Historical linguistics Mutability Dialectal differences Stages of English
Historical linguistics Mutability • Dialectal differences • Stages of English • Symbolic shifts Linguistic study • Reconstruction • Language families Origins • Lexical, social, and cognitive theories Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
History of English far out … outasite … groovy… rilly [really] … greaser … dude … cool … hip … keen … neat … swell Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris Aetalects! You are here
Early modern English I am no orator, as Brutus is; But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, That love my friend; and that they know full well That gave me public leave to speak of him: For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, To stir men's blood Julius Caesar, c 1599 Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Middle English Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; yadda, yadda Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages n o d n o L The Canterbury Tales, c 1380 Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Middle English (Northumberland) Regiolects! Si† en †e sege and †e assaut watz sesed at Troye, Sociolects! †e bor° brittened and brent to bronde and askez, †e tulk †at †e trammes of tresoun †er wro°t Watz tried for his Ethnolects! tricherie, †e trewest on erthe The Green Knight, c 1380 Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Language variation ! English 306 A; Harris
Different persons growing up in the same Language variation language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will Idiolects! fulfill the elephantine form differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike. W. V. O. Quine English 306 A; Harris
Old English Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard, meotodes meahte, and his modge†anc, weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs, ece drihten, or onstealde. Caedmon’s hymn, c 670 Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
1066 English 306 A; Harris
Modern English Substratum (under-level) Germanic (Angles, Saxons etc. ) king, law, deer, cow, cock, piss, … Superstratum (over-level) Latinate (Norman French) monarch, justice, venison, beef, penis, urinate, … English 306 A; Harris
Mutability Language change Internal (isolation, fashion, prestige, …) External (trade, war, imperialism, …) Phonological Morphological Lexical Syntactic Semantic English 306 A; Harris
Semantic change (hyponym / hypernym swap) hypernym dog … poodle hound spaniel … hyponym Toy, French, … Grey, Blood, … Springer, Cocker, … English 306 A; Harris hypernym hyponym
Semantic change (hyponym / hypernym swap) Modern English Middle English hypernym dog … poodle hound spaniel … Toy, French, … Grey, Blood, … Springer, Cocker, … hyponym … dogge hound hypernym poodle hyponym spaniel … Mastiff, Basset, … Toy, French, … Springer, Cocker, … dog hound dogge English 306 A; Harris
Phonological change Middle English Modern English night knee name cough … [n. IFt] [knij] [n. Qm´] [k. AF] English 306 A; Harris [n. Ait] [nij] [nejm] [k. Af]
Morphological change Singular first second third Plural Present drÿge drÿgst drÿgþ drÿgaþ Infinitive, drÿgan Past participle, gedrÿged Present participle, drÿgende English 306 A; Harris Past drÿgdes drÿgde drÿgdon
Morphological change Singular first second third Plural Present dry dries dry Infinitive, to dry Past participle, (has) dried Present participle, (is) drying English 306 A; Harris Past dried
Lexical changes Mayhaps Hark Cad Elden Burdalane Sweltersome Clyte Tofu Interface Robot Radar Sandwich Mutton Fornication English 306 A; Harris
Syntactic change Good even, Casca: brought you Caesar home? Good evening, Casca: did you bring Caesar home? English 306 A; Harris
Mutability Subtotal History of English • Periods • Events Pressures to change • Internal/external • Aeta-, regio-, socio-, ethno-lects Types of change • • • Semantic (e. g. , dog/hound) Phonogical (e. g. , “cough”) Morphological (e. g. ‘levelling’) Lexical (words come, words go) Syntactic (Yes/no question formation) English 306 A; Harris
Origins and varieties of languages Reconstruction • Contrast and compare • Proto-languages Language families • Indo-European • Pre-Indo-European Origins • Lexical theories • Language theories English 306 A; Harris
Philology • Looking at texts for noteworthy signifier/signified linkages • Contrast and compare English 306 A; Harris
Philology, reconstruction, and language families Grimm’s Law English German father mother brother sister king milk meat Vater Mutter Bruder Schwester König Milch Fleisch English 306 A; Harris
Philology, reconstruction, and language families Grimm’s Law Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Philology, reconstruction, and language families Grimm’s Law /f/ Homo sapien #1 /p/ English 306 A; Harris You are here
Philology, reconstruction, and language families Grimm’s Law /p/—>/f/ Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Philology, reconstruction, and language families Proto-Indo-European (*PIE) Grimm’s Law hypothetical, reconstructed language Proto-Germanic Homo sapien #1 Proto-Italic English 306 A; Harris Proto-Indic You are here
Language families Families Germanic Italic Indic Philological evidence English 306 A; Harris
Proto-Indo-European (*PIE) Families Germanic Italic Indic Philological evidence Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Indo-European Families Germanic Italic Indic Philological evidence English 306 A; Harris
Indo-European family English 306 A; Harris
Bow-wow theory Language arose from onomatopoeia (iconic) Making noises to represent elements in the environment: animals, rain, expulsive gas, … Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Pooh-pooh theory (AKA the ouch theory) Language arose from spontaneous emotional noises (indexical) Sighs, moans, cries, ejections of surprise, fear, delight, … Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Bow-wow & pooh-pooh theories • Lexical theories • Nothing about syntax • Nothing about phonology, morphology, … • Not mutually exclusive English 306 A; Harris
Yadda, yadda … that language evolved among humans to replace social grooming because the grooming time required by our large groups made impossible demands on our time. Language, I argue, evolved to fill the gap because it allows us to use the time we have available for social interaction more efficiently. Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Yo-he-ho theory Language arose in muscular and rhythmic efforts accompanying group work (indexical) Gathering, distributing, distance-pursuit of prey, … Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
Throwing madonna theory • Nursing (left-side) • Motor/linguistic sequencing • Structural • Non-lexical • Piggy-backing theory Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
[The origin of language may have to do with] certain physical laws relating to neuron packing or regulatory mechanisms. Homo sapien #1 Neuron packing theory English 306 A; Harris To be, or not to be. That is the question. You are here
Language origins: sub-total t o N lly a u t e u v M lusi c x E • Bow-wow and pooh-pooh • Lexical • Ye-ho-ha, Throwing Madonna, Neuron-packing • Non-lexical • Cognitive • Yadda-yadda • Non-lexical • Social English 306 A; Harris
Historical linguistics Languages change over time • External (war, imperialism, trade, …) • Internal (fashion, prestige, isolation, …) Types of changes • Semantic, phonological, morphological, lexical, … Genealogical relationships • Reconstructed proto-languages • Language families Language origins • Lots of guesses, no clear solutions • Lexical, social, and cognitive variants Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here
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