synthetic analytic 1500 years ago English was much

synthetic ~ analytic 1500 years ago, English was much more synthetic than it is today. It has changed into a more analytic language

synthetic ~ analytic • The man loves the woman • The woman loves the man • L’homme aime la femme • La femme aime l’homme • Maðurinn elskar konuna • Konuna elskar maðurinn

synthetic ~ analytic • • Maðurinn elskar konuna Konuna elskar maðurinn Konan elskar manninn Manninn elskar konan Vir amat mulierem ~ Mulierem vir amat Mulier amat virem ~ Amat virem mulier Человек любит женщину Женщина любит человека

synthetic ~ analytic • Analytic languages signal grammatical relationships by position in the sentence • Synthetic languages signal grammatical relationships by the shape of the words

synthetic ~ analytic • The man loves the woman • The men love the women • She loves me • We love John’s dog

synthetic ~ analytic • The change from a synthetic language to an analytic language

synthetic ~ analytic • The change from a mainly synthetic language to a mainly analytic language

• • • Nornin sauð jurtina Jurtina sauð nornin Séo wicce séað þá wyrte Þá wyrte séað séo wicce The witch boiled the plant The plant boiled the witch Séo wyrt séað þá wiccan Þá wiccan séað séo wyrt Jurtin sauð nornina Nornina sauð jurtin For an explanation to this slide and the next, see http: //www. hi. is/~peturk/KENNSLA/11/TOPICS/01 Analyticsynthetic. html

English has changed from being a mainly synthetic language to being a mainly analytic language Séo wicce séað þá wyrte Þe wicce séað þe wyrte Þe wicc séað þe wyrt The witch seethed the wort The witch boiled the herb

• Why do languages change? • How do they change?