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Historical Linguistics: Change, reconstruction

Historical Linguistics: Change, reconstruction. LING 400 Winter 2010. Overview. Reconstruction Time-depth Conversative vs. innovative languages Reconstruction and prehistory More historical change Morphological, morphosyntactic Semantic. please turn off your cell phone.

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Historical Linguistics: Change, reconstruction

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  1. Historical Linguistics:Change, reconstruction LING 400 Winter 2010

  2. Overview • Reconstruction • Time-depth • Conversative vs. innovative languages • Reconstruction and prehistory • More historical change • Morphological, morphosyntactic • Semantic please turn off your cell phone For further learning about historical linguistics: LING 454

  3. Time-depth • “Persian is an old language.” • All (modern) daughters of proto-language have equal time-depth.

  4. Time-depth • Proto-Indo-European: 5000-6000 years ago • Proto-Germanic: 2500-3500 • Oldest IE written documents • Hittite 1300 B.C. • Sanskrit 1200 B.C. • Greek 1000 B.C. (Mycenean earlier)

  5. Reconstruction • The comparative method • assemble cognates • deduce proto-form, meaning • “Reconstructible” • Not necessarily attested in all branches • *ēg̤w- ‘drink’ • Hittite • Latin ēbrius ‘drunk’

  6. A cognate set • Sanskrit [snuʂā́] ‘daughter-in-law’ • Old English [snoru] ‘daughter-in-law’ • Old Church Slavonic [snŭxa] ‘daughter-in-law’ • Latin [nurus] ‘daughter-in-law’ • Greek [nuós] ‘daughter-in-law’ • Armenian [nu] ‘bride, daughter-in-law’ • Albanian [nuse] ‘bride’

  7. Reconstruction • *sn… or *n…? ‘daughter-in-law’ • Latin nix, niv- ‘snow’ • English snow • PIE *sneig̤w- ‘to snow’ vs. • Latin ne- ‘not’ • Old English ne ‘not’ • PIE *ne ‘not’ • [u], OCS [ŭ], OE [o] < *u • Medial *s? *ʂ?r? • Sanskrit *s > ʂ / u__ • Latin s > r/ V__V,  Germanic • Greek, Armenian *s > 0 / V__V • … (ending, accent) • PIE *snu|sos • ‘daughter-in-law’ or ‘bride’? • most early IE societies patriarchal and patrilocal • ‘daughter-in-law’ in most; ‘bride’ restricted

  8. Conservative vs. innovative • Sanskrit [snuʂā́] < *snu|sos • conserves [sn], [u]; accent • innovates *s > ʂ / u__ • Albanian [nuse] ‘bride’ • conserves [u], medial [s] • innovates *s > 0 / __n, semantics

  9. Reconstruction and prehistory • Calvert Watkins: ‘the lexicon of a language remains the single most effective way of approaching and understanding the culture of its speakers…The reconstruction of vocabulary can offer a fuller, more interesting view of the culture of a prehistoric people than archaeology precisely because it includes nonmaterial culture.’

  10. Proto-Indo-European • *med̤u- ‘mead, honey’ • *daiwer- ‘husband’s brother’ • *wife’s relatives • *sneig̤w- ‘snow’ • *laks- ‘salmon’ (lox) • *mori- ‘body of water; lake (?), sea (?)’ (mermaid) • *gr̩-no ‘grain’ (> corn) • *owi- ‘sheep’ (> ewe) • *demə- ‘house, household’ • *dem(ə)- ‘to build’ (> timber) • *kwel- ‘to revolve, go around’, *kw(e)-kwl-o- ‘wheel’

  11. Historical linguistics • 1786 Sir William Jones observed similarities between Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, Latin, Gothic, Celtic, Old Persian • 19th century: reconstruction of PIE • 20th century on • Hittite, Tocharian • Comparative method applicable elsewhere

  12. Major branches of Athabaskan family 38 daughter languages

  13. Language change • Languages may change on various levels • phonetics, phonology • morphology • syntax • semantics

  14. Morphemes disappear PADeg Xinag Witsuwit’en Tsek’ene ‘man’s daughter’ *-tsheʔ -[tθhɑʔ] -[tshɛʔ] -- ‘arm’ *-qɑ̰:neʔ -[qon] -- -[kònèʔ]

  15. Paradigm leveling • Elimination of irregularity among morphologically related forms

  16. ‘Leveled’ progressive paradigm (uniformly [i]) ‘Leveled’ future paradigm (uniformly [ɑ])

  17. Semantic change Reduction (hyponym formation) • Proto-Athabaskan Tsek’ene • *-ʁəm‘snore, growl’ -[hxõ̀h] ‘snore’ • Witsuwit’en • *-ntɑ̰:c ‘dance’ -[ntec] ‘(white people) dance’

  18. Extension Hypernym formation • Proto-Athabaskan Tsek’ene • *cḭ:ce: ‘blueberry’ ʧɪ̀ʧe ‘berry’

  19. Where was Proto-Athabaskan spoken? • Michael Krauss • the PA homeland (Urheimat) ‘was in eastern Alaska, interior, perhaps extending into Canada already.’

  20. Considerations • Deep vs. shallow differentiation • Location of related languages • Reconstructed vocabulary

  21. Differentiation • Deep differentiation: long occupation of territory • Alaska, western BC • Closely related: recent spread • Mackenzie R. • Pacific Coast • Apachean

  22. Na-Dene family

  23. Related languages • Usually nearby • Eyak • mouth of Copper R. • Tlingit • Alaska panhandle

  24. Reconstructed vocabulary • Mountains and snow • *tsəɬ‘mountain’ • *ʔa:ç ‘snowshoe’ • *ɬu:‘ice, icicle, glacier’ 1910 map Hudson Bay Mt., B.C.

  25. Summary • All languages change over time • Change occurs at all levels of grammar • Earlier stages can often be reconstructed, with implications for prehistory

  26. Question • Bronze Age 3300-1200 BC (bronze < copper+tin) • PIE *ajes- ‘copper or bronze’ (attested in Latin, Greek, Sanskrit) • Iron Age (1300 BC on) (iron, steel) • *isarno ‘iron’ only attested in Germanic, Celtic • Are *ajes and *isarno relevant to dating of PIE? (PIE estimated 5000-6000 BC.)

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