Language is just like human being in that
they were born, they grow, and they are old
and fade away, eventually disappearing.
(1)
Old E
(449-1066)
449
Saxon got to England
8th
The poem Beowulf appeared
century
1066 William the Conqueror invaded the UK
J. Chaucer got his Canterbury Tales published
(2)
Middle E
(1066-1500)
1387
1476
1500
(3)
Modern E
(1500-present)
1564
The poem is composed of stories, leaving us languages
spoken by people from all walks at that time.
Saxton founded the 1st printing press by William Caxton
Had a contribution to the uniform of writing.
The Great Vowel Shift
Raised vowels from mid to high.
William Shakespeare was born
English has got more vocabulary.
(Old English )
F der ure, pu pe eart on heofonum, si pin nama
gebalgod. Tobecume pin rice.
(Middle English)
Oure fadir that art in heuenes halowid be thi name, thi
kingdom come.
(Modern English)
Our Father, who is in heaven, may your name to kept
holy. Thy kingdome come.
2.1 Sound change
Patterns of sound change
2.2 Morphological change
2.2.1 Loss of cases
2.2.2 Lexical borrowing
2.3 Syntactic change
2.4 Semantic change
2.4.1 Semantic broadening
2.4.2 Semantic narrowing
2.4.3 Semantic shift

Sound change is systematic.
Ex 1 (English):
Old English
[ :]
→ Middle English [ :]
→ Modern English [ow]
Ex 2 (Hakka):
the Middle Chinese [h] and [u]
→ the present [f]
Hakka Mandarin
Old Middle Modern
[sta:n] [st :n] [stown] ‘stone’
fa
hua
[ba:t] [b :t]
[bowt]
‘boat’
fa
hua
[ka:t] [k :t]
[kowt]
‘coat’
fon
huan
words
afraid
like

The most typical pattern
for sound change is
the English Great Vowel shift:
Sound change
Middle E → Modern E
[ i: ]
→ [ ay ]
[ u: ]
→ [aw ]
[ e: ]
→ [ i: ]
[ o: ]
→ [ u: ]
[ a: ]
→ [ e: ]
[ : ]
→ [ o: ]
[]
→ [ e: ]
An explicit change of our tongue body
from front, back, high, and low involved
in the Great Vowel Shift.
examples
Middle E → Modern E
[ mi:s ]
→ [ mays ]
[ lud ]
→ [ lawd ]
[ kwe:n ] → [ kwi:n ]
[ go:z ]
→ [ gu:z ]
[ na:m ] → [ ne:m ]
[ b:n ] → [ bo:n ]
[ br:ken → [ bre:k ]
spelling
mice
loud
queen
goose
name
bone
break

The sound change conditioned by a certain context,
occurring before or after a certain sound.
Ex: /g/ in Old English became /w/ if it follows /l, r/
while it remains /g/ elsewhere.
Old E
Middle E
Modern E
a. gld
gld
‘glad’
b. halgian
hawen
‘to hallow’
c. morgen
morwen
‘morrow’


A sound change without regard to any condition, it
occurring whenever it appears.
Ex: In the English Great Vowel Shift, the front high
vowel [i: ] becomes [ai].
Old E
Middle E
Modern E
a. gld
gld
‘glad’
b. halgian
hawen
‘to hallow’
c. morgen
morwen
‘morrow’
So far there has been nothing known why free sound
changes would happen.


Two types of the sound change of synchronic phonology:
assimilation and dissimilation.
In classical Latin Greek, [t] becomes [s] if it occurs before [s].
Ex: at similar
assimilare
assimilate (English)
[t]

[s] / ____[s]
Regressive (total)
assimilation
-s is pronounced [s] when it follows a voiceless consonant,
[z] when it follows a voiced sound.
(voiced) beds [b dz]
(voiceless) books [b ks]
Progressive (partial)
assimilation


The conflicts between two sounds in terms of places or
manners of articulation.
Three possible results are: sound variation, deletion, or
insertion.
Sound variation:
 The segment changed when it is not compatible with its
neighboring sound.
Ex: [l] and [r] are not allowed to co-occur within the
same word.
line + al
linear
scale + al
scalar
Deletion:
 Very common in both historical and synchronic phonology.
Ex: The velar [g] following a velar nasal [ ]
Middle E
Modern E
sing
[s
g]
[s
]
king
[k
g]
[k
]
Insertion ( segment addition ):
Ex: [ ] inserted between two alveolar stops [t] and [d].
wanted
invited
needed
handed
[w ntd]
[ nvaytd]
[nidd]
[h ndd]
[w nt d]
[ nvayt d]
[nid d]
[h nd d]



Metathesis: the change of two consonants.
Weakening: the change from regular vowels to schwa [ ]
deleted in Modern English.
Strengthening: the change from a voiceless to a voiced
consonant, or the change of [w] to [v].
Old E
brid
frist
pridde
Modern E
bird
first
third
name
Middle Hakka
Chinese
[u]
[vu]
[un]
[vun]
love
[u ]
Middle E Modern E
[na:m ]
[luv ]
[neym]
[l v]
[vu ]


Two sounds merged into one segment or one single
segment splitting to two independent sounds.
In the Middle E, there’s no velar nasal [ ].
When alveolar nasal [n] + a velar consonant
[n]
[n]
[ ]
sin
Middle E [s n]
Modern E [s n]
sing
[s ng]
[s
]
[ ]

Two sounds merged into one segment or one single
segment splitting to two independent sounds.
In Hakka
[n]
[n ] / ___i
[ ]
In Cockney
(London area)
[ ]
[f]
[f]
Ex
thing [f n]
fin [f n]
In appearance
conditional
unconditional
In terms of
direction
progressive
In terms of sound
quality
total
assimilation
In terms of types
regressive
partial
deletion
dissimilation
insertion
metathesis
sound variation
weakening
others
strengthening
fusion
splitting
Internal
Morphological
change
(loss of case)
External
(lexical borrowings)


English, Russia and French had a very complete paradigm:
any noun can be singular/plural, female/male,
nominative/objective/possessive cases.
For the time being only personal pronoun still has some
cases in English.
Singular
female
nominative she
objective
her
possessive her
dative
sher
male
he
him
his
him
plural
female
they
them
their
tem
male
they
them
their
them

Compare different case-suffixed in Old, Middle, and
Modern English:
Singular
Old E
Middle E
Modern E
spelling
nominative
/hund/
/hu:nd/
/hawnd/
‘hound’
obejctive
/hund/
/hu:nd/
/hawnd/
‘hound’
possessive
/hund-es/
/hu:nd- s/
/hawnd-z/
‘hound’s’
dative
/hund-e/
/hu:nd- /
/hawnd/
‘hound’
Plural
Old E
Middle E
Modern E
spelling
nominative
/hund-as/
/hu:nd- s/
/hawnd-z/
‘hounds’
obejctive
/hund-as/
/hu:nd- s/
/hawnd-z/
‘hounds’
possessive
/hund-a/
/hu:nd- /
/hawnd-z/
‘hounds’’
dative
/hund-um/
/hu:nd- /
/hawnd-z/
‘hounds’

Apart from the loss of cases, analogy plays a role for
morphological change:
A
a. scream
b. fine
:
B
screamed
fined
=
C
dream
shine
:
D
dreamed (dreamt)
shined (shone)



When two languages contact, borrowing happens.
The borrowing part might be lexicon, morphological
patterns, or even in phonetic inventories.
The science to study the origins of lexicon is etymology,
which is a branch of historical linguistics.
French
authority
bill
crown
dean
estate
felon
government
jury
mystery
nation
obedience
parson
state
religion
French(related to
meals)
supper
dinner
feast
taste
appetite
toast
beef
mutton
pork
By translation
Greeks
drama
comedy
tragedy
Latin
history
genius
private
promote
quiet
legal
system
critic
choas
anonymous
Italian
design
balcony
pizza
stanza
violin
Spanish
barbecue
alligator
banana
potato
canoe
coca
Celtic
Dutch
German
Indian
London
leak
quartz
squash
Thames
yacht
noodle
skunk
Winchester
raccoon
whisky
hickory
pecan
hominy
French (for-)
Greeks (-al)
forward
arrival
foreman
oriental
foreland

Two syntactic change from Old English to Modern
English: (a)
Middle E
Modern E
S
O
V
S
V
O
Heo hine l rde
Ex:
(b)
Ex:
She
him
advised
She advised him
Middle E
(Time of Shakespeare)
Modern E
V. + not
Aux + not + V.
I deny it not.
I don’t deny it.
Forbid him not.
Don’t forbid him.
Broadening
Semantic change
Narrowing
Shift

Vocabulary whose semantic meaning was broadened.
Original meaning
Broadened meaning
someone who eats bread
companion
anyone who is with you
with you
thing
a public assembly
an entity of any kind
bird
small fowl
all the birds with feathers

Also called semantic reduction, which means the
meaning of a word is now reduced.
Original meaning
Hound any kind of dog
Meat
food
Deer
any animals or beasts
Reduced meaning
a hunting breed
flesh of an animal
a kind of animal

Some words have entirely lost their original meanings.
Instead, they are meant something else.
immoral
nice
squire
silly
Original meaning Shifted meaning
not customary
unethical
innocent
pages or servants
happy
good
gentleman
something stupid
2-1. What does language change mean? How many aspects would it possibly change?
2-2. What is sound change? Please classify the patterns of sound change.
2-3. What is assimilation in sound change? Please sort the patterns by direction and quality.
2-4. What is dissimilation? What sound change would result from dissimilation? 2-5. What
kind of sound change is called splitting?
2-6. What kind of sound change is called fusion?
2-7. What morphological changes have occurred from Old English to Modern English?
2-8. What is the difference in terms of syntactic structure between Middle and Modern
English?
2-9. What types of change would occur in semantics?
2-10. What is etymology?
2-11. Please list three English words originated from Latin.
2-12. Please list three English words originated from Italian.
2-13 Please list three English words originated from German.
2-14 Please list three English words originated from Greeks.
2-15 Please list three English words originated from French.
3.1 Proto Indo-European Language
3.2 Grmm’s law
3.3 Neogrammarism




Sir William Jones (1746-1794) found that there were a lot of
similarities among Latin, Greek, German, and English.
Comparative linguistics: Historical linguists attempted to
reconstruct PIE(Proto Indo-European) based on a comparison
of Latin, Greeks, Sanskrit, German, etc.
Reconstruction: The way adopted for the combining of each
fragment of sound, morphological or syntactic structure into a
whole picture of what a dead language looks like.
To judge whether languages are cognates, the basis lies in
systematic correspondences in phonetics, semantics,
morphology, and syntax.

There are phonetic correspondences among Latin, Greeks,
Sanskrit, and English:
English
Latin
Greeks
Sanskrit
English
Latin Greeks Sanskrit
a. father
foot
pater
ped-
pater
pod-
pita
pa d
a. f
f
p
p
p
p
p
p
b. three
thin
tres
treis
trayas
tenuis tanaos tanus
b. th ( ) t
th ( ) t
t
t
t
t
c. h
h
k
k
s
s
c. hound kanis kyon
sivan
hundred kentum kekaton satan
k
k
*p ＞ f
*t ＞
*k ＞ h
[*] is a specific technique representing the proto-from.
[>] is used for “becoming.”

Q: Why only these three sounds underwent sound
change?
[p, t, k] →[-continuent, -voiced]
[f, , h] → [+continuent, -voiced]
only one feature changed: [-continuent] ＞ [+continuent]

The tenet of Neogrammarism: sound change is regular,
and without any exception at the same time, under the
same environments, and in the same area.
3-1. What does PIE stand for?
3-2. What is comparative linguistics?
3-3. What is Grimm’s Law?
3-4. What are cognates?
On what conditions can language be called cognates?
3-5. What is Neogrammarism?
What is their basic belief?
4.1 Comparative reconstruction
4.2 Internal reconstruction
Three steps:
(a) verifying the cognate languages
(b) sorting out the correspondences in sound, morphology,
or syntax
(c) Trying to decide which form should be the proto-form.


Mandarin, Southern Min, and Hakka are cognate
languages, because they belong to the Han (Chinese)
language family.
Mandrin
hua
hua
hu
hu
huai
S. Min
huei
hua
ho
ho
huai
Hakka
fa
fa
fu
fu
fai
glossary
flower
bright
tiger
Each other
chest

Two principles for deciding which form is the proto-form:
majority principle and the plausibility principle.
hu is the majority, so the protoform might be *h
Mandrin
hua
hua
hu
hu
huai
S. Min
huei
hua
ho
ho
huai
Hakka
fa
fa
fu
fu
fai
glossary
flower
bright
tiger
Each other
chest

Two principles for deciding which form is the proto-form:
majority principle and the plausibility principle.
[u] is of [+labial
]
[h] is of [+continuent]
→ [+labial, +continuent],
the reasonable segment is [f]
Mandrin
hua
hua
hu
hu
huai
S. Min
huei
hua
ho
ho
huai
Hakka
fa
fa
fu
fu
fai
glossary
flower
bright
tiger
Each other
chest

Reconstruction of a proto-form can also be achieved in
lieu of internal comparison.
Ex:
sin [s n] vs. sing [s


]
There was no [n] after velars [k, g] in Middle English
[ ] of Modern English was derived from *n.
4-1. What is linguistic reconstruction?
4-2. Please give the steps for comparative reconstruction.
4-3. What is the majority principle in proto-form
reconstruction?
4-4. What is the plausibility principle in proto-form
reconstruction?
4-5. What is internal reconstruction?