Historical Lingustics

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Historical Lingustics
WS 2005/6
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Topics

• Patterns of language change
• Explanations of lanaguae change
• Implications of language change

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Grammatical changes

• Wegen des Wetters gt wegen dem Wetter
• Käme gt würde kommen
• Meinetwegen gt wegen mir
• Meines Vaters Auto gt mein Vater sein Auto
• Weil ich das nicht mag gt weil ich mag das nicht

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British newspapers
We seem to be moving towards a social and
linguistic situation in which nobody says or
writes or probably knows anything more than an
approximation to what he or she means. The
Sunday Times 1999
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British newspapers
English used to be a language which foreigners
couldnt pronounce but could often understand.
Today it is rapidly becoming a language which the
English cant pronounce and few foreigners can
understand. The Daily Telegraph 1968
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British newspapers
We go out of our ways to promulgate incessantly
the very ugliest sounds and worst possible
grammars. The Sunday Times 1986
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Recent changes in English
(1) The media is not objective. (2) These sort of
things. (3) He is like .
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Recent changes in English
(1) Fortunately, I have a spare fan
belt. (2) Honestly, you have no taste in
clothes. (3) Hopefully, well be there in time
for lunch.
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Recent changes in English
(1) My care is being broken. (2) My house is
being painted. (3) This problem is being
discussed in class.
(1) My car is repairing. (2) My house is
painting. (3) This problem is discussing in class.
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What linguists say
The history of all Aryan languages is nothing but
a gradual process of decay. Max Müller 1886
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What linguists say
In the evolution of languages the discarding of
old flexions goes hand in hand with the
development of simpler and more regular
expedients that are rather less liable than the
old ones to produce misunderstandings. Otto
Jespersen 1922
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What linguists say
Progress in the absolute sense is impossible,
just as it is in morality or politics. It is
simply that different states exist, succeeding
each other, each dominated by certain general
laws imposed by the equilibrium of the forces
with which they are confronted. So it is with
language. Joseph Vendryes 1923
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Readings
Aitchison, J. Language Change. Progress or Decay.
Cambridge Cambridge University Press. Croft, W.
2000. Explaining Language Change. An Evolutionary
Approach. Harlow Longman. McMahon, A.M.S. 1995.
Understanding Language Change. Cambridge
Cambridge University Press. Hock, H.H. 1991.
Principles of Historical Linguistics. Berlin
Mouton de Gruyter. Trask, R.L. 1996. Historical
Linguistics. London Arnold.
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Course script Digitale Bibliothek
Thüringen Search History of the English language
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Everything that students have always wanted to
know about phonology (but where ashamed to ask )
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Classification of consonants

• Voicing
• Manner of articulation
• Place of articulation

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(No Transcript)
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Voiced voiceless consonants
f father v vase
s salt z zoo
t tree d door
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Manner of articulation
Plosives Fricatives Affricates Nasals Liquids Glid
es
p b t d k g ?
c J q G
C x q G
f v T D s z S Z
tS dZ
ts pf
m n Î

l r
R
w y
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Place of articulation
Bilabial Labiodental Interdental Alveolar Pala-Ale
v. Velar Uvular Pharyngeal
p b m w
f v
T D
t d s z n l r
S Z tS dZ y
c J
k g Î w
x æ
q G
É
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English consonants
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Classification of vowels

• height
• advancement
• lip rounding
• tenseness

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English vowel chart
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English diphthongs
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Phonemes and allophones
thOt top aspirated stOp stop plain
/p t k/ ? ph th kh / __, V' p t k
elsewhere
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Contrastive complementary distribution
lk lack param wind rk rack irim nam
e lif leaf pal foot rif reef mal hor
se
l ? r / V __ V l elsewhere r ? l /
__ r elsewhere
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Aspiration
thOt top aspirated stOp stop plain
/p t k/ ? ph th kh / __, V' p t k
elsewhere
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Nasalization
kæ?n can kãm come
/V/ ? V? / __N V elsewhere
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Vowel lengthening
bEd bed hv have
/V/ ? V / __ voice V elsewhere
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Flapping
böQr butter bEQr better
/t/ ? Q / after stressed syllables at
the beginning of an unstressed syllable t
elsewhere
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Morphophomemics
kts cats kis_at_z kisses dOgs dogs dZ_at_
rfs giraffes bUS_at_z bushes garaZ_at_z garages
karz cars mtS_at_z matches laIts lights
dETs deaths bÎks banks
s after voiceless speech sound z after
voiced speech sounds _at_z after sibilants
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Morphophonemics
ImpOsIbl impossible InsEns_at_tIv insensitive
IÎkOnsIst_at_nt inconsistent
m before labials n before alveolars Î before
velars
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Exercise 1

• Provide the phonetic symbol
• High front tense unrounded vowel
• Low back lax unrounded vowel
• Voiced labiodental fricative
• Voiceless palatal fricative
• Voiced velar nasal

i
a
v
S
Î
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Exercise 2
Provide the articulatory features

• z
• dZ
• y
• I
• U

Voiced, alveolar, fricative
Voiced, palatal-alveolar, affricate
Voiced, palatal, glide
High, front, lax, unrounded
High, back, lax rounded
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Exercise 3
Identify the common articulatory features

• k, Î, g, x
• v, Z, z, D
• w, y
• i, e, o, u
• e, o, O, E

velar
voiced fricatives
glides
tense vowels
mid vowels
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Exercise 4
Provide the IPA symbol for the first speech sound

• though
• easy
• knife
• thought
• contact

D

• judge
• Thomas
• physics
• civic
• use

dZ
t
i
f
n
s
T
k
y
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Exercise 5
Write in ordinary English

• ritS
• rIdZ
• kaIt
• ktSn
• TÎks
• Sules

reach
ridge
kite
action
thanks
shoelace
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Exercise 5 (Italian)
faÎgo mud tinta dye tEnda tent tEÎgo
I keep tiÎgo I dye fuÎgo mushroom nero bl
ack byaÎka shite aÎke also dansa dance
dZEnte people sapone soap
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Exercise 5 (Italian)
faÎgo mud tinta dye tEnda tent tEÎgo
I keep tiÎgo I dye fuÎgo mushroom nero bl
ack byaÎka shite aÎke also dansa dance
dZEnte people sapone soap
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Exercise 6 (German)
axt eight IC I bux book ECt real
lOx hole sprIC speak hox hoch lEC_at_ln
smile fluxt flight riC_at_n smell lax_at_n l
augh fECt_at_n to fence
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Exercise 6 (German)
axt eight IC I bux book ECt real
lOx hole sprIC speak hox hoch lEC_at_ln
smile fluxt flight riC_at_n smell lax_at_n l
augh fECt_at_n to fence
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Exercise 7 (Old English)
briÎgan to bring lUvU love driÎkan to
drink mannes mans fst fast mona moon
fifta fifth nixsta next fOlk folk Of
frian to offer fOnt font Ovans oven hat
hot non noon hloT troop rux roug
h TUÎgEn full grown l_at_Îgan to
lengthen nixt night hrvn raven
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Exercise 7 (Old English)
briÎgan to bring lUvU love driÎkan to
drink mannes mans fst fast mona moon
fifta fifth nixsta next fOlk folk Of
frian to offer fOnt font Ovans oven hat
hot non noon hloT troop rux roug
h TUÎgEn full grown l_at_Îgan to
lengthen nixt night hrvn raven
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Exercise 7 (Old English)
briÎgan to bring lUvU love driÎkan to
drink mannes mans fst fast mona moon
fifta fifth nixsta next fOlk folk Of
frian to offer fOnt font Ovans oven hat
hot non noon hloT troop rux roug
h TUÎgEn full grown l_at_Îgan to
lengthen nixt night hrvn raven
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Exercise 7 (Old English)
briÎgan to bring lUvU love driÎkan to
drink mannes mans fst fast mona moon
fifta fifth nixsta next fOlk folk Of
frian to offer fOnt font Ovans oven hat
hot non noon hloT troop rux roug
h TUÎgEn full grown l_at_Îgan to
lengthen nixt night hrvn raven
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The Indo-EuropeanLanguage Family
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Germanic
Germanic West Germanic North Germanic East
Germanic English Swedish Gothic Frisian Dani
sh Vandal German Norwegian Burgundian Yiddish
Icelandic Dutch Afrikaans
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(No Transcript)
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Romance
French Catalan Italian Galician Spain
Sardinian Portuguese Provencal Romanian Rho
mansh
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Sir William Jones
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Old Languages
Indo-European (3500) Semitic Chinese Japanese Arab
ic Turkish Dravidian African languages Native
American languages
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Phonetic evidence
You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny
hedge-hogs, be not seen Newts, and blind-worms,
do no wrong Come not near our fairy queen.
(Shakespeare)
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Phonetic evidence
cosul consul cesor censor (Latin
inscriptions)
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Phonetic evidence
We produce this letter by pressing the lower lip
on the upper teeth. The tongue is turned back
towards the roof of the mouth, and the sound is
accompanied by a gentle puff of breath.
(Roman grammarian)
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700 English 500 Armenian 400 Gothic 0 200
Latin 400 Classical Sanskrit 800 Greek 100
0 Old Persian 1200 Hittite 1500 Vedic
Sanskrit 3000 Proto Indo-European
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Sound correspondences between Sanskrit, Latin and
Greek
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English German Swedish sun Sonne sol house
Haus hus cat Katze kat apple Apfel äp
ple father Vater fader hand Hand hand go
gehen gar see sehen sar hear hören hö
ra run rennen rännar dream träumen drömar
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English-German sound correspondences
time Zeit tongue Zunge ten zehn tame zahm tent
Zelt to zu two zwei twins Zwillinge
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Second Germanic sound shift
time Zeit tongue Zunge ten zehn that das there
da through durch pan Pfanne path Pfad pole Pfahl

hat hassen eat essen let lassen grip greifen
deep tief sleep schlafen
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English-German sound correspondences
cheese child chin cheery church king
Käse Kind Kinn Kirsche Kirche König
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Sound correspondences in Romance
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Numerals in Indo-European
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PIE numbers
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Sound correspondences across unrelated languages
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(No Transcript)
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Grimms law
p t k ? f T x/h b d g ? p t k bh dh
gh ? b d g
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Exceptions to Grimms law
p t k f T x b d g
Sanskrit Old English vártate weorTan varárta we
arT vavrtimá wurdon vavrtaná worden
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Verners law
p t k ? f T x / stressed syllable __ ?
b d g / unstressed syllable __
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Neogrammarian Hypothesis
Every sound change takes place according to laws
that admit no exceptions. Karl Brugmann
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Internal Reconstruction
D T father think mother thief feather
thick heather thin weather thigh bother tha
nk