Phonological changes in english history Dr Muhammad Shahbaz

Phonological changes in english history Dr. Muhammad Shahbaz

Language change o Sound change n n o o Phonetic Phonological Morphological change Lexical/semantic change

Sound change o A change in pronunciation over time n Unconditioned: all instances of a sound change regardless of environment Old. E lik [li: k] hus [hu˘s] n > > Mod. E like [la. Ik] house [ha. Us] Conditioned: a sound changes only in certain environments Old. E kinn [kin] (ku [ku: ] > > Mod. E chin [t. SIn] cow [ka. U])

Sound change o Phonetic change: change in allophones of a phoneme (does not affect phonemic inventory) Old. E /p, t, k/ [p, t, k] kepte [kept´ ] Mod. E /p, t, k/ [p, ph, t, th, k, kh] kept [kh. Ept] o Phonological (phonemic) change: change in phoneme inventory (addition or loss of phonemes) Old. E /f/ [f] Mid. E /f/ [f, v] Mod. E /f/ [f] /v/ [v] wulf [w. Ulf], wulfas [w. Ulfas] wulf [w. Ulf], wulvas [w. Ulvas] safe [se. If] save [se. Iv]

Great Vowel Shift o o o 15 th century Unconditioned sound change between Mid. E and Mod. E Responsible for many of the spelling peculiarities of English

Great Vowel Shift (in brief) o Long vowels undergo shift Mid. E Mod. E bathed [ba˘D´d] / [be. Dd] a e sweet [swe˘t´] / [swit] e i roote root [ro˘t´] / [rut] shires [Si˘r´s] / [Sa. Irz] i a. I [Su˘r´s] / [Sa. Urz] u a. U shoures showers o u

Great Vowel Shift Long vowels I˘ u˘ e˘ o˘ a. I a. U a˘

Phonetic realizations of M. E. u: words in the Survey of English Dialects

The i: 2 class (i: 2): M. E. short i followed by a velar consonant and /t/ in right, night, fight, sight, etc. In the history of the best known dialects, the velar was first realized as a voiceless palatal and then disappeared, with compensatory lengthening of the vowel.

The i: 3 class (i: 3): long e: followed by g in Old English in lie, fly, die, and long ɛ: in eye, etc. The /g/ has been lenited in all the dialects covered by the Orton Atlas, but the raising of the vowel to i: did not occur in all dialects.

the unconscious

Adult change in real time? Were anyone able to compare the movements which his organs made in the utterance of a word many years before with those which he makes at present, he would most likely find a striking difference. But to make any such real comparison would be an impossibility. PHL 48

Real time changes in the lenition of (ch) in Panama City in Cedergren’s trend study, 1969 -1982

mysteries

The individual and the community all purely psychical reciprocal operation comes to its fulfillment in the individual mind alone. PHL xxxvii All that we imagine that we know about the ideas of another individual depends exclusively upon conclusions drawn from our own. PHL xxxix The great resemblance of all linguistic processes n the most different individuals is the most essential foundation for an exact scientific knowledge of these processes. PHL xlv

Auer and Hinskens (2005) conclusion . . . we certainly cannot exclude the possibility that participants in the interaction accommodate to each other’s behavior nor can we exclude the possibility that the frequency of exposure to a new, spreading feature through intensive network contacts with its users can lead to the adoption of this variable.

On the negative effects of sound change Thus the symmetry of any system of forms meets in sound change an incessant and aggressive foe. It is hard to realize how disconnected, confused, and unintelligible language would gradually become if it had patiently to endure all the devastations of sound change. Paul 1891

Natural misunderstanding: cat => cod Neither my boyfriend Dave nor I are natives to Michigan, and we are not NCS speakers. Dave had the following misunderstanding happen three times in the Lansing area, at two different grocery stores, with two different workers: he asked for 'catfish' and the man behind the counter gave him cod, thinking he said 'codfish. ’

Natural misunderstanding: pets => pots Telephone surveyor [Chicago]: Do you have any pets in the house? Brian T. [Eastern US] => pots. [thought that 'pot' was not likely since everyone has pots and pot = marijuana was too personal; asked for repetition several times until understood. ]