THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE HISTORY The evolution

THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE HISTORY

The evolution of the language includes the internal or structural development and “external” history of the language Internal linguistic changes are changes at the: l phonetic and phonological levels (historical phonetics (phonology)) l morphological level (historical morphology) l syntactic level (historical syntax) l lexical level (historical lexicology)

Interdependence of changes at different linguistic levels The history of noun morphology = simplification: nouns have lost most of their cases (OE – 4, NE 2). l Phonetic weakening of final syllables l Analogical levelling of forms at the morphological level l Stabilisation of word order at the level of syntax OE sunu > ME sune (also spelt sone) > NE son

The external history of the language embraces a number of issues: l l l the spread of the language in geographical and social space the differentiation of language into functional varieties (geographical variants, dialects, standard and sub-standard forms, etc. ) contacts with other languages

l l The concept of language space – i. e. the geographical and social space occupied by the language. The concept of linguistic situation – embraces the functional differentiation of language and the relationships between the functional varieties.

Statics and Dynamics in Language History There are certain permanent universal properties in all languages at any period of time e. g. the division of sounds into vowels and consonants; the distinction between the main parts of speech and parts of the sentence. l English has many stable characteristics which have proved almost immune to the impact of time e. g. some parts of the vocabulary have been preserved through ages: most pronouns, formwords, words denoting basic concepts of life l

Statics and Dynamics in Language History e. g. many ways of word-formation have remained historically stable. e. g. grammatical categories number in nouns, degrees of comparison in adjectives have suffered little alteration, case or gender have undergone profound changes. Statics and dynamics can be found both in synchrony and in diachrony. Dynamics in diachrony = linguistic change

CONCEPT OF LINGUISTIC CHANGE l l l 3 main types of difference in language: geographical, social, temporal. Linguistic changes imply temporal differences. Linguistic changes are transformations of the same units in time which can be registered as distinct steps in their evolution.

e. g. OE ME NE to find - fundon [fundon] - founden [f. Hnden]- found (the Past tense pl of the Ind. Mood) - (Past pl of the Subj. and Part. II) - (the 3 forms had fallen together) These changes are defined as structural or intralinguistic: l phonetic and spelling changes, l phonetic and morphological changes, l morphological changes in the place of the form in the verb paradigm and its grammatical meaning (it stands now both for the sing and pl since these forms are not distinguished in the Past tense)

Replacements are linguistic changes, which involve some kind of substitution. Types of replacements One-to-one replacement but [u] > [A], feet [e: ] > [J]; OE ēa > French river l Merging or mergers the Modern Common case of nouns is the result of the merging of the three OE cases – Nom. , Gen. , Acc. ) l Splitting or split the consonant [k] has split into [k] and [C] kin, keep vs chin, child l

l HISTORICAL CHANGES l ANALOGICAL CHANGES A change is historical if it can An analogical form does not develop directly from its be shown as a phonetic prototype; it appears on the modification of an earlier analogy of other forms, similar in form. meaning and shape. e. g. the modern plural ending of e. g. when the plural ending -es nouns -es has descended directly from its prototype, began to be added to nouns OE -as due to phonetic which had never taken -as – but reduction and loss of the had used other endings: -u, -an, vowel (OE stān-as vs. NE -a, - it was a change by analogy ston-es) or an instance of analogical levelling. This analogical change gave rise to new forms referred Both the change and the to as “analogical” (OE nam-an > resulting form are called NE nam-es) historical

Rate of Linguistic Changes slow and gradual l is restricted by the communicative function of the language l different levels of the language develop at different rates l

• Lexical level – rapid changes, easy to observe l l Phonetic level – changes can not be sudden or rapid since the system of phonemes must preserve the oppositions between the phonemes required for the distinction of morphemes Grammatical system is very slow to change. As the most abstract level it must provide stable formal devices for arranging words into classes and for connecting them into phrases and sentences.

Mechanism of Change. Role of Synchronic variation l l A linguistic change begins with synchronic variation (formal and semantic). Synchronic variation is found in every language at every stage of its history. It is caused by functional differentiation and tendencies of historical development. New features, which appear as instances of synchronic variation, represent dynamics in synchrony and arise in conformity with productive historical trends

Causes of Language Evolution l l l l Extralinguistic Events in the history of the people relevant to the development of the language: structure of the society; expansion over new geographical areas; migrations; mixtures and separation of tribes; political and economic unity or disunity; contacts with other nations; the progress of culture and literature Intra-linguistic l General factors or regularities (operate in all languages as inherent properties of any language system) l Specific factors (operate in one language or in a group of related languages at a certain period of time )

General factors or regularities assimilative and simplifying phonetic changes [kn] > [n] in know, knee [t] was missed out in often, listen l

Specific factors l l l English belongs to the Germanic group of languages and shares many Germanic trends of development with cognate languages. The Common Germanic trends were transformed and modified in the history of English. As a result English displayed a tendency towards a more analytical grammatical structure, but it has gone further than most other languages because of the combination of internal and external conditions and due to the interaction of changes at different linguistic levels.

In the 14 th c. the following words were pronounced as they are spelt, the Latin letters retaining their original sound values. Show the phonetic changes since the 14 th c. e. g. ME nut [nut] > NE [n. At] l ME moon, fat, meet, rider, want, knee, turn, first, part, for, often

l Point out the peculiarities in the following passage from Shakespeare’s SONNETS (17 th c. ): It is my love that keeps mine eyes awake; Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat – Bring me within the level of your frown. But shoot not at me in your wakened hate!

1) A linguistic change is a synchronic fact (A. Sommerfelt) 2) Visible change is the tip of an iceberg. Every alteration that eventually establishes itself, had to exist formerly as a choice. This means that the seedbed for variation in time is simply the whole landscape of variation in space (D. Bolinger)

3) The structure of language is nothing but the unstable balance between the needs of communication, which require more numerous and more specific units and man’s inertia, which favours less numerous, less specific and more frequently occuring units (A. Martinet)