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Language History and Change: 

Language History and Change Student: Eduardo Mansilla C. Teacher: Hector Vega P. Date: 09/09/07

Proto-Indo European : 

Proto-Indo European In 1786 Sir Williams Jones, a judge of the high court in India, began private lessons in Sanskrit (the ancient language of India). He noticed that most of the languages of Europe seemed connected structurally with the Sanskrit. Similarities among Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, suggested that they had a common ancestor.

Connections between different languages : 

Connections between different languages If we want to establish family connections between different languages, we can try to find cognates: A) Between the languages. B) Between the older generations of those languages.

The Majority principle.: 

The Majority principle. If there is a cognate set, the majority of words have kept the original sound. 10 words: 7 of them begin with [k] sound=they have retained the original sound. 3 with [g] sound=they have changed with time.

The most natural development principle : 

The most natural development principle There are common sound-change patterns: -Vowels in the final position frequently disappear: vino -> vin -Voiceless sounds between vowels became voiced: muta -> muda -Stops turn into fricatives: ripa -> riva -If a consonant is at the end of a word it becomes voiceless: rizu -> ris

Slide6: 

Languages: A B C Cavallo caballo cheval The Majority principle: 2 words begin with [k] sound and one with [s] sound.= [k] is the original sound. the most natural development principle: Stops turn into fricatives. [k] [s]= [k] is the original sound.

History of the English language : 

History of the English language In the history of English language we can identify three periods: -Old English. -Middle English. -Modern English.

Old English: 

Old English Old English was an Anglo Saxon base influenced by Scandinavian and Latin languages .

Anglo-Saxons developed four dialects: 

Anglo-Saxons developed four dialects -Northumbrian in Northumbria, north of the Humber. -Mercian in the Kingdom of Mercia. -West Saxon in the Kingdom of Wessex. - Kentish in Kent.

Slide10: 

Vikings invaded Britain in the 9th Century. The only kingdom that remained independent was Wessex and The West Saxon dialect became the official language.

Middle English: 

Middle English In 1066, the Normans invaded Britain. French added vocabulary to English. Words such as beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison derive from French. French form of plurals (house, house; shoe, shoes) displaced the way that Germanic formed plural nouns (house, housen; shoe, shoen).

Modern English: 

Modern English Modern English, which is still changing, started about the 16th century. Th became s in some verbs (loveth, loves; hath, has). Borrowed words were added to English language.(girafe, tiger zebra, pyjama, spinach, tea, etc.).

Old English vs Modern English: 

Old English vs Modern English phonetic changes. Syntactic Changes. Lexical Changes.

Phonetic changes : 

Phonetic changes The quality of vowel sounds has changed: Some sounds disappeared: voiceless velar fricative. nicht [nixt] (Old English) night [nayt] (Modern English)

Slide15: 

Metathesis: the change of position of two sounds within a word. frist -> first, hros -> horse, bridd -> bird Epenthesis: a sound is added to the middle of a word. thun(o)r ->thunder, spinel -> spindle, timr -> timber Prothesis: it is the addition of a sound to the beginning of a word. schola -> escuela spiritus -> espíritu

Syntactic Changes : 

Syntactic Changes Word order. Old English: subject+verb+object. verb+subject. subject+object+verb. Modern English: subject+verb+object.

Slide17: 

Inflection: nouns, adjectives, articles and pronouns lost many inflectional affixes and took different inflectional forms.

Lexical Changes: 

Lexical Changes Words no longer used: many words that Old English borrowed from other languages (mainly Latin and Greek) have ceased to be used. Broadening: the range of meanings associated with a word becomes more general than at the beginning of its use. Example: holy day: Religious feast (Old English). Holyday: break from work (Modern English).

Slide19: 

Narrowing: the range of meanings associated with a word becomes more restricted than at the beginning. Examples: wife: any women. (Old English) wife: married women. (Modern English) mete: any type of food. (Old English) meat: edible animal flesh. (Modern English)

Diachronically vs Synchronically: 

Diachronically vs Synchronically Diachronically: change of the language through time. Synchronically: change of the language in different places at the same time.