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Language Change

Language Change. Lec . 6. Language change. All living languages change Linguistic change is slow Many languages changes are revealed in written records Changes take place at all levels of the language system (phonology-morphology-syntax-semantics-lexicon) Latin & Romance languages

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Language Change

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  1. Language Change Lec. 6

  2. Language change • All living languages change • Linguistic change is slow • Many languages changes are revealed in written records • Changes take place at all levels of the language system (phonology-morphology-syntax-semantics-lexicon) • Latin & Romance languages • Natural changes occurs wherever human language is spoken • Sign languages change in ways similar to the changes taking place in spoken languages

  3. The Historical Stages of English

  4. 449-1066Old English Beowulf • Wolde guman findan bone be him on sweofote sare getoed • He wanted to find the man who harmed him while he slept • Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote… • The droght of March hathperced to the roote… • When April with its sweet showers… • The drought of March has peirced to the root… • A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm 1066-1500 Middle English Canterbury Tales 1500-present Modern English Hamlet

  5. 1. Phonological Change • English underwent a systematic phonological change or ‘sound shift’ in which /u:/ became // • Phonological changes are regular as they affect certain sounds , or classes of sounds, rather than individual words • Changes in phonological rules usually result in dialect differences • E.g. In middle English: //= /u:/ • Mouse /mu:s/ → // • House /hu:s/ → // • Out // //

  6. Phonological Change The inventory of phoneme can change through the addition, deletion or change of some phonemes: 1.Velar fricative /x/ is no longer part of the phonemic inventory of most Modern English dialects. Scottish dialect retained /x/in some words, e.g. loch) e.g. Night /nixt/, drought /druxt/, milk /milx/ 2. Old English did not have the phoneme //, which was added to English through the Norman Conquest 3. Old English had a geminate phoneme /f:/ in addition to the fricative /f/, which disappeared in Modern English 4. Old English lacked the fricative /v/, which used to be an allophone in Old English, then it became a phoneme in its own right. *Changes in the phonological rules usually result in dialect differences

  7. A protolanguage is the ancestral language from which related languages have developedThese languages are genetically related e.g. Romance languages

  8. /f/-/p/ regular sound correspondence Latin Proto-Germanic • English /f/ • Father • Fish • French / Spanish /p/ • Père padre • Poisson pescado

  9. The Great Vowel Shift 1400-1600 Vowels of Middle English underwent the following change : Middle English • [i:] → [ai] • [u:] → [a] • [ea] → [i:] • [] → [] Modern English /mi:s/ → /mai:s/ mice /mu:s/ → /ms/ mouse /geaz/ → /gi:z/geese /gz/ → /g/goose

  10. The Great Vowel Shift & Spelling The Great Vowel Shift is a primary source of many spelling inconsistency of English because the spelling system reflects the way words were pronounced before the Great Vowel Shift

  11. 2. Morphological Change • Phonological changes in English resulted in the loss of many case endings. • Modern English has replaced its depleted case system with an equally expressive system of prepositions

  12. 3. Syntactic Change Old English Modern English • Fixed word order • (SVO) only • Negation (not / do no/ never) • The negative element comes after the auxiliary verb • The extended use of the possessive morpheme (‘s) • Double negatives are ungrammatical in many English dialects • Double comparatives or superlatives are ungrammatical (more gladder) • Free word order (case endings) • Both (SVO) & (SOV) • Negation (na / ne + verb) • The negative element preceded the auxiliary verb • The extensive use of the prep. (of) • Double negative were grammatical • Double comparatives & superlatives were grammatical (more gladder / more lower / most shamefullest)

  13. 4. Lexical change / addition of new words Coinage Borrowing (natives vs. nonnatives) To borrow a word or a morpheme from another language; the pronunciation of the new word is often altered. Why?? • Arabic – alcohol / mocha / Cummins • French – croissant / cuisine / saloon • Italian – piano / cappuccino / pasta • Persian – lilac • German – pretzel • Turkish – yogurt • Arabic - mocha To make a totally new word • Tide • Clorox • Kleenex • Jello • Xerox • Panadol • Cloning, stem sells,

  14. 4. Lexical change / addition of new words Compounds Blending The blending of 2 words to produce a single term • Smoke + fog = smog • Motor + hotel = motel • Breakfast + lunch = brunch • Spoon + fork = spork • Channel + tunnel = Chunnel • The joining of 2 separate words to produce one word • Breakfast • Internet • Facebook • Pickpocket • Lifejacket • Sunburn / Heartburn • wall paper • Finger print • Soft copy • Remote control

  15. 4. Lexical change / addition of new words Clipping Backformation A noun is reduced to form another word, usually a verb • Email  to email • Television  to televise • Fax  to fax • Editor  to edit The reduction of a word to a shorter form by removing one of its syllables • Caravan  van • Brassiere  bra • Advertisement  ads • Condominium  condo • Influenza  flue • Mathematics  math

  16. 4. Lexical change / addition of new words Conversion Folk etymology A change in the form of a word or phrase resulting from a mistaken assumption about its composition or meaning • Vampire • Paella A change in the function of word • Butter  to butter • Window  to window • Paper  to paper

  17. 5. Semantic change • A. broadening Doggie Holiday Mouse, cookie, virus, bundle, etc.

  18. 5. Semantic change • B. Narrowing Meat (food) Deer (animal) Hound (dog)

  19. 5. Semantic change • Meaning shift Terrorist Knight (youth) Silly (happy)

  20. Reference • Fromkin et al. (2003).An Introduction to Language. (7th ed.). Mass.: Wadsworth / Chapter: (11) pp. 499-516

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