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LING 201 > Historical Linguistics > Flashcards

Historical Linguistics Flashcards

1
Q

What is historical linguistics?

A

The nature of language and sound change

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2
Q

Periods of English

A 
Old English (450-1100)
Middle English (1100-1500)
Shakespeare (1600)
Modern English (1600- present)
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3
Q

T or F: Language change is systematic

A

true

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4
Q

T or F: Most linguistics variation leads to change

A

false

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5
Q

How does language change begin?

A

synchronic variation

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6
Q

Causes of Language Change

A
  • Articulatory/ acoustic simplification
  • Language acquisition
  • Language contact
  • Social factors
  • Preference for major causes
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7
Q

T or F: Spelling is a major cause for language change

A

false

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8
Q

T or F: Laziness and speaker effort are major causes for language change

A

false

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9
Q

How do sound changes begin?

A

phonetic variation that differs in a particular environment

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10
Q

Articulatory sound change factors

A
  • assimilation
  • disasimilation
  • epenthesis
  • metathesis
  • weakening/ deletion
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11
Q

Auditory sound change factors

A
  • phonological change
  • mergers
  • splits
  • shifts
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12
Q

Assimilation

A

Sounds become more articulatorily similar along some dimension (ex. palatalization)

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13
Q

Palatalization

A

Velar, alveolar, dental stops become more palatal before front vowels/ glides (/j/)

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14
Q

Dissasimilation

A

Similar sounds become less similar

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15
Q

T or F: Disasimilation is more common than assimilation

A

false

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16
Q

Epenthesis

A

Insertion of a sound in a particular enviornment that can serve as a bridge between adjacent sounds

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17
Q

Metathesis

A

Change in the relative positioning of segments

18
Q

Weakening/ Deletion

A

Weakening: Making a sound less strong
Deletion: Complete weakening

19
Q

Substitution

A

Segment replaced with a similar sounding segment

20
Q

Splits

A

Allophones become contrastive (adding a phoneme)

21
Q

Tonogenesis

A

Type of split thought to be how tone systems emerge. Adjacent consonant affects vowel pitch.

22
Q

Mergers

A

2 or more phonemes collapse into one

23
Q

Shifts

A

Several phonemes change, resulting in a new overall organization of the sound system.

24
Q

Causes of Phonological Shift

A

Languages like to use the whole vowel quadrangle; causes changes in one vowel to push/ pull others.

25
Q

Phonological Change

A

Sound changes that change the phonological system by adding, eliminating and rearranging phonemes

26
Q

Types of phonological change

A

Splits, tonogenesis, mergers, and shifts

27
Q

S-Shaped Curve

A

The trend that language change follows

28
Q

T or F: Language and sound changes are regular

A

True

29
Q

Lexical diffusion

A

Change spreads word to word

30
Q

T or F: Language change must spread through the community

A

True

31
Q

Genetically related languages

A

Two languages that descend from a common parent

32
Q

What do striking similarities between words indicate?

A

The languages are closely/ distantly related

33
Q

Comparative method

A

Reconstructing earlier forms of a language by comparing newer forms

34
Q

Cognates

A

Words descended from a common source

35
Q

Proto- Language

A

Reconstructed (original) language

36
Q

Proto-Forms

A

Reconstructions of earlier (original) forms

37
Q

Steps of the comparative method

A
  1. identify sound correspondences in the cognate list same position in the word
  2. reconstruct proto-form for each correspondence and hypothesize sound changes
38
Q

Phonetic Plausibility

A

Sound changes posited should be plausible

39
Q

Majority rules

A

Most common -> proto form

40
Q

Techniques of reconstruction in order of importance

A
  1. logic
  2. phonetic plausibility
  3. majority rules

LING 201 (10 decks)

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