The Origins and Development of the English Language Chapter 4: The Backgrounds of English

1. The Origins and Development of the English Language Chapter 4: The Backgrounds of English John Algeo Michael Cheng National Chengchi University

2. English: mom miaow-miaow me pistachio choose glide Welsh mam Chinese mi-mi Swahili mimi Italian pistacchio French choisir Swedish glida Similarities between languages

3. faðer fader father vader Vater

4. faðer fader father vader Vater pére pare patēr pater padre pai pedar pitar

5. The language in the Bible is related to the language in the Rig Veda

7. Origins of the PIE hypothesis • Scholars worked from the socio-political environment in which they were raised • Before the 1800s: Bible influence • The Tower of Babel: a perfect proto-language existed

8. Origins of the PIE hypothesis • The Flood: Noah had 3 sons that repopulated the Earth: Shem, Ham, Japheth Japhetic Semitic Hamitic

9. Origins of the PIE hypothesis • James Parsons, physician • 1767 • The Remains of Japhet, Being Historical Enquiries into the Affinities and Origins of the European Languages • Compared lexical items across many languages

10. Origins of the PIE hypothesis • Irish, Welsh, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, English, Polish, Russian, Bengali, and Persian had affinities • Turkish, Hebrew, Malay, Chinese did not have affinity

11. Singh, The History of English • Page 43 • Parson’s numerical comparisons

12. Origins of the PIE hypothesis • Conclusion: Language of Europe, Iran, and India emerged from a common ancestor, the language of Japheth • Not taken seriously; doctor not a philologer

13. William Jones(September 28, 1746 – April 27, 1794) • Greek, Latin, Persian, Arabic, Chinese • Knew 13 languages; familiar with 28 • 1768 Oxford • 1773 law degree • 1783 Supreme Court judge in Calcutta

14. Origins of the PIE hypothesis • Indian culture was a new subject for European scholarship • 1786 – Sanskrit bore a resemblance to Greek, Latin, Gothic, Celtic, and possibly Persian • Sanskrit: pitar Greek: patēr Latin: pater • Suggested a common root language that no longer exists

15. Origins of the PIE hypothesis • Jones showed cognate words • Affinities in grammar • Systematic variations in sound

16. Jones’ philologer passage, 1786 • His third annual discourse before the Asiatic Society on the history and culture of the Hindus (delivered on February 2, 1786 and published in 1788) with the famed "philologer" passage is often cited as the beginning of comparative linguistics and Indo-European studies. This is Jones' most quoted passage, establishing his tremendous find in the history of linguistics: • The Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists; there is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit; and the old Persian might be added to the same family. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(philologist)

17. Languages from Iceland to India are related to a common languageBased on the geographic locations of these languages, we now call the language that Jones hypothesized Proto Indo-European

18. The Proto Indo-European people • Who were the people who spoke Proto Indo-European and where did they come from?

19. PIE dispersion hypotheses • Kurgan Migration, Marija Gimbutas • Anatolian Farmer, Colin Renfrew • Balkan • Black Sea Flood • Paleolithic Continuity Theory, DNA evidence

20. Kurgan Migration—GimbutasCognates • Based on the analysis of cognates • Cognates: “data which displayed similarities in terms of form and meaning not because of borrowing or coincidence, but because of genetic relatedness.” (Singh, 2005)

21. English: mom miaow-miaow me pistachio choose glide Welsh mam Chinese mi-mi Swahili mimi Italian pistacchio French choisir Swedish glida Similarities between languages

22. Cognates (Singh, 2005) • Core lexicon: “a set of words which, in their everyday ordinariness, remained impervious to processes such as borrowing or rapid and extensive change” • “Concepts ubiquitous to human existence” • Mother, father, daughter, son, kind, leader, sun, moon, body parts, a deity, basic numerals

23. Cognates • Comparing cognates allowed linguists to determine relationships between languages • Languages were grouped into language families • Since language change in inevitable, regular, and rule governed, it is possible to work backward and recreate lost languages • Proto Indo-European is the source of English

24. http://www.intersolinc.com/newsletters/images/Language%20Tree.gifhttp://www.intersolinc.com/newsletters/images/Language%20Tree.gif

25. Kurgan Migration--Gimbutas • Who were the people who spoke Proto Indo-European and where did they come from? • Words related to flora and fauna in the Proto-lexicon can provide an indication of: • Where they came from • Lifestyle/Culture

26. Kurgan Migration--Gimbutas • Cognates for: • Alder, apple, ash, beech, birch, elm, hazel, linden, oak, willow, yew • Wolf, bear, lox, beaver • Snow, freezing cold • No common words for: • Olive, cypress, palm, vine, coconut • Ocean • Suggests inland culture in temperate zone

27. Kurgan Migration--Gimbutas • Cognates for: • Plough, yoke, wheel, axle • Ox, cow, sheep, swine, goats, goose, fish • Milk, apples, grain, mead • Family, house, pottery • Wool, leather, wood, stone, bone • Kurgan culture fits

28. Kurgan Culture • Herded domesticated animals • Mobile – used wagons • Warrior nobility • Worshipped sky god associated with thunder (Zeus pater, Jupitar) • Sun, horse, boar, snake • Elaborate burials in mounds (kurgans)

30. 5000 BCE

31. Kurgans 4000 BCE

32. 3000 BCE Anatolian

33. Expansion 2000 BCE

34. Evolution 500 BCE

35. 500 CE Huns invade from East

36. Medieval 1500 CE Turks invade

37. Indo-European languages today

39. World Language families

40. Official Indo-European languages today

41. Anatolian Farmer Hypothesis • Colin Renfrew • Believed some significant historic event must have accompanied the expansion by the speakers of PIE • Agriculture • Language spread peacefully with the dispersion of farming technology

42. Anatolian Farmer Hypothesis • Homeland in Anatolia • Expanded into Greece in 7th century BCE

43. Armenian homeland

46. Haplogroup R1a distribution

47. Features of the Proto Indo-European Language

48. Features of Proto Indo-European • Types of languages: Isolating, Agglutinative, Inflective • Isolating • Every morpheme forms a different word • Chinese • Agglutinative (Incorporative) • Combine grammatical morphemes with a lexical stem • Grammatical morphemes are discrete & don’t change • Strung onto the lexical stem • Swahili, Turkish

49. Agglutinative example • Swahili • I will like you: nitakupenda • ni – ta – ku – penda • (I) (future) (2nd person object) (verb stem: like) • I liked you: nilakupenda • ni – la – ku – penda • (I) (past) (2nd person object) (verb stem: like) • I like him: nitampenda • ni – ta – m – penda • (I) (future) (him as object) (verb stem: like)

50. Inflective languages • Inflective • Inseparable inflections are fused to the lexical stem • Greek, Latin • I love: Amo • Am – o • (love) (first person, singular, present tense, indicative)