertu engendred is the flour
• yadda, yadda, yadda
• Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
• The Canterbury Tales, c1380

London
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Middle English (Northumberland)
Regiolects! geographically-based group speech
differences

• Si en e sege and e assaut watz sesed at Troye,
• e bor brittened and brent to bronde and askez,
• e tulk at e trammes of tresoun er wrot
• Watz tried for his tricherie, e trewest on erthe
• The Green Knight, c1380

Sociolects! class-based groupspeech differences
Ethnolects! tribal-based groupspeech
differences
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Language variation
!
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Language variation
Different persons growing up in the same language
are like different bushes trimmed and trained to
take the shape of identical elephants. The
anatomical details of twigs and branches will
fulfill the elephantine form differently from
bush to bush, but the overall outward results are
alike.
Idiolects!
W.V.O. Quine
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Old English

• Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,
• meotodes meahte, and his modgeanc,
• weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,
• ece drihten, or onstealde.
• Caedmons hymn, c670

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1066
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Modern English

• Substratum (under-level)
• Germanic (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, etc.)king, law,
  deer, cow, cock, piss,
• Superstratum (over-level)
• Latinate (Norman French)monarch, justice,
  venison, beef, penis, urinate,

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Language change
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MutabilityLanguage change

• Internal
• (isolation, fashion, prestige, )
• External
• (trade, war, imperialism, )

Phonological Morphological Lexical Syntactic Seman
tic
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Semantic change (hyponym / hypernym swap)

• dog
• poodle hound spaniel
• Toy, French, Grey, Blood, Springer,
  Cocker,

hypernym
hyponym
hypernym
hyponym
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Semantic change (hyponym / hypernym swap)

• Modern English
• dog
• poodle hound spaniel
• Toy, French, Grey, Blood, Springer,
  Cocker,

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Phonological change
Middle English
Modern English

• night
• knight
• knee
• name
• cough

nIFt knIFt knij nQm kAF
nAit nAit nij nejm kAf
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Morphological change
Present Past
Singular first drÿge drÿgde
second drÿgst drÿgdes
third drÿgþ drÿgde
Plural Plural drÿgaþ drÿgdon

Infinitive, drÿgan Infinitive, drÿgan Infinitive, drÿgan Infinitive, drÿgan
Past participle, gedrÿged Past participle, gedrÿged Past participle, gedrÿged Past participle, gedrÿged
Present participle, drÿgende Present participle, drÿgende Present participle, drÿgende Present participle, drÿgende
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Morphological change
Present Past
Singular first drÿge drÿgde
second drÿgst drÿgdes
third drÿgþ drÿgde
Plural Plural drÿgaþ drÿgdon

Infinitive, drÿgan Infinitive, drÿgan Infinitive, drÿgan Infinitive, drÿgan
Past participle, gedrÿged Past participle, gedrÿged Past participle, gedrÿged Past participle, gedrÿged
Present participle, drÿgende Present participle, drÿgende Present participle, drÿgende Present participle, drÿgende
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Morphological change
Present Past
Singular first dry dried
second dry dried
third dries dried
Plural Plural dry dried

Infinitive, to dry Infinitive, to dry Infinitive, to dry Infinitive, to dry
Past participle, (has) dried Past participle, (has) dried Past participle, (has) dried Past participle, (has) dried
Present participle, (is) drying Present participle, (is) drying Present participle, (is) drying Present participle, (is) drying
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Morphological change
Present Past
Singular first dry? dried
second dry? dried
third dries dried
Plural Plural dry? dried

Infinitive, to dry Infinitive, to dry Infinitive, to dry Infinitive, to dry
Past participle, (has) dried Past participle, (has) dried Past participle, (has) dried Past participle, (has) dried
Present participle, (is) drying Present participle, (is) drying Present participle, (is) drying Present participle, (is) drying
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Lexical changes

• Mayhaps
• Hark
• Cad
• Elden
• Burdalane
• Sweltersome
• Clyte

Pork Sandwich Tofu Interface Robot Radar F-bomb
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Syntactic change
Good even, Casca brought you Caesar home?
Good evening, Casca did you bring Caesar home?
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Mutability

• History of English
• Periods
• Events
• Pressures to change
• Internal/external
• Regio-, socio-, ethno-lects
• Types of change
• Semantic (e.g., dog/hound)
• Phonological (e.g., cough)
• Morphological (e.g. levelling)
• Lexical (words come, words go)
• Syntactic (Yes/no question formation)