Language Change

In the observed world, it is a constant fact that change is

continual and inevitable. In human language the situation is no

different.

Language Change

• Up until now we have learned some basic concepts that describe human language, and looked at the components of human language

• In this unit we will look at some ways that languages change over time

Language Change

• Sir William Jones (1786)

Expert in classical languages (Latin, Greek). Studied newly discovered Sanskrit

Discovered that hundreds and hundreds of words were systematically similar

Language change

• Example of “systematic similarity”

English water ~ German vasser

Note w ~ v

t ~ ss (between vowels)

a ~ a

r ~ r

Language change

• Jones announced that this could not be the result of chance; these languages must have derived from a single source

*Cognates

• This leads to the concept of cognates:

systematically related words in different languages that derive from the same source —

an earlier word in a ‘parent’ language

Cognates

• Through looking for and finding cognates, the historical comparison of languages became possible

Cognates

• All languages change continually

• They also give clues as to how languages change over time

• Cognates show how languages are (or are not) related

Language change

• Through time languages change in several ways

Language change

A language may change in its

• phonetics

• phonology

• morphology and syntax

• semantics – (these are what changes)

p. 403, 404: Compare these texts to see examples of these changes

Language change

The primary changes involve

• sound change

• analogy

• borrowing – (these are the means of change)

*Sound change

*New sounds can occur in a language:

wife - wives /f/ → [v] / V_V

(i.e., allophone [v] voiced between vowels)

thereafter, /f/ = [f] ~ [v] → /f/, /v/

English had no distinctive /v/ until after the 11th century

(result of influence of French)

New sounds

English acquired other new sounds from French influence:

Ø → /ž/ (no yogh before French influence)

/u/ → [u] ~ [ju] (palatalized [ju] from Fr. e.g. beautiful, cute, etc.; but tune

(How do you pronounce Huber?)

Sound change

• *Sounds can change:[sk] > [∫]sceap → sheepscield → shieldscittan → shitdish?shame?

Sound change

Sounds can simply change:

hus /u/ → /au/ house [haus]

riddan /i/ → /ai/ ride [raid]

These sounds changed in all environments —

part of the Great Vowel Shift (ca. 1450 – 1600)

Sound change

• *Sounds can be lost in words or environments:

• krabba → krabbə → kræb ‘crab’

• hriŋg → riŋg → riŋ ‘ring’

• /knab/ → /nab/ ‘knob’

Sound change

• *Sounds can be inserted in words or environments

- fault, vault rhymed with thought before the 18th C. (i.e., [l] added to these words)

“O let him not debase your thoughts

Or name him but to tell his faults”

- Swift

Sound change

• Other examples of sounds being added

– host, humble (added [h])

– often (for some, added [t])

Sound change

• Sound order can change (*Metathesis) Akse → askTask → tax [ks]dox [ks] → dosc, dusk        'dusk'

(for all speakers)cavalry → calvaryalbum → ablum (for some speakers)

Effect of sound change

• One consequence of these sound changes is a change in the morphemes in which the sounds participate

Sound change

• This set of examples shows the interaction of change in phonology and morphology:

hund ~ pl. hundas → hundəs → hunds → hundz

This resulted in the (-s) plural of English today

Another example of this process of weakening and loss of inflection vowel:

eldres → eldrəs → eldrz ‘elders’

(note [s] → [z] in both e.g.s)

*Analogy

• Type of language change in which language forms change to become similar to other (familiar) forms

• This often involves a change of pattern

Analogy

• If English had a noun called wug,

what would the plural be?

2 wug__

Analogy

• Analogy can be explained as a proportion (parallel of process)

• English has hound : hounds [z]

wug : X

Analogy

A modern outcome of this process is:cow : cows

[historically, kü : kine]

kine (en plural → s plural)

This is an example of shift to (-s) plural by analogy

Analogy

• mouse ~ mice

but computer mouse ~ mouses

• ox ~ oxen

but “dumb oxes” ?

Analogy

• Examples of change in plural pattern, from an old (-en) plural to the modern (-s) plural

shoen → shoeseyen → eyeseyren→ eggs (? new word, a borrowed

Scandinavian)

But children, oxen, vixen still have (-en) pl.

Analogy

• The (-s) plural as we know it developed from the Old English plural pattern that supplied (-as) originally:

hund ~ pl. hundas → /hundəs → hunds → hundz

This was the majority pattern, so it dominated later plural formation

Analogy

Now, all new words get the (-s) plural

wug ~ wug[z] is the result of analogy

Analogy

• We see this in many plurals

stadium, stadia → stadiums

virus – viri → viruses

(e.g., coronaviruses MSNBC 4/16/03)

index ? historical Pl. is indices

child → childrens (?)

Analogy

• Dominant (regular) modern verb pattern in English usually supplies (–ed)

Analogy

geshaven → shaved

(but clean shaven?)

geladen → loaded

(but laden?)

Morphological change

• Changes in the morphology often involve the principle of analogy

Morphology and Syntax

• Reduction in morphology in three Old English noun inflections

s. pl. s. pl. s. pl.

Nom hund hundas cild cildru oxa oxan

Acc hund hundas cild cildru oxan oxan

Gen hundes hunda cildes cildra oxan oxena

Dat hunde hundam cilde cildrum oxan oxum

Of all the possibilities for noun plural morpheme, the one that persisted was the (-s), which influences other words by analogy — words with the –as plural were in the majority

Morphology and Syntax

• Verb morphology, syntaxI. old weak (-d, -t, -ed) pattern cepan cepte geceped →to keep kept kept

hieran hierde gehiered → to hear heard heard

Note: loss of vowel in participle and conditioning of (-d, -t)Otherwise unchanged in modern English

Verb morphology, syntax

• II. Strong type –source of “irregular” verb patternInf Sg. past Pl. past Part.

riddan rad ridon geriden →

to ride rode ridden

swimman swamm swummon geswummen →

to swim swam swum

gifan geaf geafon gegifen →to give gave given

Verb syntax

• changes in verb paradigms involves morpho-syntax

loss of ge- in participles

have now being used to make the forms with participle:

geshaven → have shaved

Verb changes

• How do we account forhang~ hanged ~ hung ? dive ~ dived ~ dove ?speed ~ sped ~ speeded?

(-ed by analogy?)shave ~ shaved/ shaven?load ~ loaded/ laden?drag ~ dragged (~ drug?)

Analogy

• This tendency in language for grammatical processes to conform to a familiar pattern is called analogy

Old English pronouns

Pronouns in OEM. F. N. Pl.

• Nomin. hē hē hit hī• Accus. hine hī hit hī• Dative him hire him him, heom• Genitive his hire his hira, heora

Where did ‘she’ come from?They? Them?

Other changes in morphology

• safer ~ more safe ?

• clearer ~ more clear ?

• commoner ~ more common ?

More vs. (-er)

• Couldn’t be more clear• Couldn’t be more fun• Couldn’t be more happy• Couldn’t be any more simple• The people who were the most proud• He used to be more quiet

(Do we see a tendency to replace the inflection with the word?)

Other changes in syntax?

• During our senior year we became good friends

~ Senior year we became good friends

Borrowing

• Languages import words (and occasionally grammar) from other languages

• The results, in the receiving language, are called ‘loan words’ or ‘loans’

Borrowing

• (Gr > Eng) orchestra

→ Jp. okesutora

oke| + Jp. kala => kalaoke

→ Ch. Ka la OK

and many other languages

Borrowing

• English borrows from every language it comes in contact with

boondocks < (Tag.) bundak ‘mountain’

ketchup < (Cant.) kegiap ‘eggplant paste’

beef < (Fr.) bouef ‘meat of cow’

schmooze < (Yiddish) shmues‘a chat’

Borrowing

• Borrowing in every-day languagetaco, tortilla (Esp)pizza, spaghetti (Ita)

from Persian lemon li:mu:lime li:mu:turban tulband ‘head’tulip tulband ‘head’julep gula:b ‘beverage’

Borrowing

• Spanish loans from English in border areas

cora quarter

carro car

troka truck

parkiar park

(cf. estacionar)

marketa market

(ie. for grocery shopping)

Borrowing

• Borrowing by Japanese

McDonald’s macudonaludo

Taxi takushi

Borrowing

• Borrowing by Chinese

幽默 you mo < humor

士多 si duo < store

巴士 bashi (or basi) < bus

咖啡 kafei < café (Port.)

坦克 tanke < tank (mil.)

Borrowing

• Even affixes are borrowedsuffixes: (-or) actor, monitor(-ee) honoree, tutee(-ette) cigarette, statuette, novelette

(dudette? reporterette?)(-iat) commentariat(-nik) peacenik, computernik, MITnik

Borrowing

• Borrowing has been an extremely important method of expanding the vocabulary of English

• All of English high culture vocabulary are borrowed from French:

Education, government, television, congregation, biology, linguistics, athletics

[p. 446]

Borrowing

• Loan translation (calque) involves borrowing words or phrases via translation into borrowing language:

Long time no see borrowed from

Ch. 好久不見　 hao jiu bu jian

It’s me from Fr. C’est moi

Ch. 洗腦　 xi nao from Eng. brain washing

G. fernsprechan from Eng. telephone

Reborrowing

• CH 電 dian ‘electric’ → Jp. den

話 hua ‘speech’ → Jp. wa

Eng. telephone → Jp. 電話 den + wa

→ Ch. 電話 dian hua[Chinese reborrowed its own words in

compounded form]