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History of English:History of English:

Language Change

Language Change

and Development and Development

Nigel Musk

Nigel Musk

Teachers' Programme 61

Teachers' Programme 61--90 hp90 hp

D t t f C lt & C i ti

D t t f C lt & C i tiD

epar t men t o f C u lt ure & C ommun i ca ti on D epar t men t o f C u lt ure & C ommun i ca ti on 1

Language Change & Development

1

Language

Change

Development

2. Old English3. Middle English4. Early Modern EnglishLanguage Variation & ChangeLanguage Variation & Change

Language variation is a prerequisite for changeTh i l l i ti ithi it i tTh ere i s a l ways l anguage var i a ti on w ithi n a commun it y or soc i e t y for many different (social) reasons: differing needs (occupation leisure interests etc ) differing needs (occupation leisure interests etc differing social standing (sociolects) differing contacts with other communities e g with differing differing contacts with other communities e .g with differing regional varieties (dialects) & languages But even one and the same person shows a tendency to speakBut even one and the same person shows a tendency to speak (and write) differently in different social contexts/constellations

Variation is facilitated b

y the relative ease of g eo g ra p hical and yggp social mobility(mobility isn't a new phenomenon!)

Change as a Social Phenomenon

Change as a Social Phenomenon

Language change is most often described in linguistic terms, yet language and language change is essentially a SOCIALlanguage

and language change is essentially a

SOCIAL

phenomenon. Both language and language change arise throu g h communication. g People tend to adjust their language to become more like each other (accommodation) Accommodating to others can operate across phonology (accent), lexis(vocabulary), grammar(morphology & syntax) and discourse(discursive features) Also at a societal level, the more social upheaval, the more li i ti hli ngu i s ti c c h ange

Categories of ChangeCategories of Change

Distinction

often made between

Distinction

often made between Internal change - including the normal "drift of language"

External change - due to language contact

Aspects of Language Subject to

Aspects of Language Subject toAspects

of

Language

Subject

to

Aspects

of

Language

Subject

to

ChangeChange

PhonologyLexis

(vocabulary) Lexis (vocabulary)

Morphology

G

SyntaxDi

G rammar Di scourse

Internal Change:

Internal Change: PhonologyPhonology

A speaker tends not to make more effort than is necessary A speaker tends not to make more effort than is necessary This can lead for example to co-articulation effects becoming permanent.

Therefore a distinction can be made between:

conditioned(or combinatory) change, e.g. through co- articulation effects unconditioned(or spontaneous) change

Conditioned Phonological

Conditioned PhonologicalConditioned

Phonological

Conditioned

Phonological

Change Change 11

Assimilation- adjacent sounds become more alike

OE gǀdspell'good news' : gospel

Palatalisationof velar consonants before front vowels: O OS G e.g. cheese O OS G yellowOE. geolu= OS. gelo, Du. gel, G. gelb Modern distinction in past tense /d/ : /t/ : /ųd/ Tendency for intervocalic consonants to become voiced(vowels are always voiced) Conditioned PhonologicalConditioned PhonologicalConditioned

Phonological

Conditioned

Phonological

Change Change 22

Simplification of consonant clusters

(elision)

Simplification

of consonant clusters (elision)

OE : ModE

fdige: lady niht:night But note that question words retained breathiness longer: what, when, where camb,comb: comb, wamb,womb: womb

Modern example: yod-dropping, e.g. suit, lute

Conditioned Phonological

Conditioned PhonologicalConditioned

Phonological

Conditioned

Phonological

Change Change 33

Other phoneme losses

Reduction & loss of final unstressed vowelsOE sunu: son

OE sunne: sunOO

E mǀna: moon

OE steorra: star

includes vowels in plurals e.g. OE dagas: days with vowel reduction (weakening) first to -e and then -ԥ and then lost Unconditioned PhonologicalUnconditioned PhonologicalUnconditioned

Phonological

Unconditioned

Phonological

Change 1Change 1

OE brid(d) : bird,

OE waeps(variation in OE too: waesp) : wasp

hros(cf. OE hors, ON hross,Swruss) : horse

Modern example: pretty(good) - 'purty' (good)

Unconditioned Phonological

Unconditioned PhonologicalUnconditioned

Phonological

Unconditioned

Phonological

Change 2Change 2

Epenthesis- addition of a phoneme in the middle of a worde.g. OE aemtig: empty

OE spin(e)l: spindle,

OE þunor: thunder

Modern examples:

glottal stop something sțm glottal stop something sțm epenthetic vowel [Ǩ]: in ScE/IrEfilm[fǹlǨm] Unconditioned PhonologicalUnconditioned PhonologicalUnconditioned

Phonological

Unconditioned

Phonological

Change Change 33

Sound shifts

Sound "laws" whereby the same phoneme changes in all words (under the same conditions - stress, position, etc.)

Tendency to preserve symmetry

of phonological symmetry of phonological system - to optimise the p honolo g ical s p ace pg p Unconditioned PhonologicalUnconditioned PhonologicalUnconditioned

Phonological

Unconditioned

Phonological

Change 4Change 4

Chain shifts

Push (to avoid merging) or pull effects(to mergers) desk desk bossesbusses head bat bl k [ae]

Northern Cities Chain Shift

bl oc k socks

Northern

Cities

Chain Shift

Unconditioned Phonological

Unconditioned PhonologicalUnconditioned

Phonological

Unconditioned

Phonological

Change Change 55

Mergers of phonemes

Front close vowels /i/ : /y/ (unrounding)

OE ly

ljtel: little

OE yfel: evil

OE synn: sin

Great vowel shift included one merger

Compare:

speak spǪ ɕk and feed feɕd ]inME

Compare:

speak spǪ ɕk and feed feɕd in ME Disadvantages of mergers: more homonymsarise = potential detriment to communication e.g. to : two: too; their: there; son(OE sunu) : sun(sunne)

Internal Change: Lexis

Internal Change: Lexis 11

Reasons for lexical change

New ideas and innovations give rise to new words

Through polysemy- words have different or multiple meanings, e.g. common words like get, goOver time one or more meanings may fall out of use and newOver time one or more meanings may fall out of use and new meanings develop By association with other words, e.g. metaphors, metonymyTidtb tiffi dththtt T o avo id t a b oo, nega ti ve, o ff ens i ve wor d s or th ose th a t are t oo direct -euphemisms Reasons for lexical change 1Reasons for lexical change 1 Metaphors -association by similaritytoast[LME] There is a connection between the toast you eat and the toast you make with a raised glass. Toast is based on Latin torrere 'to parch, scorch, dry up', the source also of torrid [E17th], and torrent [LME] a rushing or 'boiling' flow of water. 'To pa r c h' w as t h e ea rli est m ea nin g o f t h e En g li s h w o r d, a n d be f o r e

pa c as t e ea est ea g o t e g s o d, a d be o elong it was used to describe browning bread in front of a fire. Drinking toasts goes back to the late 17th century, and originated in the practice whereby a drinker would name a ladyoriginated

in the practice whereby a drinker would name a lady and request that all the people present drink her health. The idea was that the lady's name flavoured the drink like the pieces of spiced toast that people sometimes added to wine in thoseof spiced toast that people sometimes added to wine in those days. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins

Reasons for lexical change 2

Reasons for lexical change 2

Metonymy -association by contiguity, e.g. cause &

effect concrete & abstracteffect concrete abstract eavesdrop [OE] In Old English eaves, then spelled efes, was a eavesdrop [OE] In Old

English

eaves, then spelled efes, was a singular word, but the -s at the end made people think it was a plural, which is how we treat it today. If you eavesdrop you secretly listen to a conversation The word was formed in thesecretly listen to a conversation Thequotesdbs_dbs6.pdfusesText_11

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