Historical ling Flashcards
How many division are there in the history of English
5
Which divisons are reconstruced (have no records)
Proto-germanic (500-0) , proto-west-germanic
What is language family
group of related languages derived from same ancestor
What is proto-language
ancestor of a language family
Language family happens when…
ling community splits in two, and the 2 evolve seperately
Is mutual intelligibility lost?
Yes eventually
What is the ancestor. When and where?
Proto-Indo-european (PIE). 5000-7000 years ago in Ukraine/Turkey
What are the Indo-european subfamilies? * look slides
Germanic, romance, balto-slavic, greek, albanian.
What is sound change?
Phonological change that was once active in the language - left its mark on the language
Was sound change regular and systematic? Why
Yes. Its not usual that change happens word by word
What happens when one language undergo change and one do not
Reduce intelligibility.
What is comparative reconstruction
When comparing related languages reveal properties of ancestral language
Can we undo a change to go further back in time
Yes
At the end of reconstruction process, what should happen
related languages should converge on a single form
Comparative reconstruction is a methode efficte at what range (years)
10 000 years
What are the 5 categories of history of english
proto-germanic
proto-west-germanic
old english
middle english
modern english
Can languages families be contained in languages families
Yes
English is a part of what indo-european subfamily
germanic
true or false. languistics changes are consistent within a language
true
The method of comparative reconstruction works at ranges of
10,000 years
when does modern english start
1500-2000
