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1、Chapter 7 Language Change,L Change(Historical linguistics),Historical linguistics is the a branch of linguistics,is mainly concerned with both the description and explanation of language change.Diachronic linguistics the identification of the changes enables us to reconstruct the linguistic history
2、of that language,hypothesizes its earlier forms.it also enables us to determine how non-linguistic factors,such as social,cultural and psychological factors,interact over time to trigger linguistic change.,Sound Change,Morphological&Syntactic Change,Lexical Change&Semantic Change,Exercises,Causes of
3、 the Language Change,Introduction,a.Old English古 代英语(449-1066)Beowulf,an Anglo-Saxon epic poem,the most important work of Old English literature b.Middle English中世纪英语(1066-1500)Chaucer,Shakespearec.Modern English 现代英语(1500-present),Introduction,It is a fact that all languages change through time,tho
4、ugh they do so rather slowly.,沛公旦日从百余骑来见项王，至鸿门，谢曰：“臣与将军戮力而攻秦，将军战河北，臣战河南，然不自意能先入关破秦，得复见将军于此。今者有小人之言，令将军与臣有郤（x）（同“隙”，隔阂。）。”项王曰：“此沛公左司马曹无伤言之；不然，籍何以至此?”项王即日因留沛公与饮。史记,Phonological changes,Among all the changes in language,either subtle or obvious,changes at phonological level are particularly noticeable
5、and varied.Some common types of sound changes can be distinguished and recognized,which makes it possible to work out patterns of pronunciation changes throughout the history of the English language.The most dramatic change that English underwent included the vowels as illustrated in the examples.(P
6、.94),Sound Change,The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in England between 1350 and 1500.,The key pronunciation features of the Great Vowel Shift are the following:,Vowel raising,Vowel fronting,Diphthongization,Sound/phonological change
7、:systematic;regular pattern of pronunciation changes,a)Vowel sound change Great Vowel Shift元音大换位,which occurred at the end of the Middle English period,approximately between 1400 and 1600 and which involved 7 long vowels,led to one of the major disagreements between the pronunciation and the spellin
8、g system of Modern English.For example:Middle English Modern English Five fi:v faiv mouse mu:s maUs feet fe:t fi:tmood m:dmu:d break br Z:ken breik broke br C:ken br EU k Name na:me neim,Sound Change,The Great Vowel Shift,au,ai,i:,ei,e,u:,a:,u,Mice mi:s maisMouse mu:s maus,b)Sound loss Some sounds i
9、n English have simply disappeared from the general pronunciation of English.-the voiceless velar fricative/x/,nicht/nixt/night sorh/sorx/sorrow-/k/sound in/kn-/clusters in the word initial position knight“knee-Another sound loss is the deletion of a word-final vowel segment,a phenomenon called apoco
10、pe.词尾脱落/na:m/neim/l Q v/l Q v/,c)Sound addition Sound addition includes the gain or insertion of a sound.A change that involves the insertion of a consonant or vowel sound to the middle of a word is known as epenthesis插音,for example:emty empty glimse glimpse spinle spindle,d)Sound movement Metathesi
11、s 换位 refers to sound change because of a reversal in the positions of two neighboring sounds.bridd bird hros horse,Morphological&Syntactic Change,Addition of affixesLoss of affixesChange of word orderChange in negation ruleChange in“agreement”rule Process of simplification,Addition of affixes,In Eng
12、lish many affixes are borrowed.During the Middle English period,many French words containing the suffix ment(e.g.accomplishment,commencement)were introduced into English.This suffix became very productive in English and was used with bases that were not of French origin(e.g.acknowledgement,merriment
13、).,In addition to the borrowed affixes,some lexical forms became grammaticalized over time.This process is called grammaticalization.Such forms often undergo dramatic phonological reduction as well as semantic change,in which they may lose much of their original content.In the case where two words a
14、re frequently adjacent,over time they can become fused together to form a single unit consisting of a base and an affix.Fusion refers to this type of grammaticalization in which words develop into affixed,either prefixes or suffixes.,Loss of affixes,As affixes can be added to the grammar,they can al
15、so get lost,some affixes simply fade out of use for no apparent reason.Some loss can be explained via sound changes.For example,Old English had a complex system of affixes marking case and gender.Nouns were divided into three gender classes masculine,neuter,and feminie.And the assignment to a class
16、was based on its grammatical gender,not on the natural gender,sex.,Change of word order,All languages make a distinction between the subject and direct object,which can be illustrated in word order.Old English had a complicated system of case marking as explained in the previous section;its word ord
17、er was somehow variable from that of Modern English too.When the direct object was a pronoun in Old English,the subject-object-verb order was used.,Change of word order,The subject-object-verb order also prevailed in embedded clauses,even when the direct object was not a pronoun.Since case markings
18、were lost during the Middle English period through sound change,fixed subject-object-verb order became the means of grammatical relation marking.Statistics show that a major change in this aspect occurred between 1300 and 1400,with the verb-object becoming dominant.,Change of Word Order,She him advi
19、sed.She advised him.,Sentence structure:SVO,VSO,SOV,OSV,e.g.When he the king visited,he boasted.,Change in negation rule,I love thee not.He saw you not.,I dont love you.,Not is at the end of the sentence.,Auxiliary+not,He didnt see you.,Process of simplification,Changes reflected in case and gender.
20、Old English Middle Modern English ure/urum oure our,Lexical and semantic change,Lexical items are the building block of a language,and the changes in this aspect are comparatively more obvious and noticeable.Generally speaking,there are mainly two possible ways of lexical changes:the addition and lo
21、ss of words,which often reflects the introduction of new objects and notions in social practices.,Vocabulary Change,Addition of new words Loss of words,Addition of New Words,coinage(创新词)clipped words(缩略词)blending(紧缩法)acronyms(词首字母缩略词)back-formation(逆构词法)functional shift borrowing,Coinage,A new word
22、can be coined outright to fit some purpose,mostly for new things and objects e.g.Kodak Xerox Ford Benz Toyota,Clipped Words,Clipping refers to the abbreviation of longer words or phrases,e.g.gymgymnasiummemomemorandumdiscodiscothequefridgerefrigerator,Blending,A blend is a word formed by combining p
23、arts of other words,e.g.smogsmoke+fogmotelmotor+hotelcamcordercamera+recorder comsat communication+satellitevideophone video+telephone,Acronyms,Acronyms are words derived from the initials of several words,e.g.CBS-Columbia Broadcasting SystemISBN-International Standard Book NumberWTO WHO PLA AIDS UN
24、ESCO APEC OPEC CAD SARS,Back-formation,New words may be coined from already existing words by“subtracting”an affix thought to be part of the old word.,edit editorhawk hawkerbeg beggarbaby-sit baby-sitter,Functional Shift,Words may shift from one part of speech to another without the addition of affi
25、xes,which is also called conversion,e.g.Noun verb:to knee,to bug,to tape,to brakeVerb noun:a hold,a flyby,a reject,a retreat Adj.verb:to cool,to narrow,to dim,to slowAdj.noun:a daily,a Christian,the rich,the impossible,Borrowing,When different cultures come into contact,words are often borrowed from
26、 one language to another.The loan word may label a new concept,or it may replace or become a synonym of a native word.English has borrowed a very large number of words from many different languages throughout its history.Of the 20,000 or so words in common use,about three-fifths are borrowed.The exa
27、mples below are some of the loan words in English.Latin bonus education exitGerman beer waltz quartzChinese tea kowtow sampanRussian sputnik commissar vodkaArabic zero algebra alcohol,Loss of Words,Words can be lost from a language as time goes by.The following words,taken from Romeo and Juliet,have
28、 faded out of the English language.,Beseem to be suitableWot to knowGyve a fetterWherefore why,Shall I compare thee to a summers day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate,The loss of words,as the examples show,take place gradually over the course of several generations.In contrast,the arrival of a
29、 new word is quite obvious and often draws attention due to its novelty.New words constantly come into being,yet many new coinages are quite short-lived.One of the most common causes for the loss of lexical items is the discontinuation of the object they came.For instance,soap flakes is already obso
30、lete,and wash board and rumble seat are on the way out.,New Words&Loss of Words,给力 geiliable,团购 group purchase,农民工 Migrant worker,神马都是浮云！,大哥大 Walkie-talkie,随声听Walkman,秘书 secretary,煤油 kerosene,相声 crosstalk,晒工资 Share salary,手机控 粉色控,Semantic change(Changes in the Meaning),Semantic broadening(Widening o
31、f meaning)Semantic narrowing(Narrowing of meaning)Semantic shift(Meaning shift),Widening of Meaning,Holiday:+specific holy day+general any rest day,Tail:+specific tail of a horse,+general tail of any animal,(黄河,河流),河,bird,(young bird,any bird),Narrowing of Meaning,hound:any dog a special kind of dog
32、deer:any animal a particular kind of animalgirl:young person of either sex young people of female sexmeat:food edible part of an animal,knight,(youth,a medieval gentlman-soldier),corn,grain,a particular grain,Meaning Shift,inn:a small,old hotel or pub well-known,nice hotelnice:ignorant(1000 years ag
33、o)good,finelust:pleasure with negative and sexual overtones,silly,happy,nave,foolish,乖,(乖张，听话),Some Recent Trends,The English language has not remained unchanged during the last 50 years.This section will present some main changes that have come about in normal English usage.Moving towards greater i
34、nformality a.Passengers are required not to communicate with the driver while the vehicle is in motion.b.Please dont speak to the driver while he is driving.,Some Recent Trends,The influence of American English For many years American English has been assaulting the British Isles with ever-increasin
35、g power and persistence through movies,newspapers,magazines,radio and television.Semester(term)fall(autumn)Teenager(children)host(host at)check up(check),The influence of science and technology,As science and technology,new words come into being to express new inventions,new techniques as well as ne
36、w concepts.Because of the rapid development during the last 50 years,new words and expressions are coined one after another and it takes less time for them to become well-accepted.e.g.I googled you last night.,The Influence of S&T,Space travelSpace travel,more novel than nuclear reactors 50 years ag
37、o,has many linguistic discoveries to make.Interestingly,there has been a tendency to coin nice simple words and phrases like:space station,heat-shield,lunar module,moonscape,Computer and internet languageThe development of computer and information technology has produced a new vocabulary of their ow
38、n.The computer and Internet experts and users seem to develop a new set of expressions,or even new grammar to express themselves more directly and economically and make themselves well-understood.Below are a few examples of computer and internet language.Lurk,hacker,baidu,moderator,downloadpost a ne
39、w topic,view a topic,read a thread,Ecology Ecology refers to the study of the relationship between plants,animals,people,and their environment,and the balance between them.As more and more people are concerned with the protection of the environment and the conversation of natural resources,quite a l
40、ot of words have appeared in this regard.ecocide,noise pollution,graffiti population,eco-friendly,emission reduction,Causes of the Language Change,The rapid development of science and technology;More neutral job titles have been created;The way children acquire a language;“Economy of memory”grammar
41、simplification;Regularization of exceptional plural forms;Theory of the least effort,The rapid development of S&T,Bullet train,laser printer,laptop,iphone,Social&political words:shuttle diplomacy,mini-summit Euro,Scientific Outlook on Development,More neutral job titles have been created,Former titl
42、es Chairman Foreman Policeman Fireman,New titles Chairperson supervisor Police officer Fire fighter,Economy of memory grammar simplification;,Theory of the least effort,Cow(kine,cows),Bob wanted to buy a cheap car.Rob sold it cheaply to get rid of it.Bob got it cheap!(adv),Regularization of exceptio
43、nal plural forms;,agendum(agenda,agendums)dwarf(dwarves,dwarfs),Causes of the language change,No one is able to provide a consistent account for the exact causes of all types of language change,most linguists believe that physiological,linguistic or sociological factors all contribute to language ch
44、ange.Sociological causeThe rapid development of science and technology;Social Political Historical cultural factorsThe increase of international contact,2.Physiological and linguistic causeSound assimilation:Theory of least effort:in speaking we tend to exert as little effort as possible so that we
45、do not want to vary too often places of articulation in uttering a sequence of sounds.Simplification and regularity of rule Internal borrowing/analogic change:borrow from one part of the grammar and apply the rule generally for the sake of Economy of memory”.Eloboration or complicaiton of ruleThe wa
46、y children acquire the language,My Fair Lady,第37届Oscar十三项提名，获最佳影片、导演、男主角、彩色片摄影、美工、服装设计、音响、音乐八项大奖。Audrey Hepburn-Eliza Doolittle Rex Harrison-Henry Higgins Wilfrid Hyde-Colonel Pickering Condemned by every syllable she utters.By right she should be taken out and hung,For the cold-blooded murder of th
47、e English tongue.,Exercise,1.He elbowed his way to the door.,1.conversion,2.clipping,3.conversion,4.back-formation,2.My mother put the meat in the fridge.,3.Mary booked her ticket yesterday.,4.Important football games are televised.,Exercise,1.What are the reasons for the change of language?2.What are the major aspects of semantic change?,Quick Review,1.brunch/maglev/spam magnetic elevation,spiced ham2.peddler/laser3.Assignment,Change in“agreement”rule,Whan that Aprille with his shoures sooth(When that April with his showers sweet),In modern English,his only refers to animate masculine noun.,
