Language change

Historical Linguistics

1. Language Change
(Historical Linguistics)
Level-8

2. Introduction
•Languagechangeisthephenomenonbywhichpermanentalterations
aremadeinthefeaturesandtheuseofalanguageovertime.
•Allnaturallanguageschange,andlanguagechangeaffectsallareasof
languageuse.Levelsoflanguagechangeincludesound
changes,lexicalchanges,semanticchanges,andsyntacticchanges.
•Itisstudiedbybothhistoricallinguistsandsociolinguists.
DiachronicChange–(HistoricalLinguists)thechangeinlanguages
overtime.
e.g.OldEnglish>MiddleEnglish>ModernEnglish
SynchronicChange–(Sociolinguists)theoriginsorthecausesof
languagechangeshowlanguagechangeswithsocietyorinparticular
period.
e.g.PunjabiinPakistanandPunjabiinIndia

3. Types of changes
1.IncrementalChangeIsthecreationofnewvocabularyusedto
designatesomephysicalinvention,newsocialmotivationornew
itemsofknowledge.
e.g.“Selfie”,“emoji”etc.addedindictionaries
2.DecrementalChangewordsthatarenotusedanymoresincethe
objectisnotlongerused.
e.g.Cassette,floppydisketc.

4. Language Change Overview
JeanAitchisonisoneofthebiggestcontributorstothisarea
throughherbook“LanguageChange:ProgressorDecay?”
(1991).Withinthisshepositsthatthereare3waysofviewingthe
phenomenonoflanguagechange:
1.Decay(CouldbebothConsciousandUnconscious)
e.g. Loss of Rhotic ‘r’ –Unconscious
2. Progress (Could be Natural or Social)
e.g. /b/ sound lost in ‘thumb’ –natural
3. Neither progress nor decay, but inevitable.

5. Jeanfeltthatchangescouldbebothconsciousandunconscious.
1.InWilliamLabov’sNewYorkstudy,hiselicitationofspontaneous
versuscarefulspeechhighlightedthatNewYorkerswereconsciously
movingtowardstheuseofarhotic/r/,asthisoccurredmoreincareful
speech.Thiscanthereforebeassociatedwithovertprestige,moving
towardsthemostdesirable(standard)variety.
2.Languagechangecomesaboutthroughavarietyofcauses.Someare
naturalandsomearesocial.
AnexampleofanaturalcauseisthephenomenonofEaseof
articulationwherebylanguagechangesbecausepeopletrytomake
combinationsofsoundseasiertosay.E.g.theword„thumb‟lostthe/b/
soundduetoomission/elisionbydroppingthefinalconsonant.

6. Theories of language change
1.FunctionaltheoryproposedbyM.A.K.Halliday,positsthat
languagechangesaccordingtotheneedsofitsusers.This
mainlycoverslexicalchange.Thistendstotaketheformof:
1.newdiscoveries/learning/inventions.
2.Technologicalwords
3.Slangs
Eval:thistheorymakesalotofsensebutcannotaccountfor
alllanguagechangeasitfocusesonlyonlexicalchange.

7. NEW
OLD

8. 2.Randomfluctuationtheorywassupportedby2linguists.
I.PaulPostalsaidthatlanguageisasunpredictableasfashionand
thereforechangesinlanguagearetotallyrandom.
II.CharlesHockettproposedadifferentangle,thatrandom“mistakes‟
leadtolanguagechanging.
Eval:1.Thiswouldleadtolinguisticchaos;2.Changesthatoccurin
differentlanguagesaretoosimilartoberandom;Notallelementschange
(e.g.grammar)
3.Substratumtheoryexplainschangesinlanguagecomingthrough
languagecontact.Inthepastthishappenedmainlythroughtradeand
invasion.Nowadaysitmighthappenthroughsocialnetworkingand
immigration.
Eval:1.Againthistheoryaccountsforsomeaspectsoflanguagechange
butcannotbethesolereasonforit.

9. 4.S-CurvetheorybyChen
(1972)&Bailey(1973)mainly
explainsthemoresocial
changeswithinalinguistic
community.
Languagechangeresembles
anS-Curveasitstartsby
graduallybeingusedtobeing
hugelyusedandthen
droppingdowntoastable
levelofuse.
Potential
Implementation
Diffusion

10. 5.Thewavetheory(GermanWellentheorie)orthewavemodelwasfirst
suggestedbyJohannesSchmidt(1972).Thistheorysuggeststhat
linguisticinnovationsspreadfromonelanguageordialectthroughcontact
onthepartofspeakersofneighboringlanguagesanddialects;languages
oftenshareinnovationsthatcannotbeattributedtoacommonancestor.

11. Routes to language change
Therearemanydifferentroutestolanguagechange.Changescantake
originateinlanguagelearning,orthroughlanguagecontact,social
differentiation,andnaturalprocessesinusage.
1.Languagelearning:Languageistransformedasitistransmitted
fromonegenerationtothenext.Eachindividualmustre-createa
grammarandlexiconbasedoninputreceivedfromparents,older
siblingsandothermembersofthespeechcommunity.Theexperience
ofeachindividualisdifferent,andtheprocessoflinguisticreplicationis
imperfect,sothattheresultisvariableacrossindividuals.However,a
biasinthelearningprocess--forinstance,towardsregularization--will
causesystematicdrift,generationbygeneration.Inaddition,random
differencesmayspreadandbecome'fixed',especiallyinsmall
populations.

12. •Languagecontact:Migration,conquestandtradebringspeakersof
onelanguageintocontactwithspeakersofanotherlanguage.Some
individualswillbecomefullybilingualaschildren,whileotherslearna
secondlanguagemoreorlesswellasadults.Insuchcontact
situations,languagesoftenborrowwords,sounds,constructionsand
soon.
•Socialdifferentiation.Socialgroupsadoptdistinctivenormsofdress,
adornment,gestureandsoforth;languageispartofthepackage.
Linguisticdistinctivenesscanbeachievedthroughvocabulary(slang
orjargon),pronunciation(usuallyviaexaggerationofsomevariants
alreadyavailableintheenvironment),morphologicalprocesses,
syntacticconstructions,andsoon.

13. •Naturalprocessesinusage.Rapidorcasualspeechnaturally
producessuchasassimilation,dissimilation,syncopeandapocope.
Throughrepetition,particularcasesmaybecomeconventionalized,
andthereforeproducedeveninslowerormorecarefulspeech.Word
meaningchangeinasimilarway,throughconventionalizationof
processeslikemetaphorandmetonymy.
•Internalandexternalsourcesoflanguagechange
Somelinguistsdistinguishbetweeninternalandexternalsourcesof
languagechange,with"internal"sourcesofchangebeingthosethat
occurwithinasinglelinguisticcommunity,andcontactphenomena
beingthemainexamplesofanexternalsourceofchange.

14. Levels of language change
Changes occur on the following levels of language.
1.Phonological (sounds)
2.Syntactic (structure)
3.Semantic (meaning)
4.Lexical (words)

15. 1-Phonological(sounds)change
•Overtime,thesoundsoflanguagestendtochange.
•Anunderstandingofsoundchangeistrulyimportantforhistorical
linguisticsingeneral,andthisneedstobestressed-itplaysan
extremelyimportantroleinthecomparativemethodandhencealsoin
linguisticreconstruction,ininternalreconstruction,indetecting
loanwords,andindeterminingwhetherlanguagesarerelatedtoone
another.
•Sound change is the most thoroughly studied area of historical
linguistics.

16. Termsforchangesinpronunciation
Inhistoricallinguistics,anumberoftraditionaltermsdesignatetypesofphoneticchange,either
bynatureorresult.Someofthemareasfollows;
Assimilationisacommonphonologicalprocessbywhichonesoundbecomesmorelikea
nearbysound.Thiscanoccureitherwithinawordorbetweenwords.Itoccursinnormalspeech,
anditbecomesmorecommoninmorerapidspeech.Inrapidspeech,forexample,"handbag"is
oftenpronounced/ˈhæmbæɡ/.Thepronunciations/ˈhænbæɡ/or/ˈhændbæɡ/are,however,
commoninnormalspeech,whereastheword"cupboard",forexample,isalways
pronounced/ˈkʌbərd/,never/ˈkʌpbɔːrd/,eveninslow,highlyarticulatedspeech.
Dissimilationisaphenomenonwherebysimilarconsonantsorvowelsinawordbecomeless
similar.Forexample,whena/r/soundoccursbeforeanotherinthemiddleofawordinrhotic
dialectsofEnglish,thefirsttendstodropout,asin"suprise"forsurprise,"paticular"forparticular,
and"govenor"forgovernor
.
MetathesisTwosoundsswitchplaces.Example:OldEnglishthriddabecameMiddle
Englishthird.Mostsuchchangesaresporadic,butoccasionallyasoundlawisinvolved.The
processhasshapedmanyEnglishwordshistorically.BirdandhorsecamefromOld
Englishbriddandhros.

17. Elision:(1)aphaeresis,(2)syncope,and(3)apocopeallloosesounds.Elision
isthelossofunstressedsounds,aphaeresisthelossofinitialsounds,syncope
isthelossofmedialsounds,andapocopeisthelossoffinalsounds.
1.Aphaeresisisthelossofoneormoresoundsfromthebeginningofaword,
especiallythelossofanunstressedvowel,forexample,OldFrenchestable>
EnglishstableandOldEnglishcneo>Englishknee→/ˈniː/.
2.Syncopeisthelossofoneormoresoundsfromtheinteriorofaword,
especiallythelossofanunstressedvowel.Englishsoften,hasten,castle,etc.(t
islostinallthesewords).
3.Apocopeisthelossofoneormoresoundsfromtheendofaword,
Proto-Germanic*landą→Old,Middle, and Modern Englishland
Old Englishlufu→ Modern Englishlove(noun)
Vowel change in a language refers to the any of various changes in the
acoustic quality of vowels, which are related to the changes in stress, sonority,
duration, loudness, articulation or position in the word. Based on vowel change.

18. TheGreat Vowel Shift
Theterm“TheGreatVowelShift”isusedtodescribeatimeperiodbetweenthe
mid1300sand1700,whentheEnglishlanguagebegantochange.
Beforetheshift,thespellingandpronunciationwereflexibleandinconsistent.
Whileitbegantobeconsistentduringthisperiod,it’salsoresponsibleforsome
oftheunusualspellingsandpronunciationswehave.
TheGreatVowelShiftwasfirststudiedbyOttoJespersen(1860–1943),
aDanishlinguistandAnglicist,whocoinedtheterm.
Great Vowel Shift altered the position of all the long vowels "long i“ /i:/ "long u"
/u:/
Nucleus started to drop and the high position was retained only in the off glide.
Eventually, the original /i:/ became /ai/ -so a "long i" vowel in Modern English is
now pronounced /ai/ as in a word like 'bite‘ /bait/.
Similarly, the "long u" found its nucleus dropping all the way to /au/ the earlier
'house' /hu:s/ became /haus/.

19. Great Vowel Shift
Word
Vowel pronunciation
Late Middle English
before the GVS
Modern English
after the GVS
bite /iː/ /aɪ/
meet /eː/
/iː/
meat /ɛː/
mate /aː/ /eɪ/
out /uː/ /aʊ/
boot /oː/ /uː/
boat /ɔː/ /oʊ/

20. 2-Syntactic (structure) Change
It occurs in the grammatical notions that govern languages, it is a low process and
in need for further investigation.
Word order
•Old English: SOV and SVO language
•Modern English: An SVO language
Double negation–no longer part of English
•Old English -ne aux –not never
Contracted negatives –Old English
•knew not –didn’t know
Comparatives–Old English
•most shamefullest, more happier

21. 3-Semantic (meaning) Change
Semantic changes in word meanings -semantic shift. There are four
common types of change are broadening, narrowing, amelioration, and
pejoration.
Broadening: (generalization or extension) Broadening is the process
by which a word's meaning becomes more inclusive than an earlier
meaning.
•In Old English dog referred to just one particular breed, and thing
meant a public assembly. In Contemporary English -dog can refer to
any hairy, barking, four-legged creature.
Narrowing: (specialization or restriction) The opposite of broadening
is narrowing in which a word's meaning becomes less inclusive.
•For example, in Middle English, deercould refer to any animal, and
girlcould mean a young person of either sex.

22. Amelioration: refers to the upgrading or rise in status of a word's
meaning.
•For example, meticulous once meant "fearful or timid," and
sensitive meant simply "capable of using one's senses”.
Pejoration: More common than amelioration is the downgrading or
depreciation of a word's meaning.
•For example, the adjective silly, for instance, once meant "blessed"
or "innocent," officious meant "hard working," and aggravate meant
to "increase the weight" of something.

23. 4-Lexical (words) change
Lexicalchangereferstoachangeinthemeaningoruseofaword,oragenerational
shiftinpreferenceforonewordorphraseoveranother.
Forexample:
“ we couldn’t listen to the latesttunesbecausewe hadn’tawireless”
•Fromthewordwireless,wewouldprobablyassumethisstatementwasmadeby
anolderperson,asradioisnowthemorecommonterm.Lexicalchangeis
probablythemostfrequenttypeoflanguagechangeandcertainlytheeasiestto
observe.
•Newvocabularyorchangesinfashionableusagespreadrapidlyandevenly
acrossthecountryduetooursophisticatedcommunicationlinks.Intriguingly,in
thecaseofwireless,thewordhasexperiencedsomethingofarevival.Ifyouhear
thewordwirelessusedbyayoungerspeaker,theyarealmostcertainlyusingit
asanadjectiveratherthananounandreferringtowirelesstechnology,
fromWAPphonestoblackberriesandlaptops.Thisillustratesperfectlyhow
wordscanvirtuallydisappearorgraduallyshiftinmeaningandusage.

24. •Vocabularycanchangequicklyasnewwordsareborrowedfrom
otherlanguages-wordsgetcombinedorshortenedwithmultiple
word-formationprocessessuchasblending,backformation,derivation,
acronym,clippingetc.
Conclusion:
Frequently,theneedsofspeakersdrivelanguagechange.
Newtechnologies,industries,productsandexperiencessimplyrequire
newwords.
Byusingnewandemergingterms,wealldrivelanguagechange.
Buttheuniquewaythatindividualsspeakalsofuelslanguagechange.
That’sbecausenotwoindividualsusealanguageinexactlythesame
way.