Loading [MathJax]/extensions/TeX/newcommand.js
Skip to main content
Library homepage
 

Text Color

Text Size

 

Margin Size

 

Font Type

Enable Dyslexic Font
Social Sci LibreTexts

8: Historical Linguistics

  • Catherine Anderson, Bronwyn Bjorkman, Derek Denis, Julianne Doner, Margaret Grant, Nathan Sanders, and Ai Taniguchi
  • eCampusOntario

\newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } 

\newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}}

\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}} \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}

\newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}} \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}

\newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}} \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}

\newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}

\newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}

\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}

\newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}

\newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}

\newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}

\newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}

\newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}

\newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}

\newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}

\newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}

\newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}} \newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}

\newcommand{\vectorA}[1]{\vec{#1}}      % arrow

\newcommand{\vectorAt}[1]{\vec{\text{#1}}}      % arrow

\newcommand{\vectorB}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } 

\newcommand{\vectorC}[1]{\textbf{#1}} 

\newcommand{\vectorD}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} 

\newcommand{\vectorDt}[1]{\overrightarrow{\text{#1}}} 

\newcommand{\vectE}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{\mathbf {#1}}}}

\newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } 

\newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}}

\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a} \newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b} \newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c} \newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d} \newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}} \newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e} \newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f} \newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n} \newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p} \newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q} \newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s} \newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t} \newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u} \newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v} \newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w} \newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x} \newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y} \newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z} \newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r} \newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m} \newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0} \newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1} \newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R} \newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]} \newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}} \newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B} \newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C} \newcommand{\scal}{\cal S} \newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W} \newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E} \newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}} \newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}} \newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}} \newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}} \newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}} \newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}} \renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}} \newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}} \newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}} \newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}} \newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|} \newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}} \newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}} \newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp} \newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}} \newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}} \newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}} \newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}} \newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}} \newcommand{\lt}{<} \newcommand{\gt}{>} \newcommand{\amp}{&} \definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}
Learning Objectives

When you have completed this chapter, you will be able to:

  • Explain that language change does not, overall, affect the complexity of language.
  • Demonstrate that language change often has complex effects and occurs cyclically.
  • Explain how the methods of historical linguistics can be used to demonstrate and document the historical relationships between and within languages
  • Analyze and classify language changes according to their type and cause, using technical terminology

Language is always changing. Many people find it inherently interesting to discover historical connections and common origins between words and grammatical structures. But studying language change can provide us with more than just interesting connections. The kinds of change that occur can also tell us a lot about the nature of language. For example, many kinds of language change happen in cyclical patterns. This indicates that there is not an overall trend towards simplification or complexity, but rather that the range of variation in human language is somewhat stable. We cannot travel back in time to see how people used to speak, but in this chapter we will discuss some of the ways that languages have changed, and also what kind of evidence we use to figure it out.

People sometimes have strong opinions about the effects of language change, and advocate for the older, ‘pure’ version of a language. But how far back do we have to go to find the ‘pure’ language? Is 100 years enough? How did that compare to the language from 1000 years ago? The fact of the matter is that, just like different dialects aren’t necessarily any better or worse than each other, neither are different historical stages of a language. Language changes occur in systematic ways that compensate for each other and preserve overall the level of complexity and expressiveness of language.

  • 8.1: Language Change Facts and Definitions
    The page discusses historical linguistics, contrasting synchronic and diachronic language change. Sarah Harmon, the expert on this topic, shares personal experiences with Italian dialects to illustrate the concept of diachronic change over centuries. Key insights include language change being rule-governed, affecting all linguistic components, and being relentless.
  • 8.2: Reconstructions and Analysis
    The page discusses the process of reconstructing and analyzing proto-languages using the comparative method, focusing primarily on phonetics and phonology rather than lexical reconstruction. The method involves comparing reliable data from related languages to hypothesize what the earlier language sounded like. Differences in sounds are analyzed to determine which were likely present in the original language.
  • 8.3: Phonological change
    The page discusses phonological changes, both sporadic and regular, in spoken and signed languages. Sporadic changes include metathesis, where sounds swap positions, as seen in certain ASL signs and the historical pronunciation of the English word "ask." Regular changes affect all instances of certain sounds in a given environment, such as the transition from Old to Modern English.
  • 8.4: Indo-European and Romance Phonological Reconstruction
    The page discusses the phonological reconstruction of Indo-European and Romance languages, focusing on the vast historical data available for these languages, which aids in understanding language evolution. It highlights the processes of identifying common sounds in child languages to infer probable sounds in their parent language, like Proto-Indo-European, showcasing examples from Romance languages.
  • 8.5: Stages of English
    The page discusses the evolution of the English language, highlighting its unique characteristics due to the Great Vowel Shift and the influence of other languages over time. It outlines the transition from Old English, similar to Old High German, through the Middle English period marked by French influence after the Norman invasion, to Modern English by the 1500s.
  • 8.6: Morphological change
    This page explores morphological changes in languages, focusing on paradigms, analogy, reanalysis, and folk etymology. A paradigm involves patterns of root morphemes and inflectional affixes. Analogy can modify these patterns, often leading to analogical leveling or extension. Reanalysis shifts morpheme boundaries, affecting words' structure without changing their morphemes. Folk etymology involves reinterpretations of words' origins, sometimes leading to new morphemes.
  • 8.7: Syntactic and Lexical Changes
    The document discusses syntactic and lexical changes in languages, focusing on English, Germanic, Romance languages, and variations within them. It examines how morphological changes affect word order and the historical establishment of languages' syntactic structures. The text further explores linguistic phenomena such as borrowing constructions in Creoles, reanalysis, and semantic shifts.
  • 8.8: Typology
    The page discusses the concept of typology in linguistics, exploring how language change affects language families and patterns across different languages. It delves into the contributions of Joseph Greenberg, highlighting his work on African languages, language families, and the identification of universal patterns and tendencies within languages.
  • 8.9: Language Families
    This page is a detailed script discussing various language families around the world. It covers language families such as Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Afro-Asiatic, Austronesian, Trans New Guinea, Uralic, and Macro-Altaic, providing insights into their history, characteristics, and geographical distribution. The script also explores the concept of linguistic supergroups, showing how migration and historical events influence language development.
  • 8.10: Writing Systems
    The page discusses the evolution and significance of writing systems throughout human history, touching on both historic and modern systems. It explains the transformation from early ideograms, such as cave drawings, to more complex systems like hieroglyphics, cuneiform, and modern alphabets. The article explores various writing systems like Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sumerian cuneiform, and abjads used in Arabic and Hebrew.
  • 8.11: Arabic and Romance- A Comparison (Optional)
    The document explores the idea that Arabic is not a single language but a group of related languages, akin to the Romance languages. It addresses Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) versus the colloquial versions spoken in different regions. The discussion extends to the mutual intelligibility among Arabic dialects and their historical development.


This page titled 8: Historical Linguistics is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Catherine Anderson, Bronwyn Bjorkman, Derek Denis, Julianne Doner, Margaret Grant, Nathan Sanders, and Ai Taniguchi (eCampusOntario) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

Support Center

How can we help?