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
