Historical linguistics the history of language Origins Lexical

Historical linguistics & the history of language Origins • Lexical, social, and cognitive theories Mutability • Dialectal differences • Stages of English • Symbolic shifts Linguistic study • Reconstruction • Language families Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here

Bow-wow theory Language arose from onomatopoeia Making noises to represent elements in the environment: animals, rain, expulsive gas, … ? Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here

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 Sighs, moans, cries, ejections of surprise, fear, delight, … ? 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 Gathering, distributing, distance-pursuit of prey, … ? 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

Hmmmmm theory …a prelinguistic musical mode of thought and action Communicative system Holistic Rhetorical Multimodal Rhythmic (indexical) Melodic Mimetic (iconic) ? 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

Piggybacking traits (exaptation) Bone Gills Feathers Penguin wings Speech! English 306 A; Harris

[The origin of language may have to do with] certain physical laws relating to neuron packing or regulatory mechanisms. Neuron packing theory To be, or not to be. That is the question. ? Homo sapien #1 English 306 A; Harris You are here

Language origins: sub-total • Bow-wow and pooh-pooh • • t o N lly a u t e u v M lusi c x E Lexical Social • Throwing Madonna, Neuron-packing • • Non-lexical (syntactic) Cognitive • Yadda-yadda • • Non-lexical Social • Ye-ho-ha, Hmmmmm • • Non-lexical Cognitive-Social English 306 A; Harris

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. Sociolects! assaut watz sesed at [geographically-based group speech differences] [class-based group Troye, differences] †e bor° brittened andspeech brent to bronde and askez, †e tulk †at †e trammes of tresoun †er wro°t Ethnolects! Watz tried for his tricherie, †e trewest [tribal-based group on erthe speech differences] 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 Idiolects! branches will 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, Jutes, etc. ) king, law, deer, cow, cock, piss, … Superstratum (over-level) Latinate (Norman French) monarch, justice, venison, beef, penis, urinate, … English 306 A; Harris

Language change 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 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

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 Pork Sandwich Tofu Interface Robot Radar F-bomb 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 History of English • Periods • Events Pressures to change • Internal/external • Regio-, socio-, ethno-lects Types of change • • • Semantic (e. g. , dog/hound) Phonological (e. g. , “cough”) Morphological (e. g. ‘levelling’) Lexical (words come, words go) Syntactic (Yes/no question formation) English 306 A; Harris