Chapter 17: Language History and Change Flashcards
philogy
the study of language history and change
what is the language family with the largest distribution and population in the world?
indo-european
about how many language families exist?
30
what language has the most native speakers?
chinese, then spanish, then english
cognates
a word in one language that has similar form and past/present meaning with a word from another language
comparitive reconstruction
using information from sets of cognates to reconstruct the proto form
majority principle
if 3 words begin with [p] and one begins with [b], [p] is likely the original
most natural development principle
certain sound changes are common, some are unlikely
final vowels often disappear
vino -> vin
voiceless sounds often become voiced
muta -> muda
stops become fricatives
ripa -> riva
consonants become voiceless at the end of words
rizu -> ris
old english time period:
pre 1100
middle english time period:
1100 - 1500
early modern english time period:
1500 - 1700
modern english time period:
1700 - present
what are some words from old english?
mann (man), wif (woman), cild (child), hus (house),
drincan (drink), etan (eat)
what are some words from middle english?
norman french influence:
army, arrest, court, defense, faith, prison
external change
outside influence on language
(norman french, old norse)
internal change
change within the language,
often sound; [e] -> [i] (hay -> he)
metathesis
reveral of the position of two sounds in a word
(bridd -> bird, hros -> horse, parabola -> palabra)
epenthesis
addition of a sound to the middle of a word
(spinel -> spindle, timr -> timber, something -> “sumpthing”)
prothesis
addition of a sound to the beginning of a word
(schola -> escuela, scribere -> escribir, spiritus -> espiritu)
what syntactic change did english undergo?
VSO -> SVO
semantic changes:
loss of once-common words (egad, lo)
words with additional, different meanings (awfully, terribly)
broadening of meaning (holy day -> holiday)
narrowing of meaning (hund (dog) -> hound)
what is the most pervasive source of change in language?
cultural transmission
diachronic change
historical perspective of change over time
synchronic change
differences in the same language between certain groups at the same time
