Why are there so many languages in the world?

Richard McGinn

Linguistics Department

Two-part answer:

1. ??

2. ??

Why are there so many languages in the world?

Two-part answer:

1. PEOPLE MOVE

2. ??

Why are there so many languages in the world?

Two-part answer:

2. LANGUAGES CHANGE

Why are there so many languages in the world?

People Move: Diamond-Bellwood Hypothesis

Link is here. Jared Diamond and Peter Bellwood team up to provide an interdisciplinary hypothesis concerning the history of human migrations and the major reasons peoples, cultures and especially technologies can differ so dramatically. Their data draws on findings in linguistics, archeology, agriculture and animal husbandry.

FIVE HUMAN MIGRATIONSOUT OF AFRICA

Earliest Migrations 100 K – 40 K bpLuigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (2000)

Migrations To 10 K bpLuigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (2000)

Farmers / Fishermen in SEA and the Pacific: 6000 – 1000 bp

Proto-SapiensMerritt Ruhlen 1994

Why are there so many languages in the world?

2. Languages Change

Theory of Divergence(Crowley, p. 23 & pp. 226-238)

1. Languages change systematically.

2. Barriers reduce the density of intercommunication.

3. The changes are statistically independent.

In 1786 Sir William Jones announced to the Asiatick Society of Calcutta that Sanskrit was related to Greek and Latin, touching off what would come to be known as the Neogrammarian movement away from philology (the comparison of written texts) to what we now consider linguistics (the study of spoken languages). If you lived in 1786, and you were presented with a large number of cognates like the following, you would likely also conclude that all these languages must be related.

Some Indo-European LanguagesSanskrit Avestan Greek Latin Gothic English pita pater pater fadar father padam poda pedem fotu foot bhratar phrater frater brothar brother bharami barami phero fero baira bear jivah jivo wiwos qius quick

‘living' sanah hano henee senex sinista senile virah viro wir wair were(-

wolf) 'man'

tryah tris tres thri three daśa deka decem taihun ten śatam satem -katon centum hund(rath)

hund(red)

TWO CLASSIFICATION PROBLEMS

(Handouts)

Quote of the day:

“Most historical linguists have no appreciation of the difference between classification and reconstruction.”

-- Merrit Ruhlen, The Origin of Language (1994:127)

Two Fundamental Principles of Historical Linguistics

1. Arbitrariness of the sign2. Regularity of sound change

Fundamental Principles

1. Arbitrariness of the sign underlieslinguistic classification.

2. Regularity of sound change underlies reconstruction of

protolanguages.

Two Fundamental Principles

Any regular correspondences?(5 minutes small discussion groups)

Sanskrit Avestan Greek Latin Gothic English pita pater pater fadar father padam poda pedem fotu foot bhratar phrater frater brothar brother bharami barami phero fero baira bear jivah jivo wiwos qius quick

‘living' sanah hano henee senex sinista senile virah viro wir wair were(-

wolf) 'man'

tryah tris tres thri three daśa deka decem taihun ten śatam satem -katon centum hund(rath)

hund(red)

YOU HAVE DISCOVERED ASPECTS OF GRIMM’S LAW

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~clunis/wow/grimm/reverse-frames.html

Do the principles of sound change and reconstruction only apply to European languages?

A good question once, now fully settled based on 200 years of research on the world’s languages.

King of Amerian Structuralism

One of Bloomfield’s (1925:130) many significant accomplishments was his successful application of the Regularity Hypothesis in the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquin, to “dispose of the notion that the usual processes of linguistic change were suspended on the American continent.”-- Robert W. Murray, The place of historical linguistics in the age of structuralism. In Sylvain Auroux, ed. (2000). History of the language sciences, Chapter XXXVII, p. 2437.

Revised Theory of Divergence(Crowley, p. 23 & pp. 226-238)

1. Language change is regular.2. Barriers reduce the density of

intercommunication.3. The changes are statistically

independent.

OUT OF TAIWAN: THE AUSTRONESIAN DIASPORA

Farmers / Fishermen in SEA and the Pacific: 6000 – 1000 bp

Common Words in Six Austronesian Languages

Engl Rukai Tagalog Bidayŭh Rejang Samoan Malagasy Rawas

Two dosa da-lawa duə duə lua rua

Four səpatə apat umpᴧt pat fi əfatraFive lima lima rimə ləmaw lima dimiSix ənəm anim inəm num ono ëninäBird (n.c. manok manuk monoʔ manu n.d.Louse koco kuto gutu gutəw gutu haoEye maca mata matə matəy mata masoEar caliŋa taliŋa (kapiŋ) (tiʔuʔ) taliŋa tadiniLiver axay atay ati atuy ate atiRoad dalan daʔan jᴧrᴧn dalən ala n.d.Coconut abarə niyog (buntᴧn) niol niu n.d.Rain odalə ulan ujᴧn ujən ua uranäSky n.c. laŋit raŋit läŋät laŋi laniträStone n.c. bato batuh butəw fatu `fruit pit‘ vatoEat kane kaʔin maʔan kaʔən ʔai hanä 

Why Reconstruction Is Necessary

Number of

differences Rejang Malay PMP English(Musi dialect)

(1)matəy mata *mata eye

(2)tiləy tali *tali rope

(3)oloa ulur *hulur to lower

(4)bioa air *wahiR water

biləy ari *waRi day

ESTIMATED DATES OF MIGRATIONSBased on archeological record (Peter Bellwood)

So. China Taiwan 6000 bp No. Philippines 5000 bp So. Philippines 4000 bp Borneo, Sulawesi, Moluccas 3500 bp Micronesia, Coastal New Guinea 3500 bp Timor, Flores (Eastern Indonesia) 3000 bp Malaya, Sumatra, Java, Vietnam 2500 bp Hawaii, Madagascar 1500 bp New Zealand 1000 bp

RECONSTRUCTING GREATER TIME DEPTH REQUIRES A DIFFERENT METHODAS EXPLAINED IN THE FILM “In search of the first language”

LING 485/585

WINTER 2010