THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE HISTORY

development and “external” history of the language
Internal linguistic changes

are changes at the:
phonetic and phonological levels (historical phonetics (phonology))
morphological level (historical morphology)
syntactic level (historical syntax)
lexical level (historical lexicology)

morphology = simplification:
nouns have lost most of their cases (OE

– 4, NE - 2).
Phonetic weakening of final syllables
Analogical levelling of forms at the morphological level
Stabilisation of word order at the level of syntax
OE sunu > ME sune (also spelt sone) > NE son

issues:
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

social space occupied by the language.
The concept of linguistic situation

– embraces the functional differentiation of language and the relationships between the functional varieties.

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.
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, form-words, words denoting basic concepts of life

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

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.

ME

NE to find - fundon [fundon] - founden [fHnden]- 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:
phonetic and spelling changes,
phonetic and morphological changes,
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)

of replacements
One-to-one replacement
but [u] > [A], feet [e:] >

[J]; OE ēa > French river
Merging or mergers
the Modern Common case of nouns is the result of the merging of the three OE cases – Nom., Gen., Acc.)
Splitting or split
the consonant [k] has split into [k] and [C]
kin, keep vs chin, child

shown as a phonetic modification of an earlier form.
e.g. the

modern plural ending of nouns -es has descended directly from its prototype, OE -as due to phonetic reduction and loss of the vowel (OE stān-as vs. NE ston-es)

Both the change and the resulting form are called historical

ANALOGICAL CHANGES


An analogical form does not develop directly from its prototype; it appears on the analogy of other forms, similar in meaning and shape.
e.g. when the plural ending -es
began to be added to nouns which had never taken -as – but had used other endings: -u, -an, -a, - it was a change by analogy or an instance of analogical levelling. This analogical change gave rise to new forms referred to as “analogical” (OE nam-an > NE nam-es)

function of the language
different levels of the language develop at

different rates

– 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.

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

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

General factors or regularities
(operate in all languages as inherent properties of any language system)

Specific factors (operate in one language or in a group of related languages at a certain period of time )

[kn] > [n] in know, knee
[t] was missed

out in often, listen

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.

they are spelt, the Latin letters retaining their original sound

values. Show the phonetic changes since the 14th c.

e.g. ME nut [nut] > NE [nAt]
ME moon, fat, meet, rider, want, knee, turn, first, part, for, often

SONNETS (17th 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!

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)

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)