Lecture 21 & 22 - Historical Linguistics

Question 1

Define synchronic and **diachronic **linguistics

Answer 1

• Synchronic
  
  • ​Analysis of a language at a given point in time
  • What speakers know about the language they speak
  • What children learn when acquiring a language
• Diachronic
  
  • The realm of historical linguistics
  • ​Analysis of change in language over time
  • How languages are related to one another

Question 2

Do all languages change?

Answer 2

• All languages change all the time*
• eg Chaucer English vs. modern English

Question 3

Characterise the change of language

What is the implication of this?

Answer 3

“Language change is systematic**”

• esp. Phonological and syntactic change
• ie if a particular sound change occurs in one word, it is likely have changed in another word as well

Question 4

List some reasons why language changes

Answer 4

• Ease of pronunciation
  
  • ​ie through phonological processes
  • eg [kɪŋəs] > [kɪŋs] > [kɪŋz]
    
    • ​Save a syllable
    • Voicing assimilation
• Ease of understanding
  
  • ​Change to maintain understanding
  • eg *hui *→ aujourd’hui
• Ease of learning
  
  • ​Language thought to change in the learning process: children reanalyse
  • Replacement of irregular with regular forms
  • eg brought → brung
• Ease of ‘working out’
  
  • ​Reanalysis; ‘backformation’
  • ​​eg bikini → monokini
• Language contact
  
  • ​eg Norman conquest 1066
  • Prompts:
    
    • Lexical change
    • ​New phonemes: eg /ʒ/ from French into English
      
      • ​/leʒə/ ‘leisure’
    • Hypercorrection

Question 5

Describe Sound Change

Answer 5

• Systematic phonological change
• Example:
  
  • ​Old English → Modern English
  • /a:/ → /əʉ/
    
    • ​Home: /ha:m/ → /həʉm/
    • Oath: /a:θ/ → /əʉθ/

Question 6

Outline the types of sound change

Answer 6

​Unconditioned sound change

• ​​Sound change occurs in every instance

Conditioned sound change​​

• The sound changes according to the sound environment

Question 7

Outline the types of conditioned sound change

Answer 7

1. Assimilation
   
   • ​One sound becomes more like another
   1. ​Palatalisation
   2. Vowel harmony
   3. Complete assimilation
2. Dissimilation
   
   • ​​Two sounds become less similar
   • eg. [fɪfθ] → [fɪft]
3. Metathesis
   
   • ​Change in the order of sounds
4. Deletion / insertion
   
   • ​​eg deletion of word-final [ə] from Middle English to Modern English
5. Lenition
   
   • ​​’Weakening’
   • Often precedes deletion
     
     • Vowel initially weakened to [ə], then deleted

Question 8

Describe how consonants usually undergo lenition

Answer 8

There is a typical order in which consonants weaken:

1. Voiceless stop
2. Voiceless fricatives / voiced stop
3. Voiced fricatives
4. etc.

Take home messages: voiceless stops don’t just disappear, they go through a typical structure

Question 9

List types of unconditioned sound changes

Answer 9

1. Monophthongisation
   
   • ​​Diphthong → monophthong
   • eg. Rude: [rɪʊdə] → [ru:də]
2. Diphthongisation
   
   • ​​Simple vowel → complex vowel
   • **eg. **House: [hu:s] → [haʊs]
3. Raising / lowering
   
   • ​Change in the height of the tongue in production of sounds
   • eg. Noon: [no:n] → [nu:n] (raising)
4. Backing / fronting
   
   • ​​Alteration in backness or frontness of tongue
   • **eg. **American vs. Australian English
     
     • ​Path, ask, class

Question 10

Describe the Great English Vowel Shift

Answer 10

• Completed ~1400
• All long vowels were raised (unless high)
  
  • ​Goose: go:s → gu:s
• Long high vowels became diphthongs
  
  • ​Loud: lu:d → laud
• This accounts for much of the weird spelling in English
  
  • ​The current spelling reflects the old pronunciation