HISTORY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE I
Main goals



To introduce you to the concepts and techniques of historical linguistics, the
discipline that studies language change.
To show why and how languages change and the main types of language change
that occur in languages.
To show the evolution that English has undergone throughout history.
Course outline
1) General survey of the subject: Historical linguistics: its objectives
2) Language relationships
3) The process of language change
4) Sound change
5) Grammatical change
6) Semantic change
7) Word-formation
8) The historical background of the English language: Loan words
9) The evolution of the English language.
1. Historical linguistics: main goals
 Explain synchronic irregularities
 Identify and explain language relationships cross-languages similarities
- How differences appeared
- Reconstruct the ancestor language
 How and why languages change.
On the one hand, to understand the present state of a language we have to focus on its
irregularities. On the other hand, it is important to understand the relationship of a
given language with other languages: English, for example, is related to languages as
geographically distant as Sanskrit or Persian.
OE
 Present State:
- Morphological irregularities in plural forms
The focus on the history of English can explain its present state:
Cat – cats
Chair – chairs
But man – mans ???
/e/
/e:/
/o/
/o:/
Why do we have these plural forms in present day English?
Man – men / Foot - feet
Because in some words, to form the plural in Old English there was an umlaut: the
fronting of vowels before a high front vowel. But in some cases, the OE plural was lost
and ModE adapted the –S ending.
OE:
bōk - bēc
OE: /e/ ‘e’ ; /e:/ ‘ē’ ; /o/ ‘o’ ; /o:/ ‘ō’
macron (¯)
ModE: book – books ME: /e/ ‘e’ ; /e:/ ‘ee’ ; /o/ ‘o’ ; /o:/ ‘oo’
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- Irregularities in spelling and pronunciation
Sounds and letters don't usually match (there is no correspondence). Sounds are not
always represented by letters/orthographic symbols.
In OE there was a full correspondence between sounds and letters
This is the reason for the present divergence between English spelling and
pronunciation.
Foot – Feet / Mean vs Steak / Divine – Divinity
2. Language relationships: The relationship of English with other languages
Identify language relationships
 The comparative method
o Identify cross-language similarities and language relationships
o Language reconstruction
3. The process of language change




Is it abrupt or progressive?
Can we observe it?
Progress or decay?
Is there an absolute standard of correctness? Or Is the usage of speakers the
most important thing?
2
4. Sound change
 Why does the sound system change?
 To ease pronunciation.
 Simplification (but it is relative)
 Is sound change regular? Nowadays we believe it is an overstatement, but still
consider sound change to be highly regular and reducible to a set of rules.
Phonological change
 Assimilatory changes
 Dissimilation
 Loss of sounds


Examples of phonological change:
o OE bridd > ModE bird
Metathesis (i.e. transposition of
sounds)
o OE thunor > ModE thunder
Epenthesis (i.e. insertion of sound)
Insertion of sounds
Metathesis
o OE wifman > wimman “woman”
Assimilation
o OE Anglaland > Modern English
England
Haplology (i.e. loss of sounds)
Anglaland - Angla genitive of Angle (Land of the Angles)
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5. Grammatical change
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

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Morphological change:
The classification of languages according to morphemes per word
The evolution of the English language:
The domino effect of linguistic change
A sound change > morphological change > syntactic change
Analytic / Isolating languages
• Analytic languages have sentences composed entirely of free morphemes, where each
word consists of only one morpheme.
• Isolating languages are “purely analytic” and allow no affixation (inflectional or
derivational) at all. Sometimes analytic languages allow some derivational morphology
such as compounds (two free roots in a single word).
A canonically analytic language is Mandarin Chinese. Note that properties such as
“plural” and “past” comprise their own morphemes and their own words.
 [wɔ
mən tan
tçin lə]
 1st
PLR play piano PST
 ‘we played the piano’
Plural and past comprise independent morphemes
Synthetic Languages
• Synthetic languages allow affixation such that words may (though are not required to)
include two or more morphemes. These languages have bound morphemes, meaning
they must be attached to another word (whereas analytic languages only have free
morphemes).
• Synthetic languages include three subcategories: agglutinative, fusional and
polysynthetic.
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 Agglutinative languages
Examples of canonical agglutinative languages include Turkish, Swahili, Hungarian
 el-ler-imiz-in (Turkish)
 hand-plr.-1st plr.-genitive case, ‘of our hands’
Multiple morphemes per word → only one meaning
o Inflectional languages
Am-o
Amar – present, singular, first person, indicative
Morphological change
The evolution of the English language:
 The domino effect of linguistic change
A sound change → morphological change → syntactic change
Syntactic change
 Verb in initial position: VSO
Welsh: Gwelsan (nhw) ddraigh (saw they a dragon)
 SVO (Modern English)
English: They saw a dragon
 Verb final languages: SOV
Japanese: Gakusei-da (student am)
- The classification of languages according to word order:
OE SOV > ModE SVO
- Grammaticalization
ModE “will” began life as full lexical verbs
OE Willan (to want) > ModE Will
‘If you will, we can go to the cinema’: will is used in its original meaning
- The role of Analogy
E.g. OE helpan, holp, holpen > ModE help helped helped
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6. Semantic change
He was a happy and sad girl


sad: OE sæd “serious”
girl: ME gurle “young person”
Types of Semantic Change
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

Specialization -- Narrowing
Degeneration – Pejoration
Other types of semantic change
7. Word-formation
The growth of the English vocabulary.
Examples:
o OE fore (before) > fore- forecast
Derivation
o bedroom
Compounding
o to show > show
Conversion
o bus < omnibus
Cliping
o brunch < breakfast + lunch
Blending
8. The historical background of the English language. Loan words
Periods in the History of English
- Old English (5th c. – 11th c.)
- Middle English (11th c. – 15th c.)
- Modern English (15th c. - )
- Early Modern English (15th c. – 17th c.)
Old English
 Celtic
 Latin
 Anglo-Saxon invasion (Angles, Saxons and Jutes)
 Old Norse
/i:/
Middle English
 Middle English
 The Norman Conquest
/u:/
/e:/
Modern English
 Great Vowel Shift (GVS)
 The Rise of Standard English: spelling conventions based on ME conventions. But
spelling was not updated after GVS
 Enlargement of the English vocabulary
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/o:/
UNIT 1. GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SUBJECT. HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS: ITS OBJECTIVES
Main goal: Provide an overview of the origins and development of the English language
so that we can understand its present state.
Diachronic Linguistics (why and how languages change overtime) vs Synchronic
Linguistics (study the characteristics of language at a given point of time)
Diachronic / Historical Linguistics
Deals with the study of language change over time.
It is concerned with:
- why language changes: the reasons for the changes
- how language changes: the processes by which changes occur
It also helps:
- to recognize that language change is inevitable
- to realize that everyone speaks a dialect, that standard English is but one of a
number of Englishes, none of which is inherently superior to any other
Historical linguistics is NOT prescriptivist. It is NOT about:
- telling what is correct and incorrect in a language
- preserving pure forms
- preventing language change
Two main issues dominated the early course of historical linguistics:


Synchronic irregularity
Cross-language similarities
 Synchronic irregularities
-
We can account for much of what seems illogical in language by referring to
historical periods in which the present anomaly fitted into a regular systematic
structure.

Forming the plural: IF HOUSES WHY NOT MOUSES?
sheep / sheep or deer / deer
foot / feet or goose / geese
ox / oxen
These irregularities can be easily explained if we take into account that they are the
remnants of earlier regular patterns.
Old English was a pure inflectional language. Inflectional languages are those languages
that modify the form of their words to provide grammatical information. Number,
gender and case.
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In OE, words were masculine, feminine or neuter
- OE wif (it was neuter) > ModE wife
- OE fisc (it was masculine / a-stem nouns) > ModE fish
OE 'sc' /ʃ/ > ME 'sh' /ʃ/
OE had declensions like Latin
Singular
Plural
Nominative (Subject)
fisc
fisc-as
Accusative (OD)
fisc
fisc-as
Genitive
fis-es
fisc-a
Dative (OI)
fisc-e
fisc-um
ModE fishes comes from OE fiscas
In some cases, plural was formed by the process of fronting the root vowel (umlaut)
- OE fōt > fēt > ModE foot- feet
- OE tōþ - tēþ > ModE tooth - teeth
OE ‘þ’ /θ/ > ModE 'th' /θ/
þ is called “thorn” /θ/ Upper case, capital: Þ / Lower case: þ
In OE, nouns were classified in 7 types. We will focus on 3 of them: a-stem nouns, nstem nouns and root-consonant stem nouns
 a-stem
Masculine nouns (fisc) & neuter nouns (scēp)
- Masc. nouns formed their plural adding –as > ModE –es E.g. fisc – fiscas (fish – fishes)
- In neuter nouns, sg and pl nouns were identical E.g. scēp – scēp (sheep – sheep)
 n-stem
These nouns formed their plural taking the ending –an > ModE –en E.g. ox – oxen
 root-consonant stem
These nouns showed the effects of a sound change known as umlaut: fronting or
fronting and raising of the root vowel in the plural forms. Vowel mutation
A-STEM MASC.
A-STEM NEUTER
N-STEM
ROOT-CONSONANT STEM
-as
Ø
-an
vowel mutation (fronting)
‘fish’ fisc > fiscas
‘sheep’ scēp > scēp
‘ox’ ox > oxan
’foot’ fōt > fēt
-
A-stem masculine: –as  Modern English plural marker -(e)s
A-stem neuter: Ø  Modern English zero plural: deer-deer/sheep-sheep
N-stem: -an  Modern English plural marker –en: oxen/children
Root-consonant stem: vowel mutation  Modern English: foot-feet, man-men...
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
Forming the past
Play-played vs Sing-sang
This synchronic irregularity be explained this way: Past tense is indicated by a mutation
(a change in the root vowel) (Proto-Indo-European, 5000 years ago). Germanic inherited
this way of forming past in strong verbs. This is called ABLAUT
In OE, verbs were either strong or weak.
 OE Strong verbs
Strong verbs formed their past tense by changing the root vowel. This sound change is
called Ablaut. E.g. rise-rose. Ablaut is a systematic alternation of the root vowel in order
to indicate the meaning or grammatical function of a word. In verbs used to mark tense
and aspect.
Strong verbs have always had a mutation in their stem:
- OE Singan - Sang (ModE sing-sang)
- OE Risan - Ras (ModE rise-rose)
Ablaut in other IE languages
- Spanish: querer, quiero, quise
- Catalan: voler, vull, volguí
 OE Weak verbs
Weak verbs formed their past tense by adding a dental suffix (-ode, -ede, -de, -te)*. This
was an innovation of Germanic languages.
In ModE those endings have evolved into -ed, -d, -t: played, associated, learnt
*/d/ and /t/ were dental at that time
But
Are verbs with ablaut and dental suffix in the past tense like keep-kept / think-thought /
bring-brought strong or weak verbs?
OE cēpan (infinitive) - cēpte (past) ModE keep – kept
-
-
They are weak verbs because the vowel alternation is merely additional to the
affixation of the past tense marker (t). This mutation in the vowel is NOT
motivated by ablaut.
If the past tense has a dental suffix that is not part of the infinitive form, that
verb will be weak.
Weak verbs were only distinguished by the addition of a dental suffix to the stem
of the past tense form. The root vowel was similar in both the present and past
tense forms.
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OLD ENGLISH:
cēpan (inf.) - cēpte (past)
/e:/
/e:/
In ME period, quantitative changes affected the length of vowels: Long vowels
underwent shortening when preceding a sequence of two consonants
o /a:/ + 2 consonants → /a/
o /e:/ + 2 consonants → /e/
o /i:/ + 2 consonants → /i/
o /o:/ + 2 consonants → /o/
o /u:/ + 2 consonants → /u/
MIDDLE ENGLISH
OE cēpte (infinitive) > ME Kepte (past)
/e:/
>
/e/
In the late ME period, unstressed vowels underwent reduction to /ə/ and finally they
disappeared
- OE cēpan > ME Keep /ke:p/
- OE cēpte > ME Kept /kept/
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH
- ME Keep /ke:p/ > ModE keep /ki:p/
- ME Kept /kept/
*Great Vowel Shift ME /e:/ > ModE /i:/
*In the Early Modern English period, the Great Vowel Shift (GVS) took place. It affected
long vowels inherited from ME, which were raised in articulation or, if they were already
high vowels, were diphthongized.
OE cēpan > ME Keep(an) > ModE keep
/ke:pan/
/ke:p/
/ki:p/
OE cēpte > ME kept(e) > ModE kept
/ke:pte/
/kept/
/kept/
Irregularities in pronunciation: The history of English can also explain the spelling and
pronunciation of Modern English, which may seem chaotic or at least unruly.
The Great Vowel Shift
MIDDLE ENGLISH
MĒTEN
/e:/
MĒTE
/ε:/
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH /e:/ > /i:/ /ε:/ > /i:/
MODERN ENGLISH
MEET
/i:/
MEAT
/i:/
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Other examples of Synchronic irregularity
How do you pronounce these words?
 Heroic
 Sulphuric
 Basic
- hero /ˈhɪərəʊ/ - heroic /hɪˈrəʊɪk/
- sulphur /ˈsʌlfə/ - sulphuric /sʌlˈfjʊərɪk/
- base /beɪs/ - basic /ˈbeɪsɪk/
The English suffix –ic places stress on the immediately preceding syllable
electric photographic systemic ballistic
atomic
geographic
phonetic systematic
botanic hemispheric
syntactic sclerotic
terrific
specific
telegraphic
soporific
What about catholic and politic?
Why do they follow a different stress pattern?
 Catholic < Latin catholicus
 Politic < Old French politique < Latin politicus
The affix –ic in catholic and politic is etymological instead of synchronic (as in base basic)
 Semantic irregularities

Why do we talk about withstanding a thing when we mean that we stand in
opposition to it rather than in company with it?
Withstand.
With= against / in opposition
 Historical linguistics can also explain the principles of semantic change.
OE wið meant ‘against’
Wið changed its meaning in the late OE period: Wið > against > in company
WHY?
It is an example of semantic borrowing: the form was kept but the meaning of the word
was borrowed from Old Norse (við: in company)
Besides the word withstand, we have withdraw, withhold…
In Old English, bread meant “piece of food”, while hlaf meant “bread”.
 Cross-language similarities (UNIT 2)
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UNIT 2. LANGUAGE RELATIONSHIPS AND LANGUAGE RECONSTRUCTION.
LANGUAGE RELATIONSHIPS: CROSS-LANGUAGE SIMILARITIES
 Cross-language similarities
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
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
The discipline of comparative linguistics involves the identification and evaluation
cross-linguistic similarities.
Explains why some languages have similar, although not identical forms: trying to
determine whether they are fortuitous resemblance or they represent systematic
correspondences (indication of a common origin).
Shows how the differences between related languages have arisen.
Cross language similarities can be motivated by several factors: fortuitous
resemblance, borrowings and common origin.
1. CHANCE SIMILARITIES:
All known languages have a limited number of phonemes and a finite number of
combinations for those phonemes > statistically highly likely that languages
develop accidentally similar forms.
Fortuitous resemblance > English
Finnish
home
home ‘mould’
into
into ’eagerness’
Fortuitous resemblance > English
man
Korean
man
2. BORROWINGS:
Similarities caused by the fact that a language has taken over a feature of another
or because both languages borrowed a form from a 3rd language.
Borrowings >
English
French
colour
couleur
flower
fleur
knife
canif
river
rivière
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3. COMMON ORIGIN: In this case, languages show systematic patterns of similarities and
differences rather than mere resemblances. The only thinkable explanation for these
systematic correspondences is that both languages are changed forms of what was once
a single language > related languages that belong to the same family and have a
common ancestor.
Common origin > descend English
from the same language
hand
German
Hand
milk
Milch
son
Sohn
book
Buch
Proof of relatedness
We say that 2 languages are related -used to be the same language- if they exhibit
recurring correspondences in basic vocabulary.
 Recurrence: The requirement that correspondences RECUR eliminates (or
anyhow greatly reduces) the possibility that the similarities are nothing but
accidents
 Correspondences: regular, systematic alignments mainly at the phonetic and
morphological levels. E.g. A certain sound in a language systematically
correspond to another sound in another language.
 Basic vocabulary: words which show the highest level of LEXICAL CONTINUITY
through time. It is among these words that we are likeliest to find forms retained
from earlier historical periods (e.g. numbers, body parts, animals)
Historical linguistics tries to explain this 3rd case.
In the 3rd case (common origin) the systematic study of earlier language states can also
help to:
 Explain why related languages have similar, although not identical forms.
 Show how the differences between related languages have arisen.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENGLISH AND GERMAN
English
German
ten /ten/
zehn /tse:n/
to /tu/
zu /tsu/
better /ˈbetə/
besser /besər/
water /ˈwɔːtə/
Wasser /vasər/
Systematic correspondence:
English /t/ / #______ → German /ts/ / #______
English /t/ / v_____v → German /s/ / v______v
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 Phonological level
English
German
no /nəʊ/
nein /naɪn/
home /həʊm/
Heim /haɪm/
stone /stəʊn/
Stein /ʃtaɪn/
English /əʊ/ systematically corresponds to German /aɪ/
 Morphological level
English
German
younger
junger
older
älter
colder
kälter
Both languages use ER to grade adjectives (comparative).
 Lexical level
English
German
house
Haus
book
Buch
finger
Finger
They share the same form, pronunciation and meaning.
We use phonetics and phonology and lexicon because it's more reliable. Sound changes
are regular.
English and German forms are very similar and they differ in a systematic way

Reasons
for
their
similarities:
- Similarities: both have
evolved from a single earlier
parent language. Germanic

Reasons
for
their
differences:
- Differences: due to split-up
of this earlier language into
different branches with
separate development
Germanic:
- West Germanic: English /
German
North
Germanic:
Norwegian
- East Germanic: Gothic
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ENGLISH AND ROMANCE LANGUAGES


English and the Romance languages are also related.
This is because Germanic and Latin have a common ancestor, called Proto-IndoEuropean.
We can find evidence of this common origin in the systematic phonetic correspondences
that English and the Romance languages (e.g. Spanish and Catalan) exhibit.
English
father
for
fish
thunder
three
heart
hound
head
Spanish
padre
por
pez
trueno
tres
corazón
can
cabeza
Catalan
pare
per
peix
tro
tres
cor
ca
cap
Systematic correspondences
 Spanish and Catalan voiceless plosives correspond to English voiceless fricatives
/p/ > /f/
/t/ > /θ/
/k/ > /h/
 Spanish and Catalan voiced plosives correspond to English voiceless plosives
/b/ > /p/
/d/ > /t/
/g/ > /k/
English
lip
purse
tame
two
corn
cat
Spanish
labio
bolso
domar
dos
grano
gato
Catalan
llavi
bossa
domar
dos
gra
gat
GRIMM'S LAW
The Germanic family is distinguished from other IndoEuropean languages by certain
phonetic changes, which took place between ProtoIndoEuropean and Germanic
IE had 3 types of plosive sounds:
- voiceless stops
- voiced stops
- voiced aspirated stops
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PIE voiceless plosives > Germanic voiceless fricatives
/p/ > /f/
/t/ > /θ/
/k/ > /h/

PIE voiced plosives > Germanic voiceless plosives
/b/ > /p/
/d/ > /t/
/g/ > /k/
Whereas in the rest of the PIE languages plosives remained unchanged in the Germanic
languages PIE plosives underwent radical changes.
PIE
* piskos
* treies
* kerd
* leb
* dwo
* yeug
Spanish
pez
tres
corazón
labio
dos
yugo
English
fish
three
heart
lip
two
yoke
Why do you think there are Modern English pairs such as:



Father - paternal
Three - trio
Heart – cardiac
Father, three, heart are from Germanic origin
Parental, trio, cardiac are borrowings from Latin.
o Paternal > Latin Paternalis
o Trio > Latin Trio
o Cardiac > Latin Cardiacus / French cardiaque
LANGUAGE RECONSTRUCTION
Proto = reconstructed
Proto-Indo-European = PIE
Explanation



So far, we have seen that by comparing two or more languages we can identify
systematic correspondences between them. Such correspondences indicate that
they are related, that is, they have a common ancestor.
Often that ancestor language is a dead language with no written or oral records:
What can we do then?
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What if you don't have records of a language?



Even if there are no written records of the common ancestor, it is possible to
reconstruct it (at least some aspects) by using the comparative method.
On the basis of data provided from modern languages, we can make a kind of
estimation about what protolanguages might have been like.
Only comparison with other languages can clarify which features of a language are
due to inheritance or borrowing.
Language Reconstruction
Jones, a British judge who lived in India, discovered in the 18th century that "the Sanskrit
language... bearing to both of them [Latin and Greek] a stronger affinity than could
possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed that no philologer could
examine the mall without believing them to have sprung from some common source,
which perhaps no longer exists: there is a similar reason… for supposing that both the
Gothic and the Celtic… had the same origin with the Sanskrit”
Sanskrit
pitár
matár
duva
Latin
pater
mater
duo
Greek
pater
mater
duo
Old English
faeder
modor
twegen
How can we explain these similarities?



By chance?
Due to borrowing processes?
Common origin?
- After Jones' declaration, scholars began the systematic comparison of Sanskrit, Latin,
Greek, Germanic, Celtic and other related languages.
- Their aim was to establish the relationship between these languages and reconstruct
PIE (Proto-Indo-European), the language from which they had evolved.
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Language reconstruction: The comparative method





It is the most important of the various techniques we use to recover linguistic
history.
It focuses on the identification of recurring correspondences at the phonetic and
morphological levels between cognates in two or more languages.
Language phonetic and morphological characteristics are far more stable overtime
than are syntax, semantics, or other aspects of language.
Sound correspondences are reliable: because sounds are not usually borrowed from
other languages. Sound changes are quite regular so the original sound can be traced
back quite easily.
Morphological correspondences are very reliable: Not borrowed from other
languages
Adjective Gradability:
German
klein kleiner kleinste
They have inherited the grading from Germanic
Steps in language reconstruction
1. Assemble cognates
2. Establish sound correspondences
3. Reconstruct the proto-sound
 majority wins
 directionality
 economy
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English
small smaller smallest
1. Assemble cognates
- Cognates are words with similar, not identical, form and meaning in different
languages
E.g. Three
Old Saxon
Romanian
Sanskrit
Turkish
thria
trei
trayas
üc
- Systematic sound correspondences between words with similar form and meaning are
the first clue that the languages are related.
Latin
English
pes
foot
pater
father
- We have to look for systematic correspondences between languages rather than
similar looking words, which can be misleading
- Reject words which are identical or very close in phonetic form because cognates
develop independently and are subjected to sound changes in their own languages.
Borrowings:
Fr. mouton Eng. mutton
Fr. bouton
Eng. button
- By knowing about the timing and nature of the interaction between two languages, we
can identify plausible loan words
Relationship between English & French started in Middle English, after 1066 (The
Norman Conquest). English borrowed from French:
o Legal words
o Food related words
o Fashion related words
How to recognize cognates?
Core vocabulary (everyday objects and concepts) resist borrowing







body parts
kinship terms
plants
animals
2. Set up sound correspondences
Tongan
Samoan
Rarotongan
tapu
tapu
tapu
/t/
/t/
/t/
/a/
/a/
/a/
/p/
/p/
/p/
/u/
/u/
/u/
Hawaiian
kapu
/k/
/a/
/p/
/u/
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colours
numbers
religion-related terms…
OE
niht
/n/
/i/
/h/
/t/
/i/
Latin
noctis
/n/
/o/
/k/
/t/
/i/
/s/
Sanskrit
naktam
/n/
/a/
/k/
/t/
/a/
/m/
3. Reconstruct the proto-sound
In reconstructing the original sounds, some principles have to be taken into account:
1. Majority wins
2. Changes must be plausible (directionally)
3. Reconstructions should fill gaps in phonological systems rather than
create unbalanced systems.
Reconstruct the proto-sound: majority wins
The reconstructed form tends to be the sound which has the widest distribution in the
daughter languages.
Tongan
Samoan
Rarotongan
tapu
tapu
tapu
/t/
/t/
/t/
/a/
/a/
/a/
/p/
/p/
/p/
/u/
/u/
/u/
*: the most common (majority wins)
Hawaiian
kapu
/k/
/a/
/p/
/u/
Why majority wins?
More plausible
*t
t
t
t
*/t/
*/a/
*/p/
*/u/
Less plausible
*k
k
t
t
t
k
Why majority wins?
It is more plausible that one of the daughter languages underwent a certain sound
change than multiple languages underwent the same sound change.
20
Reconstruct the proto-sound: directionality
 Majority wins principles is overridden by the principle of directionality.
 Principle of directionality: There are certain sound changes that very common or
natural while others are extremely rare or uncommon changes only go in one
direction:
 Non-palatal sounds > palatal in contact with front vowels (but not the other way
around).
 Voiceless sounds > voiced sounds in voiced environments (but not the other way
around).
 Weaking:
o Fricativitation
o Degemination
o Vowel reduction
o Deletion
Examples of sound changes that only go in one direction
 Palatalization
Non-palatal sound > palatal in the context (in contact) of front vowels (namely /i/ and
/e/) but not the other way around. This change usually applies to velars and alveolars
*/k/ > /tʃ/ / [+ front vowels]
/g/ > /j/ / [+ front vowel]
/s/ > /ʃ/ / [+ front vowel]
* In some languages /k/ > /tʃ/ / [+front vowel]/ > /ʃ/
Non-palatal sounds > palatal in contact with front vowels (). /k/>/tʃ/ /g/>/j/ /s/>/ʃ/
An example of unidirectional sound
Latin
Italian
Romansh
/Kentum/
/tʃento/
/tʃient/
k
tʃ
tʃ
/k/ or /tʃ/? Majority wins?
/tʃ/ > /k/ is this sound change natural? No
Non-palatal sounds > palatal in contact with front vowels: /k/ > /tʃ/.
The proto-sound is /k/ even though it is not the most widely distributed in this case.

Voicing between vowels or voiced sounds: Voiceless sounds > voiced sounds in
voiced environments.
/p/ > /b/ / v______v
/t/ > /d/ / v______v
/k/ > /g/ / v______v
21
Italian
Spanish
Portuguese
/kapo/
/k/
/a/
/p/
/o/
/kabo/
/k/
/a/
/b/
/o/
/kabu/
/k/
/a/
/b/
/u/
*k
*a
*p → unidirectional direction
*u
/p/ or /b/?
Majority wins?
/b/>/p/ is this sound plausible in this context?
Voiceless sounds > voiced sounds in voiced environments but not the other way around.
/p/ should be the proto-sound although it is not the most widely distributed in the
daughter languages

Weakening: sound changes involving a decrease in constriction degree
Fricativization
e.g. /p/ > /f/
Lat. pater > Eng. father
e.g. /b/ > /v/ / voiced environments
Degemination
/tt/ > /t/
Lat. mittere >
Sp. meter
Vowel reduction
Unstressed vowel > /ə/
OE nama /nama/ >
MiddleE name/namə/
Deletion (extreme Loss of final vowels
case
of
weakening)
Loss of final or medial endings
An example of unidirectional sound
Latin
Lithuanian
tres
trys
/t/
/t/
/r/
/r/
/e/
/i/
/s/
/s/
Old English
þri
/θ/
/r/
/i/
/t/ or /θ/? Original /t/. Fricativization
/s/ or no sound? /s/. Deletion
22
OE nama /nama/ >
ModE name/neim/
OE helpan > to help
Old Norse
þri
/θ/
/r/
/i/
*/r/
*/i/
Reconstructions should fill gaps in phonological systems rather than create unbalanced
systems
Balanced
Unbalanced
i
u
e
i
o
e
a
/dh/
p
b
t
.
k
g
o
a
or
/d/
p
b
t
d
k
g
The answer is /d/
Problems with the comparative method
- There might be features that may have been lost in daughter languages and cannot be
reconstructed on the basis of the evidence provided by living language
- Daughter languages do not develop from the ancestor in the same way: some are more
conservative than others
SUMMARY:
 Directionality:
1. Voicing of voiceless sounds in a voiced environment
2. Devoicing of voiced sounds at the end of the word
3. Palatalization
/k/ > /tʃ/ / FRONT VOWELS
/g/ > /j/
/s/ > /ʃ/
4. Weakening
- voiceless plosives into voiceless fricatives
/p/ > /f/
/t/ > /θ/
/k/ > /h/
- Reduction
- vowel > /ə/
- /ə/ > ∅ at the end of the word
 Economy
 Majority Wins
23
UNIT 3. THE PROCESS OF LANGUAGE CHANGE
Main topics to cover in this unit
1. Can we argue for a complete dichotomy between synchronic and diachronic
linguistics in language studies?
2. Can the interdependence between the various linguistic levels be ignored in the
study of language change?
3. Can we observe the process of language change or we can just describe its effects?
4. How does language change originates and spread?
5. Why do languages change?
6. Is language change a matter of progress OR decay?


Questions
Can we argue for a complete dichotomy between synchronic and diachronic
linguistics in language studies?
Can the interdependence between the various linguistic levels be ignored in the
study of language change?
Many linguists trace the history of modern linguistics back to the publication in 1913 of
the book Course in General Linguistics by Ferdinand de Saussure, which agglutinates the
main tenets of early structuralism.
Diachrony: describes language change and language development.
Synchrony: describes language structure at a given point in time, without considering
previous or ongoing language changes.
Saussure and the early structuralists argued for:
 A complete dichotomy between diachronic and synchronic studies because it was
thought that the changes that had occurred in a language were irrelevant in a
synchronic analysis. Historical information was considered to be irrelevant in a
synchronic analysis of the language
 Additionally, they also argued that changes affected not the system as a whole,
but only individual elements.
This position was challenged at the First International Congress of Linguistics in 1928.
Trubetzkoy and Jakobson (school of Prague, also structuralists) argued that:
• A strict dichotomy between synchronic and diachronic studies had to be rejected
because by making reference to earlier historical periods we can account for some
aspects of the present state of the language.
• Language analysis must take into account the interdependence of all the elements of
a linguistic system. Therefore, any change will affect the whole system.
Some examples: The interdependence of the various Linguistic levels and the
overarching effects of language changes
24
 1. Phonological changes can have consequences on the lexicon
Sound change > lexical change
Front
Back
OE /y:/ > ME /i:/
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
OE /y/ > ME /i/
Close
i i:
y y:
u uː
OE cynn > ME kin
Mid
e e:
(ø øː)
o oː
OE pytt > ME pit
Open
æ æː
ɑ ɑː
OE fyr > ME fire
In Middle English > unrounding of OE /y:/
OE þyncan ‘to seem’ > ME thinken
OE þencan ‘to think’ > ME thinken
Þyncan was lost owing to the fact that both þyncan and þencan gave ME. Think(en), as
a consequence, they became confused and finally fell together. The contiguity of sense
also helped.
I think you are right = It seems to me that you are right
I have to think about it
There is a connection between a sound change and a lexical change
Quean vs Queen
‘prostitute / young woman’
’the ruler of a state’
In ME they were distinguished by their pronunciation
Quean vs Queen
ME /ɛ:/
ME: /e:/
In the Early ModE period > Great Vowel shift
Quean vs Queen
ME /ɛ:/ >/i:/ ME: /e:/ > /i:/
Quean has disappeared nearly everywhere except Australia (prostitute) and Scotland
(young unmarried woman) because the homophonic clash caused by the Great Vowel
Shift. The GVS only affected long vowels
 2. Phonological changes can also have consequences at the morphological and
syntactic level.
Sound change > Morphological change > Syntactic change
OE was an inflectional language. Middle English reduction of unstressed vowels to /ə/
caused the loss of case inflexions, as a consequence the distinction between the
different cases was lost and therefore, this situation led to a stricter word order.
NOUNS inflected in Gender (Masculine, Feminine and Neuter), Number (Singular &
Plural), Case (Nominative -Subject-, Accusative -OD-, Genitive -Possessive-, Dative -OI-)
25
Cyng = king
Old English nouns
a-stem declension (masc.)
Middle English
nouns
Late Middle
English nouns
Singular
Plural
Singular Plural
Singular
Plural
Nominative
cyng
cyngas
king
kinges
king
kings
Accusative
cyng
cyngas
king
kinges
king
kings
Genitive
cynges
cynga
kinges
kinges
king's
kings
Dative
cynge
cyngum
king(e)
kinges
king
kings
OE:
 Inflectional Language
 Grammatical information was expressed by means of inflections (unstressed)
 Flexible syntactic patterns
Early ME:
 Unstressed vowels > /ə/, spelling changed 'e'. E.g. kinges in genitive & dative =
analogy
 /ə/ > ∅ (lost) apocopate
This phonetic change lead to a grammatical change. Loss of inflections: Case
distinctions are lost. We cannot resort to the form of the word to know its
grammatical function
Late ME:
- Syntactic change:
 Rigid word order SVO
 Function words. Prepositions E.g. Angl-a-land : Land of the Angles -a-: genitive
plural marker
Effect of vowel reduction on morphology
 OE inflectional endings: -es, -e,-as,-a, -um disappeared:
 -‘s genitive singular
 -(e)s plural
Thus, case distinctions were lost. English could not rely on inflectional endings to
indicate the syntactic function of words any more that lead to a syntactic change.
Syntactic change
If we don't have endings, word order (and use of prepositions) is essential
The loss of case distinctions meant that grammatical information was not provided by
modifying the form of the word anymore. With the loss of case system alternative ways
of expressing syntactic functions were needed such as stricter word order and function
words.
26
CHAIN REACTION
Sound change
→
Morphological change
Vowel reduction:
Unstressed vowels > /ə/ > ∅
→
Syntactic change
Loss of case distinctions:
OE inflectional endings disappeared.
Only the ending –es survived
Rigid word order (SVO) and use of
function words:
To dative > to the king
Of genitive > of the kings
 3. Caribbean Spanish vs Standard Spanish. Standard Spanish allows independent
pronouns to be absent.
Sound change > syntactic change
It has been observed in Caribbean Spanish that there is a much higher frequency of
occurrence of the pronouns: tú, usted, él and ella than in other varieties of Spanish.
In Caribbean Spanish final the final -s is lost: –s > ø
Verbs forms which are distinguished by this inflection fail to be distinct if the final –s is
lost.
(Tú) andas vs. (Él) anda
The loss of distinction is compensated for through the use of pronouns.
Tú anda vs. Él anda
Previous examples are a reason to discard a strict division between synchronic and
diachronic linguistics, on the one hand, and between phonetics, morphology, syntax and
semantics, on the other.
A broad view of language will be required in order to explain language change, a view
that must include the structure of language as a whole and how its different parts
interact with one another.
On the basis of these examples:
 Can we argue for a complete dichotomy between synchronic and diachronic
linguistics in language studies? NO
 Can the interdependence between the various linguistic levels be ignored in the
study of language change? NO
27
SYNCHRONIC VARIATION
A second reason to avoid a strict dichotomy between synchronic and diachronic studies
is synchronic variation. It means that at any given point in time there will be linguistic
elements at different stages of development coexisting in the usage of speakers.
In other words, archaic/traditional forms and new advanced forms coexist in the usage
of speakers, because a language at a given stage is not stable.
E.g. Present Indicative in Middle England
South
North
Midlands
1st Sing.
-e
∅
-e
2nd Sing.
-est
-es
-est
3rd
-eth
-es
-eth/-es
-eth
-es
-e(n)/-es
Sing.
Plural
Middle English 3rd person singular: -eth / -es (loves, loveth)

The –s marker of 3rd person singular is relatively new. It comes from the late ME
period.

Over the Middle English period, the Midlands dialect in
the third person singular used both the Northern ending
and the inherited OE ending that was used in Southern
(more conservative) dialect (-es / eth).

Archaic forms and advanced ones coexist in the usage
of older and younger speakers.
28
New Guinea pidgin. Tok pisin
(Tok=talk, Pisin=pidgin)
 Pidgin: a language which develops as a
contact language, when groups of people
who speak different languages come into
contact.
 It usually has a limited vocabulary and a
much reduced grammatical structure.
 Official languages of New Guinea:
- Tok pisin
- English
- Hiri Motu




liklik manggi – small boy
ol liklik manggi – small boys
dispela haus – this house
ol dispela haus – these houses
A change begins to spread in the language:
A plural suffix derived from English –es (contact between languages) is used along with
the plural marker ‘ol’.
 ol liklik manggi
 liklik manggis
“small boys”
SO and what next?
1. Plural suffix may spread to more nouns.
2. Original situation (with plural ol) may continue.
3. Diglossic situation may arise: a linguistic situation in which two languages or two
linguistic forms coexist, one of which is a lower or socially stigmatized
dialect/form and the other is a higher or prestige dialect/form.
That was the case of English and French during the English Middle Ages.
SYNCHRONIC VARIATION IN MODERN ENGLISH
 Phonological differences between British and American English
Rhoticity: pronunciation of non inter vocalic –r (near, hurt)
Rhotic (traditional pronunciation) vs non-rhotic (18th c, Southeast England) English
 Originally ‘r’ is pronounced in all positions and in all dialects of English.
 250 years ago some English speakers in Southeast England started to drop ‘r’
before a consonant (arm) or at the end of a word.
 Stigmatization of ‘r’ retention in Britain
 Positive judgment on ‘r’ retention in USA
29
But…
is British English completely non-rhotic?
Dialect map for Arm
Areas of partial retention (r)
 r dropping in the southeast > spread into
the north.
 Prediction: in a hundred years the
original pronunciation with /r/ will
survive only in Scotland and Ireland.
Trudgill, Dialects, p.53
Phonological differences: stress pattern in French loanwords
Stress patterns
o a'dult vs 'adult
o ciga'rette vs 'cigarette
o a'pplicable vs 'applicable
British English has adapted them to the Germanic stress pattern (first syllable) because
it is more traditional
 Syntactic differences between British and American English
X is different to Y (BrE) vs X is different than Y (AmE)
 Lexical differences between British and American English
 petrol (+) vs gasoline
 lift vs elevator (+)
 trousers (+) vs. pants
FACTORS THAT EXPLAIN VARIATION
LANGUAGE INTERNAL FACTORS
 Phonetic motivation: ease pronunciation
Comparatives: formed by suffixation –er or analytically adding more. What is the
comparative form of clever?
cleverer and more clever coexist. (The phonological explanation is that the former is
difficult to pronounce and the latter is preferred by many speakers)
 Information packaging:
• Ditransitive verbs: V + OI + OD (a) or V + OD + to dative (b)
a) I gave the woman at the reception the book SVOO
b) I gave the book to the woman at the reception SVOOblique
(The indirect object is heavy, thus structure 1 is avoided)
30
LANGUAGE EXTERNAL FACTORS
1. Uneven influence of a foreign language on different areas of a country: Old Norse
had a heavy influence on the northern part of England whereas French heavily
influenced central and southern England.
2. Age: Young speakers introduce new vocabulary and informal language.
3. Gender: Women use more standardized language than men
4. Social class
5. Social motivation. E.g.: New trends in pronunciation that arise in a certain social
group as a symbol of identity.
1. Uneven influence of a foreign language


Historical motivation for this geographical
distribution > Viking invasion. Vikings settled in
north and French settled in middle and
southern parts of the island
Heavy influence of Old Norse on the lower
North of England with 200 years of bilingualism.
- To lake /laik/ < from Old Norse leika "to
play”
- To play < Native OE word plegan
DIG
dig is borrowed from Old French
diguer (‘dig a ditch’)
- Native words are to delve and to
grave:
 OE deolfan > ModE delve
 OE grafan > ModE grave
Previous verbs delve and grave are
limited to the geographical edges of
the country.
31




2. Synchronic variation and Age
Differences in language between age groups represent ongoing change. E.g. Who
uses dude?
- Young men engaged in conversation with other men.
- Young men use stigmatized forms to profit from covert prestige: as a symbol
of social identity
Non-standard forms are usually considered low-prestige, but in some situations
stigmatized forms still enjoy a covert prestige among certain groups for the very
reason that they are considered incorrect by the rest of speakers.
Young generation prefers ungrammatical forms to create a social identity
Covert prestige: If I use a form that is stigmatized I use it because it is stigmatized
and want to create a trade
3. Synchronic variation and Gender
Considering the language use by yourself and people around you (e.g. your parents,
siblings, friends…), do you observe differences between men and women? If yes,
please provide some examples.

General tendencies noted in England
- Women are more status conscious than men.
- Women tend to use more standard language features than men.
Study of walkin’ (non RP) vs walking (RP) in Norwich
(% means speakers used the –in’ variant in 4% of the cases)
MC
LMC
UWC
MWC
LWC
Male
4%
27%
81%
91%
100%
Female
0%
3%
68%
81%
97%
MC: Middle Class
LMC: Lower Middle Class
UWC: Upper Working Class
MWC: Middle Working Class
LWC: Lower Working Class
Nowadays, in most of the cases, variation is introduced by the middle and lower classes
opposed as in the past, where upper classes introduced language changes.
Across all social groups: women generally use more standard forms than men = men use
more vernacular forms than women
4. Synchronic variation and Social Class
How do you pronounce “hammer”?
New trend to /h/ deletion:
- “hammer” > /‘amə/
- “hill” > /il/
This innovative variant, which is stigmatized by many speakers, is more frequent among
lower class speakers (lower class correlates with more h-dropping)
32
Conclusions
- Saussure's clear demarcation between synchronic and diachronic linguistics is now
seen to be idealized. In practice, purely synchronic studies are not possible.
- Research on language variation has shown synchronic states are not uniform:
traditional and new forms coexist in the usage of speakers.
- Thus, in a complete description of a language, there is always a 'core' or fixed structure
(traditional forms) and variation (new forms).
- Such variation indicates that language is changing.
- Thus, synchronic variation is language change in progress. It is the mechanism that
enables change.
Answers to the questions:
 Can we argue for a complete dichotomy between synchronic and diachronic
linguistics in language studies?
o To understand the present state we need to take into account early
stages (irregularities)
o Synchronic variation:
 Traditional and new forms coexisting
 Synchronic states are not uniform
 Can the interdependence between the various linguistic levels be ignored in the
study of language change? No. Changes only affect individual elements
THE ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF LANGUAGE CHANGE
Questions



Can we observe the process of language change or we can just describe its effects?
How does language change originates and spread?
Why do languages change?
Can we observe the process of language change or we can just describe its effects?
Neogrammarians (a German school of linguists at the University of Leipzig, late 19thc
Junggrammatiker, 'young grammarians') proposed the hypothesis of the regularity of
sound change:
“The process of language change has never been directly observed” Bloomfield
“No one has yet observed sound change; we have only been able to detect its
consequences” Hockett
We have defined "Synchronic variation" as the beginning of a potential change.
Observe the consequences:
-eth/-es = loveth/loves
OE
ME
Early ModE ModE
-eth
-eth/-es
-es
33
-es




However, sociolinguists have shown that the process of language change (ongoing
changes) can be observed.
The pioneer is William Labov.
He realized that synchronic variation, which had often been ignored, may indicate
ongoing changes in language.
Sociolinguistic studies have shown that changes in progress can be observed if we
take into account synchronic variation. It had been frequently ignored but it is crucial
in language change and can be observed and analysed
HOW DOES LANGUAGE CHANGE ORIGINATES AND SPREAD?
The new tendency to /h/ deletion (hill /hil/  /il/) is not accepted at the moment. That
variation would lead to a final result.
The Neogrammarians said that a sound change affects all the words in which this sound
occurs simultaneously.
That would be the case of
 ME: unrounding of OE /y:/. OE /y:/ > ME /i:/
- OE wyf > wife
- OE lyf > life
- OE bryd > bride
 17th c change: /a/>/a:/ before voiceless fricatives /f, s, θ/ (prefricative lengthening)
- pass, fast, disaster
/a:/ /a:/ /a:/
- But gas, mass
/æ/ /æ/
Therefore, we can say that changes are not completely regular.


-
Linguists have now shown that changes do not occur simultaneously in all words.
Instead of that, a change spreads gradually through the lexicon.
A change originates in a few words and spreads gradually rather than affecting all
the relevant words at the same time.
For example, if a language undergoes devoicing of final stops, at the beginning only
some words will undergo this change, which will gradually spread to the other words
later on.
34
Centralization of diphthongs in Martha’s
Vineyard













Labov noticed that in Martha's Vineyard
diphtongs centralised: /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ were
becoming /əɪ/ and /əʊ/.
At first the new sounds fluctuated with
the existing ones, then the new ones took
over in the Island.
Martha's Vineyard is an island at the
Atlantic coast.
At the time of Labov's observations it had
a little over 5500 inhabitants.
Most of the permanent population lived in
the area of the island that was called
Down-Island.
A third of that permanent population,
most of them fishermen, lived in an area
called Up-Island.
The population consisted of three major
ethnic groups: People of Indian,
Portuguese and English origin.
During his investigations, as a first result Labov discovered that:
People of the age group 30 to 60 tend to centralize diphthongs more than younger
or older people.
Up-Islanders used the centralized diphthongs more than people living in the area of
Down-Island.
Fishermen centralize /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ more than any other occupational group.
The English and Indian inhabitants were more likely to use centralization than the
Portuguese.
Those results could not explain the centralization of these diphthongs, but there
seems to be enough evidence to state that age, occupations or ethnic groups might
be involved.
Language use & identification
Age
/əi/
/əu/
75-
25
22
61-75
35
37
46-60
62
44
31-45
81
88
14-30
37
46
Geographical distribution of centralization
35
/əi/
/əu/
Down-island
35
33
Up-island
61
66


To explain the centralization of diphthongs in Martha's Vineyard the criterion
attitude towards Martha's Vineyard might be important.
The hypothesis was that people who were positively oriented towards Martha's
Vineyard would show more centralization than people who had a negative attitude
towards it.
Degree of centralization and orientation towards Martha’s Vineyard




Persons
Orientation /əi/
/əu/
40
Positive
63
62
19
Neutral
32
42
6
Negative
09
08
Obviously people sharing a negative attitude toward Martha's Vineyard or/and
wanting to leave the island imitate the mainland accent.
People wanting to stay, mainly fishermen, expressed their positive attitude towards
Martha's Vineyard by using a stronger than average centralization.
The fishermen were an influential social group: They represented the good old
Yankee values and had a very positive attitude towards the island but a negative
attitude towards summer visitors.
It seems that the centralization of these diphthongs started in a small group of
words used by a group of fishermen, who had a negative attitude towards summer
visitors and the mainland. This change was used as a sign of identity by fishermen
and gradually spread to other words and speakers who also had a positive attitude
towards the island.
THE LEXICAL DIFFUSION THEORY



It was proposed by William Wang in 1969.
It argues that all sound changes originate in a single word or a small group of words
and then spread to other words with a similar phonological context.
But may not spread to all the words that could be potentially affected by a certain
sound change.
36
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

When charted on a diagram, the progress of change shows an S-shaped form.
First the change affects few words and the new and old pronunciation coexist.
But at some point the change spreads fast to many words.
At the end the change slows down and there may be some words left unaffected
The theory of lexical diffusion stands in contrast to the Neogrammarian hypothesis
that a given sound change applies simultaneously to all words in which the
appropriate context is found.
Changes spread progressively through the lexicon.
There are language items that will remain unchanged (there are exceptions to
change)
Answers to the question:
 How does language change originates and spread?
- Changes tend to originate in a small group of words and spread gradually to other
words with similar characteristics.
- Sound changes are usually highly regular but exceptions are likely to occur.
- Language change is not completely regular.
- Language change is not abrupt, it is always progressive.
WHY DO LANGUAGES CHANGE?
While we know that language change is inevitable, we are less certain of its causes.
Bloomfield: "The causes of language change are unknown"
Early Theories of language change
- In the past, change was attributed to many different causes
- Some early theories of language change today seem hilarious or even socially and
morally disturbing
“Linguists are a marvellously clever bunch of scholars: there is really no limit to the
imaginative, elegant and intellectually satisfying hypotheses they can dream up to
account for observed linguistic behaviour”
Jean Aitchison, 2001



1. Geographical determinism
Voiceless Plosives > Voiceless fricatives
Consonant changes began in the mountains because expiration is more intense in
high altitudes.
The suggested cause is neither necessary nor sufficient.
37
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-
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2. Climatic determinism
It has been argued to be the cause of the rounding of /a:/ in the direction of /o:/ in
the northern languages of Europe.
Old English stān > English stone
Rounding was the result of unwillingness to open the mouth widely in the chilly and
foggy air of the North.
3. Racial and anatomical determinism
Germanic tribes had a greater build-up of earwax which
somehow impeded their hearing, resulting in a series of
consonantal changes.
Other theories claim that language change can be explain due
to physical attributes assumed to be associated with certain
races:
African languages have clicks or labiovelar sounds due to the
anatomical structure of the lips of black Africans.
4. Etiquette, social conventions
Iroquoian languages have no labial consonants because according to their social
conventions it is improper to close your mouth while speaking.
Some African languages have no labials because their speakers use labrets as an
ornamentation (discs inserted in holes cut into the lips)
5. Indolence
Linguistic change is the result of laziness.
Young people or particular social groups who are seen to be changing their speech
in ways disapproved by most speakers are assumed to be just too lazy to pronounce
correctly.
CURRENT THEORIES
The exact cause of language change is difficult to know, but it is usually due to a
combination of factors.
The following are a number of factors which have been put forward as the causes of
language change
1) External factors (sociolinguistic factors)
2) Internal factors (linguistic factors)
EXTERNAL FACTORS
 Foreign influence
 Fashion
 Social Causes
38
o Foreign influence
 Substratum
- When a language community learns another language, the new language is
modified by the linguistic patterns carried over from the native language.
- The language of the non-dominant (conquered) group influences the language
of the dominant group (invaders).
- The speech habits proper to the original language of the population (the
substratum language) will bring about changes in the structure of the new
language (the superstratum)
E.g. French is Latin with a Celtic articulatory habits.
E.g. The influence of Celtic on English
 When people speaking different languages come into contact, one group learns
the other’s language but does imperfectly, and thus carries over native habits of
pronunciation and other linguistic patterns into the new acquired language.
 Superstratum
- The language of the dominant group influences the language of the nondominant group.
- When conquering or migrating, people learn the language of the native
population and influence it.
E.g. Influence of French in English after the Norman Conquest. English borrowed from
French 10.000 words
England after 1066:
French:
English:
- Dominant, prestigious
- 90% population
- Official language of government and
- It became the 3rd language in its
administration
own country
- Ruling classes
- Non-Dominant (after French & Latin)
- Upper classes
 Adstratum
- Borrowing that occurs across linguistic boundaries.
E.g. English in South Africa is influenced by Afrikaans.
o Fashion
Fashion might impose certain linguistic habits and make certain linguistic forms become
obsolete. E.g. It was fashionable in the ME period to borrow words from French.
- They have been courting for a year now
- Let’s go to the parlour to have a cup of tea
39
o Social Causes:
a. to be distinct



It was sometimes proposed that groups of people change their language on purpose
to distinguish themselves from other groups. The wish to be distinct
Slang as a symbol of group identity
It necessarily involves deviation from standard language, and tends to be very
popular among adolescents. To one degree or another, however, it is used in all
sectors of society.
It often involves:
- The creation of new linguistic forms or the creative adaptation of old ones.
- It can even involve the creation of a secret language understood only by those within
a particular group (an antilanguage).
- As such, slang frequently forms a kind of sociolect aimed at excluding certain people
from the conversation.

The use of slang terms is a means of recognizing members of the same group, and
to differentiate that group from society at large.
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/
Iffy, skint
 It sounds iffy (weird, not good)
 I’m skint (broke, with no money) Skint < skin
b. to keep social distance


Social climbing has been a moving force in language change.
Members of lower classes change their language by imitating the elite of society in
order to improve their social standing. At the same time upper classes change their
speech to maintain distance from the masses.
INTERNAL FACTORS
a) Functional needs
- The vocabulary has to adapt to our changing world
- Words which refer to obsolete objects may be lost, while new words may be
introduced to refer to new concepts or objects
- Changes are motivated by the speaker’s communication needs
E.g. e-mail, e-commerce, dot-com, App
40
More examples
 NETIZEN: A person who spends an excessive amount of time on the Internet
[blend of Internet and citizen].
 POPAGANDA: Music that is popular with the general public, and is trying to
promote particular ideas [blend of pop (clipping of popular) and propaganda]
 IYKWIM: If You Know What I Mean
 KTHXBYE: OK Thanks Bye
 Ping:
1) Are you there?
2) Could you ping Bob and see if he's available for a 4pm meeting?
(In computing: The ping is the reaction time of your connection–how fast
you get a response after you have sent out a request)
 Rehi (or merely re): hello again. Derived from Re: in the subject line of an email
means reply or response.
b) Analogy
- Changes orientated to increase regularity
- A more common pattern replaces a less common one eliminating irregularities
in the language.
OE boc-bec > ModE book-books
Traces of plural inflections in ModE
A-STEM
A-STEM
N-STEM
ROOT-CONSONANT STEM
MASC.
NEUTER
OE
ModE
-as
Ø
-an
fisc - fiscas
scēp - scēp
ox > oxan
-es *
Ø
-en
fish - fishes
sheep - sheep
ox > oxen
vowel mutation (ablaut)
man - men
vowel mutation (ablaut)
man - men
* It’s the only productive marker nowadays
OE helpan – holp – holpen > ModE help – helped – helped
Strong verb
Weak verb
Learned/learnt (on the analogy with the vast majority of verbs which form their past in
this fashion)
c) Structural (Intrasystemic) pressure
 Most sound changes are motivated by this factor.
 Languages tend to develop a balanced sound system, that is, to make sounds as
different from one another as possible by distributing them evenly in phonological
space.
 Sound systems try to meet two principles:
- Balance: evenly distributed
- Maximum differentiation
41
Balanced
Unbalanced
i
u
e
u
o
e
a
o
a
Balanced vs unbalanced system
 If for some reason, a language loses its high vowels, there would be an intra-systemic
pressure to fill the gap left by that sound by changing the remaining sounds (for
example, by making mid vowels higher in articulation). There is an attempt to make
the system balanced again.
 So languages will acquire sounds to fill gaps and eliminate sounds that cause
asymmetries in the system
E.g. English voiced sound /ʒ/ was added to match the voiceless sound /ʃ/ already
existing.
d) Simplification
- Making the system more transparent, simple in morphology, phonology and
syntax.
- When a grammar becomes overly complicated or irregular, it may undergo
change to make it more accessible.
E.g. English has moved in the direction of noun plural always indicated by -s
- It is a relative concept, because it may produce complexities in other parts of the
system
Examples:
o stānas “stones” (a-stem, masculine)
o nāman “names” (n-stem)
o word “words” (a-stem, neuter)
-
Process of regularization -es led to the loss of inflections and it affected syntax
Many sound changes can be considered to simplify the production of sounds
Words may become shorter and we need less physical effort to produce them
But simplification is a relative concept, because it may produce complexities in
other parts of the system
Syncope (dropping of a vowel in the middle of a word) could be considered as
simplification, but it also results in consonant clusters.
e) Ease of articulation: some sound changes are often explained as increasing the ease
of articulation and improving perceptual clarity
- Some sounds can be pronounced together more smoothly if they are alike, or if they
are different (assimilation and dissimilation)
- Elision and intrusion can also help to make articulation easier.
- Metathesis (transposition of sounds in a word).
42
E.g.
o Sp. Peregrino --- Eng. Pilgrim
One of the English liquids dissimilated /r/ → /l/ to ease pronunciation
o Most Spanish speakers when pronouncing 'Spanish' add an /e/:
/ˈespænɪʃ/ vs /ˈspænɪʃ/
f) Hypercorrection: it results from an effort of the speaker to correct what he or she
thinks it is a mistake (which is not, in fact, a mistake.)
E.g. Speakers who wish to avoid the North American feature of flapping (voicing the ‘t’)
may pronounce
Cheddar /tʃetə(r)/
g) Folk etymology: change in the form of a word or phrase resulting from a mistaken
assumption about its composition or meaning
The remodelling of 'Chaise longe' as 'Chaise lounge' because one uses it for lounging is
an example of this process.
lounge=lay
Another example comes from the Spanish vagabundo ‘vagabond, tramp’, which gave
rise in some varieties of Spanish to vagamundo ‘tramp, vagabond’, through the folketymological association with vagar ‘wander, roam, loaf’ and with mundo ‘world’

Question
Is language change a matter of progress OR decay?
PROGRESS OR DECAY
“Time changes all things: there is no reason why language should escape this universal
law.”
“Everything is in a permanent state of change, and language, like everything else, is also
continually changing.”
Saussure

Language change is inevitable but does it imply progress or decay?
“Tongues, like governments, have a natural tendency to degeneration.”
Samuel Johnston
Purist attitude
Purists believe in some sort of absolute standard of correctness, which can be found in
grammars and dictionaries.
43
Non-purist attitude
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What is important is the usage of speakers.
If a new word is accepted and used by a number of speakers, that word can be
considered a new addition to the lexicon of the language.
Max Müller, a 19th century scholar, claimed that in the written history of all the
languages of Europe, he could observe only “a gradual process of decay”.
Many scholars thought that language was perfect in its beginning, but it is constantly
in danger of decay (degeneration). The proto-language from which Latin, Greek or
Sanskrit were derived was considered to be the most ‘pure’ form of language.
Change was seen as a degeneration of an original pure state of the language.
The purist attitude was at its height in the 18th century. It contributed to the
standardization of English.
But… What is Standard English?
Which English would you prefer? Why?
 I did it vs I done it
 Come quick! vs Come quickly!
 The book that I bought vs The book what I bought
 Them books vs Those books
 I didn’t break anything vs I didn’t break nothing
 I’m first, ain’t I? vs I’m first, aren’t I?
a, b, a, b, a, b
What is Standard English?
- “having your nouns and your verbs agree”
- “the English legitimized by wide usage and certified by expert consensus, as in a
dictionary usage panel”
- “what I learned at school, in Mrs McDuffey’s class. It really bothers me when I read and
hear other people who obviously skipped her class”
- “the proper language my mother stressed from the time I was old enough to talk”
- “one that few people would call either stilted or low, delivered with a voice neither
guttural nor strident, clearly enunciated”


Standard English, also known as Standard Written English (SWE), is the form of
English most widely accepted as being clear and proper.
Publishers, writers, educators and others have over the years developed a consensus
of what Standard English consist of. Standard English includes word choice, word
order, punctuation and spelling.
Basically, Standard English is a clear and proper form of language that includes word
choice, word order, punctuation and spelling.
44
MIDDLE ENGLISH
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Northern dialect
Southern dialect. Kentish
Midland dialect:
 West Midland dialect
 East Midland dialect → the one CHOSEN because London is close to that area
In the 17th century, the suggestion that there was a right or correct way of speaking
seemed strange to most people.
Spelling was not uniform across dialects.
Concerns about English language focused on two areas: spelling reform and
vocabulary enrichment creating new words by affixation, compounding, blending...
The printing press led to think of the need of a unified written dialect. Spelling in
printed texts became fixed by about the mid-17th century.
Vocabulary enrichment was also considered: some authors thought that English
vocabulary need to be enlarged by borrowings from Latin and Greek, whereas other
authors argued that native resources were sufficient.
The 18th century was a period of linguistic conservatism.
Concern about refining, purifying and fixing the language.
This concern reflected people’s belief that the language had decayed from an
earlier, better state and that subsequent changes in the language had to be
prevented
18th century grammarians undertook the process of standardization of language.
18th century scholars thought that English had no grammar in the sense that it was
uncodified, unsystematised, so they set out to give English a Grammar by:
 codifying the rules
 establishing a standard of correct usage
 removing supposed defects and common errors
They wanted to fix the language in the desire form and prevent further changes.
Prescriptive grammarians of the 18th century were self-appointed experts who
considered themselves qualified to make preserve the integrity of the language.
Samuel Johnson was among them.
The rules they used was the language spoken by the upper-classes
CODIFICATION
 Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), author of the two-volume Dictionary.
 It fixed English spelling and established a standard for the use of words with a great
deal of respect for upper-class usage.
Increase in the functions of use
- Standard English replaced Latin as the language of scholarship.
- English began to compete with French as the language of diplomacy.
45
ACCEPTANCE
What keeps Standard English in its high place?
 Dictionaries and grammar
 Style manuals
 Schools
 The media
Attitude toward language change nowadays


The 18th century attitude towards language is still widespread.
Comments from the press show that many people still consider language change
as corruption.
“Many people look in dismay at what has been happening to our language in the very
place where it evolved. They wonder what it is about our country and society that our
language has become so impoverished, so sloppy and so limited – that we have arrived
at such a dismal wasteland of banality, cliché and casual obscenity”
Prince Charles
“Bad grammar is a sign of carelessness in the use of language, which denotes a lack of
mental discipline in other areas”
Marland
The apostrophe protection society



In some circles, correct use of the apostrophe is taken as a measure of literacy – or
even intelligence.
For some people it has become a social issue which must be treated.
Others feel the time has come to abandon it entirely
Is language evolving to a more efficient state?
“Progress in the absolute sense is impossible, just as it is in morality or politics. It is
simply that different states exist, succeeding each other, each dominated by certain
general laws imposed by the equilibrium of the forces with which they are confronted.
So it is with language.”
J. Vendryès
46
Some more examples of prescriptive rules:
WORD CRIMES by Weird Al Yankovic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc
Listen and list the word crimes that are mentioned
1. If you can't write in the proper way
2. If you don't know how to conjugate
3. You should know when it's less (uncountable nouns) or it's fewer (countable
nouns)
4. I hate these word crimes like I could care less: That means you do care at least a
little. The correct way is “I couldn’t care less”
5. Use the right pronoun: ITS vs IT’S
6. No X in Espresso
7. Dangling participles
[Floating in the pool], I looked at the stars (both share subject, correct sentence)
*[Travelling to India], the weather became hotter and hotter [clauses don’t share
subject; therefore it is an incorrect sentence)
8. Oxford comma
9. Never write words using numbers unless you're seven or your name is Prince
10. Always say to whom don't ever say to who
The woman I talked to vs *The woman I talked to whom
11. I hope you never use quotation marks for emphasis
12. I hope you can tell if you're “doing good” or “doing well”
I’m good (adj.) vs *I’m well (adv.)
I’m doing good (noun) vs I’m doing well (adv.)
13. You literally couldn't get out of bed
Using literally for emphasis is considered a word crime
Other attitudes toward language change
The link between language change and decline/degeneration is an emotional, not a
scientific one.
English varies according to context -speaker, listener,
date, circumstance, etc. -and what is accepted in one
situation may not be accepted in another.
47
UNIT 4. SOUND CHANGE
- What is sound change?
It is the appearance of a new phenomenon in the phonetic/phonological structure of a
language.
(Lass 1984:315)
Origin and spread of sound changes: two views
- Neogrammarian
 Sound change is mechanical and relentless and admits no exceptions.
- Lexical diffusion (more satisfactory answer)
 Not all words are affected by a change simultaneously.
 Sound changes are progressive, spread to words with similar characteristics.
 Changes eventually fizzle out and some words are left unaffected.
The nature of sound change
Current theories of language change point out the importance of the following factors
in the study of sound changes:


Regularity: Regular vs sporadic sound changes
Context dependency: conditioned and unconditioned sound changes.
 Regularity
Historical linguistics often splits sound changes into two groups
 Regular sound changes: systematic changes.
Nowadays we believe it is an overstatement to say that sound changes are completely
regular, but we still consider that there are certain sound changes that are highly
regular.
E.g. voicing in voiced environment
 Sporadic sound changes:
Affect few words and are unpredictable
- OE bridd > ModE bird
Metathesis (transposition of sounds)
- OE bridde > ModE bride
- OE fox & fyxen > ModE fox & vixen
OE /f/ > ME /v/ is sporadic
 OE did NOT have voiced fricatives at the beginning of the word / #____
 ME borrowed words with voiced fricatives at the beginning of the word. E.g. very
 ME southern speakers voiced voiceless fricatives in some Native English words
'VERY':
o Borrowing from French
o It adapted because of the influence of French
48
Context dependency


Conditioned sound changes take place in a specific phonetic environment.
- Voicing requires a voiced environment
- Umlaut (sound change affecting back and low vowels which undergo fronting
and raising respectively due to the influence of a following front vowel)
Isolative or unconditioned changes take place in all environments in which sounds
occurs.
- Great Vowel Shift (sound change affecting long vowels)
Goals of sound changes



Restore balance when the sound system becomes unbalanced.
Ease pronunciation: certain combinations are easier to pronounce than others.
Language have constraints on sound combinations > limits on speakers’ ability to
produce a sequence of sounds in one syllable. Phonotactic constraints define what
sound sequences are possible and what other sound sequences are not possible in
a given language. These constrains are based on an examination of what sequences
occur and what sequences do not occur in that language.
Exercise: Decide whether they are possible English words or not



flabble YES
przonk NO
spronk YES


/f/ can only be followed by approximants.
The maximum number of consonants that can make up the syllabic onset is 3
/s/ + /p, t, k/ + /w, j, r, l/
When the 3rd consonant is /w/, then the first two must be /sk/
Nasal consonants cannot occur as the 2nd consonant in word-initial consonant
clusters (bm, dn, kn)
Limits are related to the syllable sonority profile: sonority should increase steadily
pra vs *rpa
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bmil NO
squirthy YES
prlauiop NO

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stroimpt YES
fkat NO
flampidator YES
 The sonority profile is a general tendency that determines many but not all
phonetic constraints
Approximants /w, j, r, l/.
/l/ is lateral approximant.
Liquids /l, r/
Sonority
less sonorous
most sonorous
stops/plosives affricates fricatives nasals liquids semi-vowels vowels
49
So?

Some sounds can be pronounced together more smoothly if they are alike 
assimilation:
Latin inrationalis > English irrational

Some sounds can be pronounced together more smoothly if they are different 
dissimilation
OF purpre > English purple
One of the sounds has changed in order to become different from the other
Affects liquids and nasals.

Elision of a sound can also help to make articulation easier
OE hnutu > ModE nut
OE gnash/know > ModE gnash /næʃ/ know /nəʊ/

Intrusion can also help to make articulation easier. Adding a sound that is similar to
one sound and the other
Latin tenre > Spa. tendré
OE thimle > ModE thimble


However, simplification is a relative concept, since simplification in one part of
the system may produce greater complexity in another.
Moreover, what it is simple for the speaker of one language may not be so for
the speaker of another language.
The formal notation of sound change
 A > B is to be read, "A changes into B". A belongs to an older stage of the language
whereas B belongs to a more recent stage.
 The symbol ">" can be reversed:
B < A “B derives from A”
 The symbol "#" hash stands for a word boundary (initial or final)
/#__ = word-initially
/__# = word-finally


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


Y > ø / x __ z (loss of a medial sound)
Y > ø / __ # (loss of a sound at the end of the word)
Y > ø/ #__ (loss of a sound at the beginning of the word)
cc > c (consonant cluster reduction)
ø > y / x __z (insertion of a medial sound)
ø > y / #___ (insertion of a sound at the beginning of the word  prothesis)
50
ASSIMILATION
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Assimilation happens when a sound becomes more similar to an adjacent sound in:
o Voice
o Manner of articulation
o Place of articulation
It is motivated by ease of articulation
Assimilation can be studied from 3 points of view:
1) The direction of assimilation
2) The extent of assimilation
3) The relation of assimilation
Assimilatory changes



Direction of assimilation:
o Regressive
o Progressive
Extent of assimilation:
o Total: after the sound change both sounds are identical wifman  wimman
o Partial: after the sound change both sounds are more similar but not identical
Latin inprimere  imprimere
Relation of the assimilating sound with its environment:
o Contact/Immediate
o Distant

Palatalization

Mutation / Umlaut

Vowel harmony
 Direction of assimilation:

Regressive assimilation
One sound reaches back to affect the preceding one, as the speaker anticipates the
articulation to come. So, it comes to resemble the sound that follows it becoming
identical or very alike, in respect to their articulatory features: voice, manner and place
of articulation.
wifman  wimman

Progressive assimilation
A sound reaches forward to affect the following sound that become like the one that
precedes it.
/n/
>
/l/
Gmc *wulno > *wullo > OE wull
voiced
voiced
alveolar
alveolar
nasal
liquid
51
 Extent of assimilation
The relation of the assimilating sound with its environment.

Total assimilation
A sound comes to resemble an adjacent sound becoming identical, sharing the same
articulatory features: voice, manner and place of articulation.
OE wifman  wimman

/f/
voiceless
fricative
labio-dental
>
/m/
voiced
nasal
bilabial
Partial assimilation
Two sound become more alike in respect to some articulatory features while remaining
distinct.
/n/
>
/m/
/p/
Latin in + primere  imprimere
voiced
voiced
voiceless
nasal
nasal
plosive (stop)
(Latin) dental
bilabial
bilabial
The n- of the prefix changes its place of articulation to match the bilabial quality of the
following p.
 Relation of the assimilating sound with its environment
 Immediate assimilation
The sounds involved in the assimilatory process are contiguous.
Latin ad + tangere ‘touch’ > Eng attain

Distant assimilation
The sound to which another sound assimilates is usually the immediately adjacent one,
but it may also be a sound in the neighbouring syllable. In the case of distant assimilation
the two sounds are not adjacent.
PIE *penkʷe > Latin kʷinkʷe
Latin ne hil(-um) > nihil
PIE *penkʷe > Latin kʷinkʷe  regressive, total, distant (sounds are in different
syllables)
52
 PALATALIZATION


A major change in Old English
Palatalization is a conditioned sound change. It only happens when the velar plosive
is followed by (originally) front vowels.
ProtoGmc /k/ > OE /tʃ/ / + front vowels
ProtoGmc
ProtoWestGmc
ProtoWestGmc
/k/
* kinnuz
* kisil
* lik
>
/tʃ/
> OE cinn (ModE chin)
> OE cisel (ModE chisel)
> OE lic ‘Body’

OE hardly used letter ‘k’, letter ‘c’ was much more common

Palatalization  The change from /k/ to /tʃ/ in the presence of a front vowel.
 Front vowels, which are articulated in the palatal region, cause a sound, in this
case /k/, to move forward to become more palatal in articulation.
 In this case from velar to palatal.
 It is an example of regressive or progressive, partial and contact assimilation
/k/
velar
>
back of the oral cavity
/tʃ/
palatal
/ ɪ, ɪ:
/ e, e:
mid-front oral cavity / æ, æ:
Palatalization can be:
- Regressive cinn () ‘chin’
- Progressive only at the end of the word lic () ‘-ly’
- Partial (both sounds are articulated at the front)
- Contact (both sounds are contiguous)
The phonological system of OE


OE had a phonemic writing system: each alphabetic symbol stands for a single
distinct sound.
Allophones, non-distinctive changes in sound that depend on their phonetic
environment, are not represented by separate symbols, as a consequence there
may be more than one predictable pronunciation for each letter.
53
Compare the following words
/tʃ/
/k/
OE cinn ‘chin’
OE cild ‘child’
OE cēosan ‘choose’
OE catt ‘cat’
OE cuman ‘come’
OE clæne ‘clean’
If you can take into account the phonetic environment you can predict the pronunciation
of 'C'
C + front vowels: /tʃ/
Palatalization occurred because it is followed by front vowels
C + back vowels or consonants: /k/
Germanic voiceless velar in OE
o




o The letter c is pronounced: /tʃ/
 Before an original front vowel (like i,
e, æ): ece ‘eternal’
 At the end of a word following a
front vowel: lic ‘body’
The letter c is pronounced: /k/
Before a back vowel (a, o, u): cumbol
Before another consonant: cræftig
When Doubled: racca
After back vowels at the end of a
word: loc
Why?
ProtoGmc /g/ > OE /j/ / front vowels [ɪ, ɪ:, e, e:, æ, æ:]
/g/ >
/j/
ProtoGmc * gislaz > OE gisl ‘hostage’
The change from /g/ to /j/ in the presence of an original front vowel is a process of
palatalization.
Germanic voiced velar in OE
/j/
OE geolu ‘yellow’
OE gieldan ‘yield’
OE geard ‘yard’
/g/
OE gōs ‘goose’
OE gōd ‘good’
OE glæs ‘glass’
o The letter g is pronounced /g/
 Before a back vowel (a o u). Gal ‘lust’
 Before another consonant. Glæd
‘glad’
 When doubled. Frogga ‘frog’
o The letter g is pronounced /j/
 Before an original front vowel (like ɪ,
e, æ). Gear ‘year’
 At the end of a word following a
front vowel. Bodig ‘body’
54
Exceptions to palatalization


OE cynn 'kin'
OE ges 'geese'
y: high, front, rounded
e: mid, front
y
e
Palatalization took place before the umlaut; that is the reason why these velars before
front vowels (cynn /k/ and ges /g/) did not palatalize.
OLD ENGLISH
Palatalization
/k/ > /tʃ/ / Front vowels
/g/ > /j/ / Front vowels
/sk/ > /ʃ/ / All environments
Umlaut
/k/>/k/
/g/>/g/


Umlauted vowels: vowels
that underwent fronting
once palatalization was over
cynn 'kin'
gese 'geese'
Palatalization of Gmc /sk/ in OE
Proto-Germanic *fiskaz > OE fisc ‘fish’
/sk/ > /ʃ/
Remember that OE hardly used the letter ‘k’
/sk/ palatalized to /ʃ/ in all environments:
OE scip ‘ship’
OE scofl ‘shovel’
/ʃ/ + front vowel
/ʃ/ + back vowel
OE scīnan ‘shine’
OE scūr ‘shower’
/ʃ/ + front vowel
/ʃ/ + back vowel
OE fisc ‘fish’
OE sceran ‘shear’
front vowel + /ʃ/
/ʃ/ + front vowel
Palatalization took place in OE before the Vikings invasion
Exceptions to the palatalization of Gmc /sk/


Palatalization did not affect North Germanic. Therefore, Old Norse was not affected:
 Proto-Germanic *skeujam > Old Norse sky ‘cloud’ > ModE sky
 Proto-Germanic *skinth- > Old Norse skinn ‘skin, fur’ > ModE skin
ModE words such as sky and skin were borrowed from Old Norse in the Late OE
period. Thus they do not show palatalization
55
 UMLAUT





The most important change affecting vowels as Old English grows out of Germanic.
It affected all the Germanic languages but Gothic.
It is an example of distant and partial assimilation.
It is a conditioned sound change.
It affects a sound in the following syllable.
Details of umlaut in OE
Gmc *fulljan > OE fyllan (/u/ > /y/) > ModE feel
Gmc *mūsiz > OE mӯs > ModE mice
Gmc *sandjan > OE sendan (a + n > e) > ModE send
OE -an = ModE to
Umlaut in OE



Vowels move directly forward or forward and up in the mouth.
Due to the influence of a high-front vowel or a semi-vowel in the following
syllable: A vowel undergoes a process of fronting or raising when followed by /i,
i:, j/ in the following syllable
In this process the speaker anticipates a high palatal sound, /i, j/ in the following
syllable by fronting or raising the vowel that comes to resemble in articulation
the /i or j/
a (+nasal) e
aæ
Exercise: In the following pairs, the 2nd word (OE) has a mutated vowel omitted from its
spelling, and the 1st word (Germanic) is a related form without mutation. Supply the
missing vowel.







hærjan > h__rian “to raid” herian
monni > m__nn men
dāli > d__l “to share” dǣl
dōmian > d__man “to deem” dēm
morgin > m___rgen “morrow, the next day” mergen
cūðian > c___dan “to inform” cӯdan
buggjan > b___cgan “to buy” bycgan
56
The legacy of umlaut in ModE
• Irregular plural
tooth > teeth (caused by the Gmc plural suffix -iz); same in fōt - fēt (foot-feet)
Gmc
OE
sg
pl
tōþ
tōþ
tōþiz
tēþ
/to:θ/ /te:θ/
ME
tooth teeth 'þ' > th /o:/ 'oo' /e:/ > 'ee'
/to:θ/ /te:θ/
Early ModE
tooth teeth GVS: /e:/ > /i:/ ; /o:/ > /u:/
/tu:θ/ /ti:θ/
• Comparatives (caused by the Gmc comparative suffix -ira) old > elder
Neutral
Comparative
Gmc
old
oldira. ModE older
OE
old
eldra > ModE elder
• Verbs formed from nouns (caused by the Gmc suffix -jan) Noun + jan = verb
food/feed
noun
verb
Gmc
fōd
fōdjan 'to feed'
OE
ME
fōd
food /fo:d/
fēdjan (umlaut: fronting)
feed /fe:d/ 'oo' /o:/ > 'ee' /e:/
Early ModE
food /fu:d/
feed /fi:d/ GVS: /e:/ > /i:/ ; /o:/ > /u:/
• Verbs derived from adjectives (caused by the Gmc suffix -jan) Adjective + jan = verb
full/fill
adjective
verb
Gmc
full
fulljan 'to fill'
OE
ME
full
full /ful/
fylljan (umlaut: fronting /u/>/y/)
fill /fil/ (umlaut: unrounding /y/>/i/)
• Adjectives derived from nouns (caused by the Gmc suffix -jisc). Angel / English
Gmc
OE
ME
noun
adjective
Angle
Anglisc ('sc' /ʃ/)
Englisc (umlaut: fronting /a + n/>/e/)
English ('sc'>'sh')
57
 VOWEL HARMONY


Vowel harmony is an assimilation process involving vowels of different syllables
Some languages have a restriction, vowel harmony, of tolerating only certain
combination of vowels in the successive syllables of a word.
That is the case of Turkish. In this language the vowels of a word are either all front
vowels [i, y, e, ø] or all back [ī, u, a, o] as in
/sevildirememek/ 'not to be able to cause to'
and
/jazfldīramamak/ 'not to be able to cause to be written'



Turkish is an agglutinative language. It affects morphology. When we modify a word
adding a suffix it affects the whole structure.
In Turkish, it is a structural feature.
The vowels of suffixes assimilate to the vowels of the stem with respect to the
features [back] and [front]:
- If the vowels in the root are formed in the back of the mouth, -lar is added to
make the plural:
 Eg. banka (bank), bankalar (banks).
- If the vowels are articulated in the front of the mouth, –ler is added to make the
plural:
 Eg. tren > trenler (trains).
DISSIMILATION
Similar consonants or vowels in a word become less similar. It mainly affects liquids and
nasals and is less frequent than assimilation. Some examples are:

Lat. peregrinus > OF pelerin > ModE pilgrim /r/ > /l/
The first /r/ in the Latin word has dissimilated to become /l/
 Ita. colonello > Spa. coronel /l/ > /r/
 Lat. anima > Spa. alma /n/>/l/
 Lat. sangne > Spa. sangre /n/>/r/
WEAKENING OR LENITION


It is a process of weakening of muscular tension in articulation. The word lenition
itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin lenis "weak").
It is one of the primary sources of historical change of languages
-
Voicing or sonorization
Vocalization
Rhotacism
Loss of sounds (extreme case of lenition)
58
 Sonorization (voicing)


Sonorization consists of the substitution of a voiceless consonant by a homorganic
voiced consonant.
Two sounds are homorganic if they share the same place of articulation.
Lat.




Spa.
cupa > cuba
caecus > ciego
vita > vida
caput > cabo
 Vocalization

Vocalization is the shift of a sound which is not a vowel to a vowel
 Lat. alteru > auteru > otro Spa
 OE hafoc > ME hawk */au/ ModE hawk
 OE sagu > ME sawe */au/ ModE saw
* ME /au/ > ModE /ɔː/
 Rhotacism

Rhotacism involves a sound shift in which /s/ becomes /r/ through the intermediate
step */z/. It only happened in voiced environments.
Lat. *genesis > generis /s/>/r/
/s/>/r/
PIE > Gmc > OE
/s/ > /z/ > /r/
E.g. I was, you were ModE was / were (from Gmc *was /*wēzum)


PIE *wēsum > Gmc * wēzum > OE were
PIE *kusum > Gmc *kuzum > OE curon ‘they chose’
 Loss of sounds (extreme cases of lenition)
In OE all letters were pronounced (no silent letters in OE); at some point some letters
stopped being pronounced

Aphaeresis: loss of an initial sound. In English it took place in the ME period. It was
a result of consonant changes from OE to ME
- E.g. Loss of [k, g] before [n] in:
o knit, knight, gnaw, gnat
- E.g. Loss of [h] before [l, r, n] in:
o OE hnutu > ME nutu > ModE nut
o OE hlūd > ME loud > ModE loud
59

Syncope: loss of a medial sound
o OE *strangara > strangra /a/ > /ø/
o OE godspel > ModE gospel /d/ > /ø/
o ModE castle, listen /t/ > /ø/
o ModE night, light, bought /x/ > /h/ > /ø/
o ModE talk, half, walk, folk /l/ > /ø/
/ɔː/ /ɑː/ /ɔː/ /əʊ/

Apocope: loss of a sound in final position
o OE sunu > ModE son
o OE nama > ModE name
o OE -*līc > -ly
o OE *Īc > I
*ME loss of /tʃ/ in unstressed syllables

Haplology: loss of a syllable that is similar or identical to the following
o OE Anglaland > ModE England
o Probablely> probably
 Insertion of sounds

Prothesis: insertion of a sound in an initial position.
 The addition of a sound is usually prompted by the difficulty of coordinating
articulatory movements  it works as a bridge to connect 2 sounds that can be
difficult to pronounce together.
 It is done to ease pronunciation.
o Lat.
Spa.
spiritus > espiritu
schola > escuela
spata > espada
stare > estar

Epenthesis: insertion of a medial sound
 It is quite common for a stop to be inserted in sequences of nasals and liquids.
 The stop is generally articulated in the same place as the nasal or liquid.
o OE þunrian ‘to thunder’ > þundrian > thunder
o OE glimsen > ModE glimpse
* Anglo-Frisian Brightening /a/>/æ/ and letter a > æ
60
 Vowel breaking in OE (diphthongization  vowel > diphthong)
Breaking in OE is the diphthongization of the front vowels /æ, e, i/ to /ea, eo, io/ when
followed by /h/, by /r/ or /l/ plus another consonant
It affected to 3 vowels (and their long versions) were affected  æ, æ:, e, e:, ɪ, ɪ:
o /æ/ > /ea/ /æ:/ > /e:a/
o /e/ > /eo/ /e:/ > /e:o/
o /ɪ/ > /ɪo/ /ɪ:/ > /ɪ:o/
Front V > D / __
o
o
o
o
o
o
r + C (1)
l + C (1)
h (2)
herte > heorte, ‘heart’ /e/>/eo/ (1)
werpan > weorpan ‘to throw’ /e/>/eo/ (1)
elh > eolh ‘elk’ /e/>/eo/ (1)
hælf > healf ‘half’ /e/>/ea/ (1)
feh > feoh ‘money’ /e/>/eo/ (2)
liht > lioht ‘light’ /i/>/io/ (2)
 Metathesis  reversal or reordering of two sounds (2 sounds shift places)
It is especially common with sequences of:


o
o
o
o
o
o
o
liquids and vowels
o Spanish tronada> ModE tornado
fricatives and stops
o OE axian [x = ks] > ModE ask
OE frist > ModE first
OE brid > ModE bird
OE hros > ModE horse
Lat. miraculum > Sp. Milagro
OE axian [x = ks]> ModE ask
OE dox [x = ks] > ModE dusk
OE hwat > ME what
OE
ME
ModE
/hw/ > /wh/ > /h/
hwō who
hwōm whom
hwī
why
61
THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT (GVS) in EARLY MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD











It started in the early decades of 15th century. It was completed in 18th century
It affected long vowels
They either raised in articulation or became diphthongs.
The changes began early in the 15th century in southern England, but complete sets
of changes extended over 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th century.
Scholars argue if this was really one shift or a series of separate ones that together
affected all the long vowels inherited from ME.
Causes for this shift are not known.
The main differences between present-day spelling and pronunciation are due to
the Great Vowel Shift.
Despite the significant changes in pronunciation, the ME spelling conventions are
maintained with few exceptions.
William Caxton and his followers in printing based their spelling norm on the usage
of the medieval manuscript and not on the pronunciation of their times.
Consequently, the graphic representation of the new values remained the same as
in ME.
ME stopped using macron symbol. Last 'e' was not pronounced (‘a_e’, ‘o_e’).
E.g. tale /ta:l/, mete /me:t/, lose /lo:s/, house /hu:s/.
ME steke /ɛ:/ > steek > ModE steak /eɪ/
OE
ME
ModE (GVS)
 /eɪ/
/a:/ ā bān 'bone'
/a:/
‘a_e’ → tale /ta:l/
/e:/ ē fēt
/e:/
/ɛ:/
‘ee’, ‘e_e’ → mete ‘meet‘, feet /e:/
 /i:/
‘ee’, ‘e_e’ → heeth ‘heath‘, teche ‘teach‘ /ɛ:/  /i:/ or /eɪ/
/ɪ:/ ī wīf, hwī
/iː/
‘i_e’, ‘y’ → wife, why /iː/
/o:/ ō fōd
/o:/
/ɔː/
‘oo’, ‘o_e’ → food, boot /o:/ ‘boot’, lose /o:/  /u:/
‘oo’, ‘o_e’ → boot /ɔː/ ‘boat’
 /əʊ/
/u:/ ū nū, hūs
/u:/
‘ou’, ‘ow’ → now /u:/, house /u:/
OE hūs /hu:s/ > ME house /hu:s/ > ModE house /haʊs/


/i:/
meat
< ME /ɛ:/
/eɪ/
steak, great
< ME /ɛ:/
/i:/
/i:/
/i:/
/u:/
/əʊ/
meet < ME /ɛ:/
< ME /e:/ see
< ME /ɛ:/ see
< ME /o:/ boot
< ME /ɔː/ boot
ModE ‘ea’
ModE
 ModE
 ModE
 ModE
 ModE
‘ee’
‘see’
‘sea’
‘boot’
‘boat’
62
 /aɪ/
 /aʊ/
GREAT VOWEL SHIFT
ME /i:/ > ModE /aɪ/
Late ME
ModE
bite /bi:t/ > bite /baɪt/
/i:/ > /aɪ/
(ME ‘i_e’, ‘y’) (ModE ‘i_e’, ‘y’)
Examples: wife, ride, life, five,
time, by, mice
ME /u:/ > ModE /aʊ/
Late ME
ME /e:/ > ModE /i:/
ModE
Late ME
ModE
house /hu:s/ > house /haʊs/
/u:/ > /aʊ/
see /se:/ > see /si:/
/e:/ > /i:/
(ME ‘ou’, ‘ow’) (ModE ‘ou’, ow’)
(ME ‘ee’, ‘e_e’) (ModE ‘ee’, ‘ie’)
Examples: mouse, now, town, pound
Examples: teeth, feed, creep,
green, deep, street, thief
ME /o:/ > ModE /u:/
ME /ɛ:/ > ModE /i:/ or /eɪ/
Late ME ModE
Late ME ModE
food /fo:d/ > food /fu:d/
/o:/ > /u:/
mete /mε:t/ > meat /mi:t/
(ME ‘oo’, ‘o_e’) (ModE ‘oo’, ‘o_e’)
/ε:/ >/i:/ or /eɪ/
(ME ‘ee’, ‘e_e’) (ModE ‘ea’)
Examples: moon, noon, root, broom,
lose, goose, choose
E.g. mean, steak, deal, beat, heal, leaf, great
ME /aː/ > ModE /eɪ/
ME /ɔː/ > ModE /əʊ/
Late ME ModE
home /hɔ:m/ > home /həʊm/
/ɔ:/ > /əʊ/
( ME ‘oo, o_e) (ModE ‘o_e, oa)
Examples: home, stone, bone, foe, hose,
dose, close, lone, broad, coach, boat
Late ME ModE
name /na:m/ > name /neɪm/
bake /ba:k/ > bake /beɪk/
/a:/ >/eɪ/
(ME ‘a_e’) (ModE ‘a_e’)
Examples: tale, lane, grate
Exceptions to GVS
The expected development of ME /o:/ was /u:/
o /o:/ > /u:/ shoe, food, goose, choose
But there were other exceptional developments of ME /o:/
o /o:/ > /u:/ > /ʊ/ good, foot
o /o:/ > /u:/ > /ʊ/ > /ʌ/ blood, flood, dove
Although it is true that sounds and letters do not agree, we can provide a logical
explanation for this divergence.
63
The main differences between present-day spelling and pronunciation are due to the
Great Vowel Shift, which was not reflected in the spelling conventions
Exercises on Great Vowel Shift:
How do you think the following words were pronounced in Middle English (before GVS)?













life /li:f/
house /hu:s/
see /se:/
home /hɔ:m/
take /ta:k/
meet /me:t/
boot /bo:t/
Re-spell in Middle English





OE
tācan
tēþ
līn
tōþ
fōt
sea /sε:/
kind /ki:nd/
sound /su:nd/
loud /lu:d/
feat /fε:t/
*look /lo:k/ */o:/ > /u:/ > /ʊ/
ME
take /a:/
teeth /e:/
line /i:/
tooth /o:/
foot /o:/
Show the changes effected by the Great Vowel Shift by writing the appropriate phonetic
symbol in the brackets:







[iː] > [aɪ] as in mice: ME [miːs] > ModE [maɪs]
[uː] > [aʊ] as in mouse: ME [muːs] > ModE [maʊs]
[eː] > [uː] as in goose: ME [geːs] > ModE [guːs]
[oː] > [iː] as in geese: ME [goːs] > ModE [giːs]
[ɛ:] > [eɪ] as in break: ME [brɛːkən] > ModE [breɪk]
[ɔː] > [əʊ] as in broke: ME [brɔːkən] > ModE [brəʊk]
[aː] > [eɪ] as in name: ME [naːm] > ModE [neɪm]
The following are phonetic transcriptions of Middle English words. Write their presentday developments in phonetic transcription and normal orthography (current spelling).









ME
> ModE
/bɔːst/ > /bəʊst/ 
/broːd/ > /bruːd/ 
/deːm/ > /diːm/ 
/grɛːt/ > /ɡreɪt/ 
/guːn/ > /gaʊn/ 
/kaːs/ > /keɪs/ 
/liːs/ > /laɪs/

/luːd/ > /laʊd/ 
/meːt/ > /miːt/ 
C.Spelling
boast
brood
deem
great
gown
case
lice
loud
meet










64
ME
> ModE
/miːn/ > /maɪn/
/paːs/ > /peɪs/
/poːl/ > /puːl/
/pɔːl/ > /pəʊl/
/reːd/ > /riːd/
/rɔːst/ > /rəʊst/
/roːst/ > /ruːst/
/saːf/ > /seɪf/
/uːt/ > /aʊt/
/wiːd/ > /waɪd/










C.Spelling
mine
pace
pool
pole
reed
roast
roost
safe
out
wide
UNIT 5. GRAMMATICAL CHANGE


Language change occurs at all levels and, since they are interrelated, a change at
one of the levels may trigger new changes at other levels
Grammatical change: morphological change + syntactic change
A sound change >
morphological change
> syntactic change
loss of unstressed vowels 
loss of inflectional distinctions 
more rigid word order
MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGE
Morphological typology
Languages can be classified typologically, according to their particular structural,
morphological characteristics.
1. Isolating
2. Agglutinative or agglutinating
3. Inflectional or inflecting
1. Isolating Languages
Words are formed by one morpheme. Markers of inflection are new words
(morphemes: smallest unit of meaning in a language). Properties such as “plural” and
“past” comprise their own morphemes and their own words. Example: Chinese.
 [wɔ
mən tan
tçin lə]
 1st
PLR play piano PST
 ‘we played the piano’


With one morpheme per word there is no use of affixes.
Grammatical relations indicated by word order and function words.
2. Agglutinative or agglutinating
Words are formed by one or several morphemes (a root and a number of affixes).
Example: Turkish
 evlerimde ‘to my houses’
 evler- imde
 House PLR
-POSS -ABL (ablative case)



Morphemes are ‘glued together’ but they can be clearly separated.
Every morpheme expresses one meaning.
An example of extreme agglutination is Swahili:
 Wametulipa ‘They have paid us’
 wa-me-tu-lip-a
 They perfect tense us
pay
indicative mood
65
3. Inflectional or inflecting
Words may contain several morphemes (a root and a number of affixes) but morpheme
boundaries are blurred. Example: Latin
 Arma virumque canō ‘Weapons and the man I sing’
 Arm-a
vir-um-que
can-ō
 Weapon-neut.pl.obj man,
masc, sg. Obj.
1st. Pers. Sg. Ind.


A morpheme can express several meanings
The form of a word is modified by means of inflections to indicate changes in
meaning or grammatical function.
Isolating
Agglutinating
Inflectional
Morphemes per word
1
Several
Several
Affixes
No
Affixes
Affixes
Grammatical
relationship
- Word order
- Function words
Affixation
(inflections)
Affixation
(inflections)
1
Several
Meaning per
morpheme
A different typological classification (Sapir, 1921)

Analytic: a language in which grammatical relations are indicated primarily by
word order, and function words. (Isolating)

Synthetic: a language that expresses grammatical relations primarily by
affixation (both inflecting & agglutinating languages count as synthetic)

Polysynthetic: a language that combines a larger number of morphemes,
including the major parts of a sentence, into a single word, but keeps the
morphemes distinct. Swahili: wametulipa (they have paid us)
Is there a clear-cut distinction between these types of languages?
How would you classify Modern English?
 Modern English is weakly inflectional and highly isolating
- The boys have brought some presents to their mother (inflectional + isolation)
OLD ENGLISH (OE) vs PRESENT DAY ENGLISH (PDE)
 On his dagum comon arest iii scipu nordmanna
 In his days came first three ships of Northmen.
Compare the information carried by the OE inflectional endings (gender, number and
case) and PDE –s which only indicates plural.
 dag-um (masc, pl, dative)
 com-on (past, pl)
 scip-u (pl, neuter, nominative)
66
In PDE (Present Day English)



Pronouns are obligatory to indicate person because verbal inflections have
disappeared.
Auxiliaries [modal verbs to indicate mood (possibility, probability, desire) that
express subjunctive (non-facts) –in contrast to indicative (facts)] have largely
replaced verbal inflections.
Function words (prepositions) have largely replaced case inflections.
Nevertheless, there are vestiges (traces) of inflection in Modern English




Pronouns (person, number, gender, case)
Nouns (number, genitive case)
Adjectives (grade)
Verbs (person, number, tense, aspect)  Plays (3rd ps), Played (Past), I am
playing (gerund, progressive aspect).
English has developed from a highly inflectional language (or synthetic language) to
one which shows more isolating (analytic) characteristics but still with characteristics
of its inflectional origin.
Languages tend to develop in cycles
- From isolating to agglutinating
- From agglutinating to inflecting
- From inflecting to isolating
(OE > ModE)
 Phonological reduction



From isolating to agglutinating
Phonological reduction means that free forms may be reduced to prefixes or suffixes
from free morphemes to bound morphemes
E.g. OE lic 'body' > -ly (suffix)
 Morphological fusion



From agglutinating to inflecting
Morphological fusion can take place with the amalgamation of different morphemes
into one.
E.g. English plural and English genitive. The expected combination of these two
suffixes in the genitive plural does not materialize.
plural
chaps


genitive
chap’s
plural genitive
chaps’
The final –s in chaps’ is not just plural or genitive but plural + genitive
The amalgamation of –ss into s is only productive in the genitive plural.
67
 Morphological reduction



From inflecting to isolating (OE > ModE)
Morphological reduction came as a consequence of sound changes and analogy
inflections can disappear.
English loss of nominal and verbal inflections: vowel reduction /a/ > /ə/ and syncope
affected unstressed vowels and lead to loss of inflections. Examples:
OE nama  ME name
1. /a/ > /ə/ ‘e’ name /na:mə/ 2. /ə/ > Ø name /na:mə/
OE cýninge ‘to the king’  ME king /e/ > /ə/ > Ø
o What can you infer from the following changes?

Formal Latin [amabo] 'I will love'  inflectional

Vulgar Latin [amare habeo] 'I will love' -- auxiliary  function word that is an
example of isolation

Spanish
[amaré] 'I will love'  inflectional
OE verb paradigm for DRIFAN
drifan ‘ to force / to push’
ic drife
Þu drifst
he drifð
we drifað
ge drifað
hī drifað
OE was tending towards an isolating language, since the inflectional endings for plural
forms were similar, pronouns, function words, were needed in plural.
(ModE they comes from Old Norse)
The conclusion that can be drawn from these facts is that Modern English is highly
isolating (word order and function words to express grammatical functions) and weakly
inflectional (still retains certain inflectional forms).
ANALOGICAL CHANGE



The moving force in morphological change is analogy.
It based on the extension of a linguistic pattern to forms which originally
belonged to another pattern.
The main function of analogy is to make the language more clear
Some examples of analogy


OE

ModE 
helpan
help
healp
helped
holpen
helped
o Extension of the suffix –ed as a mark of past tense. Nowadays, it is the only
productive inflection.
68



Analogy is not systematic.
An important effect of analogy is the removal of irregularities or anomalous
forms.
However, it is important to keep in mind that analogy may be ad hoc and
sporadic and does not always work in a systematic way.
An important effect of analogy is the Sturtevant's Paradox
- SOUND CHANGE is highly regular and causes irregularity
- ANALOGY is irregular and causes regularity
*regular here means systematic
*irregular here means not systematic
Sound change is quite regular BUT creates irregularities
OE
ModE
Infinitive / present
cēosan [z]
choose [z]
Past singular
cēas [s]
chose [z]
Past plural
curon [r]
chose [z]
Past participle
gecoren [r]
chosen [z]
OE cēosan ModE ‘to choose’
choose /z/  extension of the pronunciation of the present tense / infinitive
o Cēosan is very irregular because of these sound changes:
1. Rhotacism: Intervocalic /s/ changed to /r/ by rhotacism
2. Palatalization: /k/ > /tʃ/ before front vowels
Analogy makes the system regular



Analogy is inherently irregular BUT attempts to make morphology more regular.
It levels out the alternation left by sound change
Analogy levelled the consonant differences: choose/chose/chosen
Regular changes: rhotacism and palatalization created irregularity – different
allomorphs – but analogy made the paradigm uniform again.
Plural endings (come from OE Nom-Acc, plural)
Nominative
OE
ModE
OE
ModE
stān
stone
stānas
stones
nama
name
naman
names
word
word
word
words
hand
hand
handa
hands
cwēn
queen
cwēne
queens
scip
ship
scipu
ships
Accusative
69


Old English endings: -as, -an, ø, -a, -e and -u, which in OE indicated case, number
and gender, have been replaced with the plural marker -(e)s. Inherited from the
Nom/Acc. plural of the OE a-stem masculine nouns.
In this case analogy makes the language more transparent by working towards
the end that -es always expresses the plural.
What irregular plural forms still remain in Modern English?
 foot / feet (root-consonant stem)
 ox / oxen (n-stem)
 child / children (z-stem / double plural)
 sheep / sheep (neuter a-stem)
OE
r-stem / z-stem
sing. plural
cild
cildru
>
ME
childr-en
r-stem / z-stem
n-stem, analogical with ox – oxen
SYNTACTIC CHANGE

It is difficult to separate morphological and syntactic change because change in one
component is often accompanied by change in the other component.

Languages can be classified by the order of the elements in the sentences, by word
order. Specifically on the position of the subject (S), the verb (V) and the object (O).

Verb in initial position:
o VSO
Welsh: Gwelsan (nhw) ddraigh (saw they a dragon)
o VOS
Malagasy: Mamaky boky ny mpianatra (reads book the student)
o SVO
English: They saw a dragon

Verb final languages
o SOV
Japanese: Gakusei-da (student am)
The differences between OV languages and VO languages represent the relationship
Dependent-Head (OV) and Head-Dependent (VO).
70
PHRASE TYPE
Noun Phrase
VO Languages
Head + Dependent
Noun + Adj.
Man old
Noun + Gen.
The car of Mary
Preposition + NP At home
Prepositional
Phrase
Verb Phrase
Aux + Main verb
Clause/sentence
Has seen
Saw him
OV Languages
Dependent + Head
Adj. + Noun
Old man
Gen. + Noun
Mary’s car
NP + Preposition Home at
Main verb + Aux
Seen has
Him saw
* From a semantic point of view the head is the main verb but from a syntactic point of
view the head is the auxiliary verb (conjugated verb).


What is the default word order of Modern English clauses? SVO
Does Modern English have all the characteristics of SVO languages? Not always
NP [Dependent + head]  OV characteristic
 The large house
 An old man
 Mary’s house (The possessive modifier comes before the noun)
NP [Head + dependent]  VO characteristic
 The house of Mary (The possessive modifier comes after the noun)
Why does Modern English show OV vestiges in NP?
Early OE has usually SOV word order in both main and subordinate clauses:


OE Æðred me ah
ModE Æðred owns me
OE Eanred me agrof ModE Eanred carved me
SOV
SOV > SVO
1. His geleafa hine getrymde
S
O
V
His faith him strengthened
‘His faith strengthened him’
PIE (SOV)
2. And he næfre nænig leoð geleornade
S
O
V
And he never no poetry learned
‘And he never learned any poetry’


Germanic (SOV)
OE (SOV)
PIE > English
SOV > SVO
- In Modern German, main clauses are SVO but embedded clauses are SOV.
- The explanation: German retains the PIE/Germanic pattern in embedded clauses, but
has changed to SVO in main clauses, whereas English has changed all sentences to SVO.
71
How did this change (from SOV to SVO) come about?



Why did English change in this radical way?
Why did this happen in English, but not in German or Dutch?
It’s an old idea that the breakdown of the inflectional system was connected to this.
Among the causes that have contributed to this transformations are:
1. Heavy NP shift :
I gave several pictures that had been damaged in the flood to her
I gave her several pictures that had been damaged in the flood
or
God Noe and his suna bletsode > God blessed Noah and his sons
Heavy NP shift meant that complex (long) NPs and PPs were moved to the right of the
clause, after the verb.




2. Verb-fronting rule
In this rule, the verb is moved to the verb to the left of the clause.
The fronted verb typically followed an adverb such as þa (then), here, ne (not), etc,
that is, time, place and negative adverbs.
This rule was already applied in the OE period.
Verb second (V2) word order: it places the finite verb of a clause or sentence in 2nd
position with a single constituent preceding it, which functions as the clause topic.
Þa sæde heo þam brydguman
Then said she to the bridegroom
Hwi wolde God swa lytles þinges him forwyrman
Why would God so small thing him deny
'Why would God deny him such a small thing?'
German:
Morgen fliege ich nach London
Tomorrow fly I to London
‘Tomorrow I´m flying to London’
The verb-fronting rule was also applied with negative and restrictive adverbs in the
OE period. This structure is maintained nowadays. E.g.


Nowhere can you find such good chocolate.
Under no circumstances should you come.
 To sum up, Modern English is SVO but it still retains traces of its original syntactic
structure SOV in
o The way NP are structured: [Dependent + Head]
 Blue car
 Mary’s car
o Verb-fronting rule is preserved in negative / restrictive clauses
72
GRAMMATICALIZATION
It is a process were a lexical word turns into a grammatical word, or a grammatical word
becomes a more grammatical word.
o Lexical (or content) item  Grammatical (or functional) item
o Less grammatical item  More grammatical item
or
OE lic ‘body’ > ModE –ly (happily)
Grammaticalization involves 3 things:



Semantic bleaching (reduction in the type of information it can express)
Phonetic reduction
Restriction in syntactic freedom
1. Semantic bleaching: the loss of semantic content so it can be used in an
abstracter way
German: Mann ‘man’  man ‘one’ (noun > indefinite pronoun)
 Indefinite pronoun replacing a not further specified person.
 Only the meaning component ‘(some) human being’ survives
2. Phonetic reduction: It may also be reduced phonetically and may become an
inflection.
 lic > -ly
 going to  gonna [As a future marker. If it is intended as literal motion there is
no phonetic reduction  it remains going to]
Contrast:
(1)
(2)
a. Bill is going to go to college.
b. Bill’s gonna go to college.
a. Bill is going to college.
b.*Bill’s gonna college.
3. Loss of syntactic freedom: Inherent in the emergence of affixes.
e.g.
Latin humile mente (‘with a humble mind’)
Spanish humildemente ‘humbly’
 Noun > suffix
Source of a highly productive derivational suffixes:
 OE lic “body” > ModE –ly
immediately, happily
 OE hood ‘state’
parenthood, motherhood
 OE dom ‘realm, domain’
kingdom, Christendom
73
 Noun > indefinite pronoun
Lat. rem “thing” > Fr. rien “nothing”
The conversion of a noun to an indefinite pronoun exemplifies a common pattern of
grammaticalization.
 Noun > adverb
French pas: “step”
 In OF negation was formed by placing the negative particle ne before the verb
Eg. Je ne sait ‘I don’t know’
 A verb of motion negated by ne could optionally be reinforced by pas
Eg. Il ne va pas “He doesn’t go a step”
 Pas was reanalyzed as a negative particle and extended analogically to new verbs
having nothing to do with motion.
Eg. Il ne sait pas “He doesn’t know”
 In spoken French pas came to replace ne
Eg. Il sait pas “He doesn’t know”
 Less Grammatical Item > More Grammatical Item

OE ān ‘one’ > ModE an  indefinite article
 It is a common pattern of grammaticalization
 That is the case of the development of the English indefinite article a / an out
of the numeral one

OE se ‘that’ > ModE the  demonstratives > definite articles
OE se
> ModE the
masc, sing, far away
previously mentioned, known
‘that’
 Why do words undergo grammaticalization? Because of loss of inflection
The purpose of grammaticalization
Words are often grammaticalized to replace inflections which are lost or weakened.

The use of to as a marker of infinitive.
E.g.
OE willan ‘to want’
OE singan ‘to sing’



The infinitive of verbs in Old English was marked by an inflectional ending –(i)an
as in sing-an. This ending was gradually lost and replaced with the preposition
‘to’ to mark the infinitive.
To (preposition, indicating destination of movement) > to (a maker of the
infinitive form).
In this situation to no longer functions as a preposition but as a grammatical
marker signalling the non-finite form to follow.
74

The conversion of the preposition of into a marker of case.
E.g. Mary’s car / the car of Mary
 ModE genitive case may be expressed by an inflection or by a prepositional
phrase
 In this use of has lost its original meaning off, from and has become a pure maker
of the possessive.

The conversion of full lexical verbs into auxiliary verbs.
Modal Verbs were lexical verbs that underwent grammaticalization and became modal
verbs.



OE cunnan ‘to know’  ModE can ‘to be capable of or to be allowed to’.
- Can I open the window? (permission)
- He could be sick. (probability)
- I can drive (I know how to drive –how to = traditional meaning-)
OE magan ‘to be able to’, ‘to have the power to’  ModE may ‘permission,
probability’
OE willan ‘to want’  ModE will ‘marker of future’
ModE will began life as a full lexical verbs.
There are traces in ModE of will as a lexical verb:
- If you will = if you want
- Have the will = desire
- Good will = wishes
The ModE marker of future will was a lexical verbs in OE with the meaning of
“intention”.
In the course of ME this meaning fades to become a pure marker of future tense.
Summary:
Grammaticalization  lexical verbs > modal verbs
OE
Verbs inflected for mood
 Indicative (inflections)
 Subjunctive (inflections)
ME
Grammaticalization
Vowel reduction > Apocope
/ə/
ø
Modal verbs
Loss of subjunctive inflections
Auxiliary verb will (future marker)
75
UNIT 6. SEMANTIC CHANGE
Reading authors of the past, one immediately notices that there are words which cannot
be understood in their current meaning. Here is an example:
He was a happy and sad girl who lived in a town forty miles from the closest neighbour.
His unmarried sister, a wife who was a vegetarian, was so fond of meat that she starved
from overeating.









ModE sad < OE sæd “serious”
ModE girl < ME gurle “young person”
ModE town < OE tūn “enclosed land surrounding one’s dwelling”
ModE wife < OE wīf “woman”
ModE starve < OE steorfan “die”
ModE meat < OE mete “solid food”
Semantic change is an alteration in the lexical meaning of words and morphemes.
The meaning of word can change because it rises of falls on a scale of specificity,
goodness or strength.
Specificity is the number of semantic features that a word conveys can increase or
decrease (from more specific [+] to less specific [-] in the scale of specificity).
Types of Semantic Change
 Generalization - Widening – Broadening




Generalization is the widening in scope of a word’s meaning allowing it to denote a
greater variety of referents  increases the number of contexts in which a word can
be used.
With the loss of semantic features the scope of application is wider and the meaning
becomes more general.
For this to happen, specific parts of the denotation must be drooped, as result there
is a reduction in the number of semantic features.
Examples:

OE taegl “hairy caudal appendage” > ModE tail “caudal appendage”
Tail in earlier times seems to have meant ‘hairy caudal appendage’, as of a horse. When
we eliminate the hairiness, we increase its scope, so in ModE the word means simply
‘caudal appendage’.

OE bere (“barley” + aren “house”) > ModE barn “building in which corn is stored”
Barn is the building in which corn, regardless of its type, is stored. Barn earlier denoted
a storehouse for barley. By eliminating one of the features of its earlier meaning, the
scope of this word has been extended to mean a storehouse for any kind of grain.


Vulgar Latin arripare “to come to shore” > ModE arrive
Fr. descarter “throw out a card” > ModE discard
76
 Specialization - Narrowing - Restriction


Specialization is the narrowing in scope of the meaning of a word. The number of
semantic features of the detonation increases and hence, the number of referents
of the word decreases.
Restriction of meaning increases the information conveyed by the word

Examples:

OE deor “animal” > ModE deer ‘a large brown animal with long thin legs’
OE deor was used to mean simply ‘animal’ by adding something particular to the sense
the scope of the word has been reduced and it has come to mean a specific kind of
animal.

OE hund “dog” > ModE hound ‘hunting dog’
Hound was used to mean dog as does its Germanic cognate Hund. To this earlier
meaning we have added the idea of hunting and thereby restricted the scope of the
word, which to us means a special sort of dog, a hunting dog.

OE steorfan “die” > ModE starve
Starve used to mean simply die, the specific way of dying had to be expresses by adding
a phrase. Eg. Starve of cold or hunger. The word came somehow to be associated with
death by hunger as nowadays.

OE mete “food” > ModE meat
Meat once meant simply ‘solid food’ of any kind that it retains in sweetmeat ‘a small
piece of sweet food’. It acquired the more specialized meaning of animal flesh in the ME
period.

ME licur “liquid” > ModE liquor
To the earlier content of liquor ‘fluid’ we have added alcoholic.
 In addition to a change in its literal meaning, a word may also undergo a change
in its associations, especially of values.
 The meaning of a word can change because it rises of falls on a scale of goodness.
 The scale of goodness goes from negative into positive.
 Goodness: the connotations that a word conveys can became more positive or
more negative.
77
 Elevation - Amelioration


Amelioration is the acquisition of a more favourable meaning.
Examples:
 OE cniht “boy” “servant” > ModE knight
Knight was used to mean ‘servant’. This word has moved far from its earlier meaning,
denoting a man who has been honoured by his sovereign.
 Lat. nescius “ignorant” > ModE nice
In the 13th century, its meaning evolved to a sense of ‘foolish’, ‘shy’.
In the 16th century, it had the meaning ‘dainty’, ‘delicate’.
In the 18th century, the sense ‘agreeable, delightful’ is developed.
 Lat. minister “servant” > ModE minister
 Degeneration - Pejoration


Degeneration or pejoration is the acquisition of a less favourable meaning. There is
a lowering in the value judgement associated with the referent.
Examples:
 OE sely “blessed” > ModE silly
Silly earlier came to mean happy, blessed and later ‘innocent, simple’. Then the
simplicity was thought of as foolishness and the word took its present meaning.

OE cnafa “boy” > ModE knave
Knave used to mean boy, then it came to mean serving boy and later bad human
being, dishonest man.

Latin notorious “well known” > ModE notorious ‘unfavourably known’, ‘famous
for something bad’
 Words rise and fall not only on a scale of goodness, by amelioration and
pejoration, but also on a scale of strength.
 Strength: the meaning of a word can undergo weakening or strengthening.
 Weakening





The use of words that are stronger than required by the circumstances which results
in their weakening.
Awfully “causing dread and awe” now is a hyperbole that has become weakened to
“very”. E.g. It has been an awfully nice evening.
Marvellous, terribly, hugely, fabulous, outrageous, incredible > very
Fr. ne … pas ‘not at all’> The emphatic negation turns into a plain negation
Adore, fascinate, starve for > like
78
 Strengthening

The use of words that are weaker than required by the circumstances results in their
strengthening. That is the case of euphemisms: the use of socially accepted words to
avoid linguistic taboos.
o Taboo and Euphemism

Taboo is related with superstition and the difficulty that we find to talk about certain
topics such as birth, death, parts of the body, sex, disease or unpleasant jobs play a
part in language change.

Euphemisms are often used in reference to certain diseases. An ailment (illness) of
almost any kind is nowadays often referred to as a condition (heart condition,
malignant condition) So that condition - a neutral word - has developed a pejorative
meaning coming to mean ‘bad condition’.
Ways to form euphemisms

Borrowing words (pseudo-technical term)
 Perspire for sweat
 Halitosis for bad breath
These learned words acquire a popular, new, less exact meaning.

Semantic shift: use of the name of a part of the process to denote another part.
 To sleep with somebody.
 To go to the bathroom.

Phonetic distortion: alteration of the phonetic form of the word.
 Gad / gosh for god
 Darn for damn
 Son of a gun for son of a b****

Diminutives:
 Wee-wee, pooh-pooh (reduplication)
 Tipsy, tummy (addition of a diminutive suffix)
 Using more decent terms:
Ideas of decency profoundly affected language. During the Victorian era, ladies and
gentlemen were very sensitive about using the word belly being substituted by nursery
terms such as tummy. Likewise the word leg was avoid (limb was used instead)

Acronyms or initialisms:
 SOB = son of a b****
 VD = venereal disease
Taboo has been removed from reference to venereal diseases, formerly referred to as
‘blood diseases’, ‘social diseases’. Now there is a tendency toward straightforward
language about such matters, though the use of initial serve a euphemistic purpose.
79
 Euphemisms for die
 Pass away
 Go to sleep
 Depart
The verb to die of Germanic origin is not once recorded in OE. Its absence from surviving
documents does not mean that it was not part of the OE lexicon. The presence of
expressions such go on a journey, used instead of the verb to die suggest that
superstitions connected to this word led to avoid its use.
Nowadays, we still avoid it by means of expressions such as pass away…
 Euphemisms for humble occupations
 custodian for janitor
 sanitary engineer for garbage man
 extermination engineer for rat catcher
Humble occupations have been given high sounding titles.
The term engineer is extended to jobs that are not related to the original meaning of the
engineer.
 Metaphoric transfer



Metaphor has traditionally considered to be an ornamental device.
Recent research in the field of cognitive linguistics has shown that:
 metaphors are more than stylistic devices, they are cognitive processes basic to
our reasoning and understanding.
 metaphor and metonymy are crucial in semantic change.
Metaphor is a cognitive mechanism whereby we conceptualized, reason and talk
about one domain of experience (target domain) in terms of another (source
domain), which is more concrete or well structured:
Which is the underlying metaphorical pattern for these expressions?
-
The number of books printed each year keeps going up
My income rose last year
-
The number of errors he made is low
His income fell last year.
He is underage
Quantity is verticality
80
MORE IS UP
LESS IS DOWN
I'm feeling up
That boosted my spirits
My spirits rose
You're in high spirits
HAPPY IS UP
SAD IS DOWN
I'm feeling down
He's really low these days
I fell into a depression
My spirits sank
Get up
Wake up
He rises early in the morning
I'm up already
CONSCIOUS IS UP
UNCONSCIOUS IS DOWN
He fell asleep
He dropped off to sleep
He sank into a comma
He's at the peak of health
Lazarus rose from the dead
He's in top shape
HEALTH AND LIFE ARE UP
SICKNESS AND DEATH ARE DOWN
He fell ill
He's sinking fast
He came down with the flu
His health is declining
I have control over him
I am on top of the situation
He's in a superior position
His power rose
HAVING CONTROL OR POWER IS UP
BEING SUBJECT TO CONTROL IS DOWN
He fell from power
His power is on the decline
He is high-minded
She has high standards
She is an upstanding citizen
VIRTUE IS UP
EVIL IS DOWN
That would be beneath her
That was a low trick
81
What is love?





He is known for his many conquests
She fought for him
She fled from his advances
He won her hand in marriage
She is besieged by suitors
LOVE IS WAR





He cast a spell over me
The magic is gone
I was spellbound
I'm charmed by her
She is bewitching
LOVE IS MAGIC





I could feel the electricity between us
There were sparks
I was magnetically drawn to him
They are attracted to each other
The atmosphere around them is always charged
LOVE IS A PHYSICAL FORCE



He's crazy about her
He's gone mad over her
He's just wild about Mary
LOVE IS MADNESS
Regular Polysemy: Metaphor
The metaphorical extension of perception verbs  a verb of perception is linked to
some sort of mental activity > polysemy.
1. VISION  KNOWLEDGE
 I can’t see you
 I see what you mean
2. HEARING  HEED / OBEY
 he was deaf to my pleas
 you should listen to your doctor’s advice.
3. TASTE  LIKES / DISLIKES
 I found your proposal unpalatable
 he has very good taste in music
4. TOUCH  FEELINGS
 That movie is very touching
5. SMELL  FEELINGS OF DISLIKE
 That movie stinks
82
 Metonymic transfer



This semantic change is based on contiguity.
An object or idea is described through the name of some closely related entity that
symbolized it.
Metonymic transfer may happen when the two entities are near each other in space
or time.

Synecdoche is a type of metonymy where the meanings are related as whole and
part.
 Lat. coxa “hip” > Fr. cuisse “thigh”
 OE ceace “jaw” > ModE cheek
 OF joue “cheek” > ModE jaw
 Gmc *tunz “fence” > town
 Pre-English *stobo “heated room” > stove

False Friends  words with a similar form but a different meaning in two different
languages.
 ModE corpse – Sp. cuerpo < Lat. corpus “body”
dead body vs. body
 ModE prevent – Sp. prevenir
to stop or hinder from doing something vs anticipate
 ModE sensible – Sp. sensible
prudent / sensitive vs sensitive
Why are false friends created?
o The word is polysemous in the mother language.
o Then daughter language A keeps one meaning and daughter language B keeps
the other.
o The word develops differently in each of them

PRACTICE: Identify the type of semantic change
On a lavatory, below, sat a cherub
Longfellow, Hyperion
 Lavatory < Lat. lavare “a vessel for washing”
a vessel for washing > toilet  metonymy / euphemism
To say nothing of the Luxury and the Debaucheries which reigned in the Camps,
which he describes as the filthiest of the Brothels
J.Morgan, A complete history of Algiers

OF luxurie “lust” > ModE luxury “a condition or situation of great comfort, ease
and wealth”  amelioration, elevation
Now death shall stop his dismal threatening sound
And his ill-boding tongue no more shall speak.
Shakespeare, Henry VI

Lat. dies mali “evil day” > “depressing”  amelioration, elevation
83
It has been the greatest success ever.
 ModE success < Lat. successus “event”  amelioration and narrowing






























OE wadan "to move forward" > ModE wade  narrowing
aunt: father's sister > father or mother's sister  widening
man: adult human being > adult male  narrowing
fowl: bird > domestic hen or rooster  narrowing
pretty: tricky, sly, cunning > attractive  ameliorization
wench: girl > wanton woman, prostitute  degeneration
companion: person with whom you share bread > person who accompanies
you  widening
batch: quantity of bread baked at once > quantity of a substance needed or
produced at one time  widening
ME cattle “livestock” > ModE cattle “bovine livestock”  narrowing
Bureau: cloth used to cover desks > desk  metonymic transfer
OE wood "tree" > PDE wood  synecdoche
OF voiage "journey" > ModE voyage  narrowing
OE sellan "to give" > ModE to sell “to exchange something for money” 
narrowing
pretend: maintain, represent, claim > to claim that something is true when it is
not  degeneration + narrowing
Lat. Christiānus “Christian” > Fr. crétin, English cretin “cretin”  degeneration
Lat. princeps “leader” > Eng. prince “prince”  narrowing
poison: drink > a substance that can kill you or make you ill if you eat, drink or
breathe it  degeneration
to be expecting (related to give birth)  euphemism
salary (Lat. salarium): soldier's allotment of salt > salary  widening
Lat. vota “marriage vows” > Sp. boda “wedding”  synecdoche
casa “hut, cottage” > Sp. casa  widening + amelioration
hands “laborers”  synecdoche
THINKING
IS
DIGESTING,
COOKING
His idea was half-baked.
I'm tired of warmed-over
theories.
Let me chew on that for a while.
I've been ruminating on that
topic for a while.






WORDS ARE WEAPONS
She used some sharp words.
That was pretty cutting
language.
It was a barrage of insults.
He was bombarded by insults.


84
PEOPLE ARE MACHINES
He had a breakdown.
Her ticker is weak.
I wonder what makes him tick.
Fuel up with a good breakfast.
COMPETITION IS WAR
The debate team brought out
their big guns.
The other team sent in the
cavalry against us.
We took over the ball deep in
their territory.
They battled each other over the
chess board every week.
UNIT 7. THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY





The vocabulary of a language is never stable because words are constantly being lost
or added to satisfy their speakers’ needs.
- Weaponize
- Suicide bomber
- Theoterrorism
Vocabulary is, therefore, the mirror to society.
It reflects the social conditions, the culture, the political events, the way of living of
the speakers in a particular period.
When a word is needed, different strategies are used:
 Mosquito  Borrowing
 Scent (an animal odor > perfume)  Changing meaning of existing word
 Kodak  Creating new words ex-nihilo (out of nothing)
 hand > handful  Creating new words from existing items: suffixes, prefixes, etc.
English has a rich vocabulary because
a. It has accepted words from many other languages:
 skill  borrowing from Old Norse
 parliament  borrowing from French
 cheese  borrowing from Latin
 Dover  borrowing from Celtic
b. It has great power to create new words using native resources:
 combining existing items
 changing the word class
 abbreviating them
English historical word formation
1) Derivation (affixation)



Prefixation
Suffixation
Pseudo-affixation (using of something we think is a suffix but is not)
2) Compounding
3) Conversion
4) Clipping
5) Blending
6) Alphabetism
7) Acronyms
8) Eponyms
85
 1. DERIVATION (AFFIXATION)








One of the most common word-formation strategies since OE
It is based on the creation of new words by adding affixes (bound morphemes),
either prefixes of suffixes, to existing roots.
E.g. friend, friendly, friendliness, unfriendly, etc.
Some affixes have developed out of independent native words that have undergone
grammaticalization
 OE lic (body) > -ly
homely
 OE fore (before, in front of) forecast
 OE on (on, in) > aalive
Languages do not borrow affixes; they borrow words
Affixes of foreign origin are usually introduced as loan words containing the affix
 Baptize < Fr. Baptiser < Lat. Baptizare
 Moralize < Fr. Moraliser < Lat. Moralizare
Affixes of foreign origin are not usually introduced independently but attached to a
word
 1st: the words containing the affix are introduced.
 2nd: they become analysed as derived words and the affixes are taken to form
new words following the same pattern
When the foreign word became familiar and was analysed as a derived term, the
foreign affix began to be productive in English and used to coin new terms.
 popularize
 marginalize
Prefixation


OE made use of prefixes, especially in the formation of verbs.
We will see examples of
 the same prefix added to different bases
 different prefixes added to the same base
o OE Affixes (used to form new verbs)
 OFER ‘over’






ofercuman > ‘overcome’
oferdrincan > ‘intoxicate’
oferfaran > ‘pass by’
oferfeallan > ‘fall on’
oferflowan > ‘overflow’
oferhieran > ‘overhear’
ModE OVER- comes from OE OFER ‘over’ /f/ > /v/
86
 OÞ ‘away’




oþbregdan > ‘bring away’
oþfaran > ‘escape’
oþfleogan > ‘fly away’
oþfleon > ‘escape’
 YMB ‘around’




ymbberan > ‘surround’
ymbbindan > ‘bind around’
ymbfaran > ‘surround’
ymbseon > ‘look around’
 SETTAN ‘to place’





asettan ‘to place’
foresettan > ‘to place before’
onsettan > ‘to oppress’
unsettan > ‘to put down’
wiþsettan > ‘to resist’
 WIÞ ‘back, away’
 wiþcēosan: reject
 wiþsprecan: contradict
 wiþstandan: resist
Which verb is still used in Modern English? Withstand. Together with withdraw and
withhold, the prefix with uses its original meaning (wiþ-: ‘back’, ‘away’).

Some of the OE affixes have disappeared (oþ-, ymb-), but others have survived (ofer)

Many have their origin in free forms:
 OE fore (before) > ModE fore OE lic (body) > ModE -ly
 OE on (on) > ModE a-

Later, English added some affixes of foreign origin
Foreign affixes


English lexicon has been influenced by the languages with which had the closest
cultural contact. Among them, the most influential ones are Latin, Greek and French.
Therefore, some affixes derive from these languages.
87
OLD ENGLISH
a- (on, an)
LATIN
circum (around)
ablaze (to be on circumlocution
fire)
FRENCH
GREEK
contre > counter a (not, away from)
(against)
asymmetrical
counteract
be- (by)
ex (out of)
mal (badly)
anti (opposite)
beloved (loved by)
extemporaneous
maladjusted
antihero
fore- (in front of)
extra (beyond)
forehead
extraordinary
sur (above, over, archi (principal)
beyond)
archduke
surpass
mis- (badly,
wrongly)
in (not)
kryptós > crypto
(secret, hidden)
inaccessible
misbehave
cryptographic
un- (not)
multi (many)
hyper (high)
unbalanced
multicultural
hyperactive
post (after)
poly (many)
postmodern
polyphonic
pre (before)
premature
sub (under)
subconscious
super (beyond)
superego

There are prefixes which have the same form but different meaning
a- OE (on, in, into’) and Greek (‘not, away from’)



ablaze, aside, alive (OE)
asymmetric, aseptic (Greek)
We can also find the opposite case, prefixes which have the same meaning but
different form. E.g. prefixes that mean “not”
 a- (Greek) atypical
 in- (Latin) inadequacy
 un- (OE) unreleased
Negative prefixes. E.g. in- (Latin) / un- (OE)





relevant / irrelevant
logical / illogical
possible / impossible
pleasant / unpleasant
popular / unpopular
88
When in- is added as a prefix to a base, there is a process of assimilation
 in + logical > illogical
 in + relevant > irrelevant
However, the prefix un- does not trigger a similar assimilatory process
 un + pleasant > unpleasant
It can be explained because in Latin this prefix triggers a similar assimilatory process in
contact with liquids /l, r/.
Lat. irrationalis < in- ‘not’ + rationalis ‘reasonable’
That assimilation in Latin was inherited by English, because at the beginning, English
borrowed the whole word. When English develops new words using in-, they suffer a
process of assimilation in contact with liquids /l, r/ as in Latin. However, when the OE
prefix un- is used to create a new word, the resulting word does not follow the
assimilatory process.


un + reliable > unreliable
unacceptable < un- "not" + accept + -able
Affixes of foreign origin are not usually introduced independently but attached to a
word.
 1st: the words containing the affix are introduced.
 2nd: they become analysed as derived words and the affixes are taken to form
new words following the same pattern.

UN- is preferred with adjectives and IN- with nouns.
 unjust / injustice
 unequal / inequality
 ungrateful / ingratitude

For every new adjective that is created and has a negative meaning, the OE prefix
un- is used




ungreen “not concerned about or harmful to the environment”
unleaded “not containing lead”
Prefixes change only the meaning of the root to which they are attached.
Suffixes may either change the meaning of the root or change its grammatical
category
89
Suffixation
Suffixes may change the grammatical category of the base, the meaning of the root or
the stress pattern of the base:
1. According to the part of speech formed suffixes are





Noun-forming
-age, -ance/-ence, -dom, -er, -ess, -ing, -hood, -ness, -ship
Adjective-forming
-able/-ible-uble, -al, -ic, -ant/-ent, -ed, -ful, -ish, -ive, -ous
Numeral-forming
-fold, -teen, -ty, -th
Verb-forming
–ate, -er, -fy, -ize, -ish
Adverb-forming
-ly, -ward, -wise
* dom (domain)
2. According to the lexical and grammatical character of the base suffixes are



Deverbal suffixes (added to the verbal bases)
-er, -ing, -ment, -able
Denominal suffixes (added to nominal base)
-less, - ful, -ist, -some
Deadjectival suffixes (added to adjectival base)
-en, -ly, -ish, -ness
This trend is not only synchronic, it can be found in Old English.
Denominal suffixes:
 -hood (OE had): boyhood
 -ful (OE full): joyful
Deadjectival:

-ness (OE ness): happiness
* ness: cape, landhead
Deverbal
 -er (OE ere): worker
Compare:



yellow
/
/'jeləʊ/
employ /
/ɪm'plɔɪ/
symbol
/
/'sɪmbəl/
yellowish
/'jeləʊɪʃ /
employee
/ɪmplɔɪ'i:/
symbolic
/sɪm'bɒlɪk/
90

Stress can be affected by suffixation.

There are suffixes that are stress neutral (native suffixes), stress attracting and stress
reducing. OE suffixes do not affect the stress patterns


Stress neutral suffixes
o nation / nationhood
o yellow / yellowish
 Stress attracting suffixes  stress shifts to fall on the syllable that immediately
precedes the affix.
o symbol / symbolic
o history / historian
 Stress reducing suffixes -come from Latin of French-  stress shift to themselves
o employ / employee
o leather / leatherette
Most non-neutral suffixes are foreign affixes: they are Latinate, that is, they came
with words borrowed from Latin and its daughter language French.
Derivational affixes may also be involved in morphophonemic alterations




divine / divinity
crime / criminal
wild / wilderness
sane / sanity
What type of vowel alternation do we find in these items? Trisyllabic shortening
Trisyllabic shortening



Stressed long vowels before two or more unstressed syllables underwent short.
It happened in Middle English.
Thanks to the trisyllabic shortening we can explain why these new words formed in
ME (divinity, criminal, wilderness and sanity, among others) were not affected by
the GVS.
 Long stressed vowels + 2 or more unstressed syllables > short.
ME
>
divine + ty
> divinity
/iː/
/iː/>/ɪ/
crime + (n) al > criminal
/iː/
/iː/>/ɪ/
wild + (er) ness > wilderness
/iː/
/iː/>/ɪ/
sane + ty
> sanity
/aː/
/aː/>/a/
Early ModE
divinity
/dɪˈvɪnɪti/
criminal
/ˈkrɪmɪnəl/
wilderness
/ˈwɪldənɪs/
sanity
/ˈsænəti/
91




ME
>
divine
/diviːn/
crime
/kriːm/
wild
/wiːld/
sane
/sɑːn/
Early ModE (GVS)
divine
/divaɪn/
crime
/kraɪm/
wild
/waɪld/
sane
/seɪn/
Suffix changes:
 The grammatical category of the base
 The stress pattern of the base:
 Native (OE) suffixes: no effect. –hood, -ish
 Latinate suffixes:
 Attracting (stress shifts on the syllable that immediately
precedes the affix) –ic, -ian
 Reducing (stress shifts on the affix itself) –ee, -ette
Pseudo-suffixation
Pseudo-suffixation, as Lass (1987) calls this process, consists in using the second part of
a word as a suffix to form new terms. This word-formation strategy is now very popular
and used to coin informal terms.
-(a)thon is not a suffix; it derives from marathon and means “a large-scale event or
activity”. Examples:



telethon
workathon
bikeathon
-(a)holic is not a suffix; it derives from alcoholic and means a “addicted to”. Examples:
 workaholic
 sexaholic
 shopaholic
92

Another example of pseudo-suffixation is the folk etymology as in the word
hamburger. Hamburger was shortened to burger, because people thought that this
word is the sum of ham + burger and then, use burger as hamburger attached to
other ingredients:
 cheeseburger
 fishburger
BACK FORMATION OR BACK DERIVATION. False analogy

Back formation is the making of a new word from an older one, which is mistakenly
analysed as being formed by a root and an affix which is deleted to form the new
word (we remove what we think it is an affix).
 OF pois/peis > ME pease > ModE pea
 OF cherise (ModF cerise) > ModE cherry
The singular forms borrowed from Old French were falsely analysed as plural forms
containing plural –s. English thought the -s was a plural marker, so the singular forms
pea and cherry, without –s were created.




Speakers derive a morphologically simple word from a form which they analyse as
morphologically complex.
 babysitter > to babysit
 burglar > to burgle
Speakers create a verb removing -er from the noun following the very productive
pattern in which –er may be added to a verb to create an agent noun.
 work + -er > worker
 sing + -er > singer
The speaker back formed the (previously non-existent) verbs burgle or babysit.
There are some of the new words created by back formation that haven’t being
accepted (yet). E.g.
 cohesion > to cohese (not accepted). It is to cohere
 2. COMPOUNDING


Combining two or more bases (free morphemes) to form a new lexical unit with a
meaning in some way different from that of its parts
From early times it has been a very productive process in English (as in other
Germanic languages as well)

It was very common in OE

It declined in ME as a consequence of the Norman Conquest

It flourished again in Early ModE

It is still one of the major word formation strategies
93

Compounds can be:
1. According to the structural point of view:
 Endocentric
An endocentric compound consists of a head, (i.e. the categorical part that contains the
basic meaning of the whole compound) and modifiers, which restrict this meaning.
Endocentric compounds tend to be of the same word class as their head.
 bedroom: bed (modifier) + room (head)
 body-scanner: body (modifier) + scanner (head)
 acid rain: acid (modifier) + rain (head)
 Exocentric
Exocentric compounds do not have a head and their meaning often cannot be guessed
from its constituent parts.
In an exocentric compound, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the class
of the constituents.


lazy bones (noun)
white collar (adjective)  “non-manual workers”. It is neither a kind of collar nor
a white thing. Manual workers are blue collar.
2. According to the semantic point of view:
 Transparent (motivated, self-explaining)
This type of compounds have a transparent meaning relation with their constituent
parts.


Football
Dishwasher
 Lexicalized (opaque)
This type of compounds have no transparent meaning relation with their constituent
parts or are only related to one of its elements.

Acid house (kind of electronic music associated to drug –acid- taking pills)
 Endocentric compounds are not always transparent
 Although opaque compounds might have had transparent meaning at some
point in the past, their meaning cannot be derived from the meaning of their
constituents, however existing and meaningful morphemes in the language.
OE morgengifu > ModE dowry
* dowry (la dote)
morgen ‘morning’ + gifu ‘gift’
This is an endocentric compound. Not all the endocentric compounds are transparent
Gifu ‘gift’ is the ‘head’, but the modifier has lost its meaning (the dowry is not given in
the morning).
94
3. Amalgamate compounds
 Compounds may undergo sound changes and are no longer considered compounds
 Many proper nouns are amalgamate compounds.
 Place names
 Sussex > OE sūþ ‘south’ + Seaxe ‘Saxons’
 Norwich > OE norþ ‘north’ + wīc ‘village’
 Last names
 Durward > OE duru ‘door’+ weard ‘keeper’
 Other
 lord
OE hlāf-weard ‘guardian of the bread’ > hlāford > ModE lord
 lady
OE hlāfdige ‘bread-kneader’ > ModE lady
 daisy
OE dæges eage ‘day’s eye’ > ModE daisy
 bonfire < bone + fire
‘a great fire in which bones were burnt’  ‘a fire in which heretics were burnt’
 ‘a large fire in the open air to celebrate a victory, an anniversary...’
4. Neoclassical compounds

In neoclassical compounds one of the constituents is not a free morpheme and
comes from Latin or Greek.

Whereas in a compound both elements are generally independent words,
neoclassical compounds have at least one element of Latin or Greek origin which
cannot occur as a free item.
tele- < Gr tele “far”
 teleshopping
 teleconferencing
 telebanking
Activities that can be
remotely
eco- < Gr oikos "house"
 ecosystem
 ecosphere
 eco-disaster
 eco-awareness
 eco-tourism
 eco-friendly
performed
Related to ecology and environment
OE compounds

Related to sea: sǣ ‘sea’






sǣburg: sea-town
sǣclif: sea-cliff
sǣdeor: sea-monster
sǣdraca: sea-dragon
sǣflōd: flood
sǣflota: ship
95

Related to religion
 Gōdspel: gōd (good) + spel (message) ‘gospel’
 Mynstermann: mynster (monastery) + mann (man) ‘monk’

Kennings: compound words whose meaning is metaphorical, not literal.
 lagu-swimmend
lagu ‘sea’ + swimmend “swimmer”  fish




leohtfæt
leoht ‘light’ + fæt ‘vessel  lamp
dægred
dæg ‘day’ + red ‘red’  dawn
hronrad
hron ‘whale’ + rad ‘road’  sea
bānhūs
bān ‘bone’ hūs ‘house’  body
o Compounds (free morpheme + free morpheme)
Endocentric: modifier + head: bed+room
Structural point of view:
mod head
Exocentric: base + base: white-collar
(no head or modifier)
Transparent: meaning is deduced from the parts
Semantic point of view:
Lexicalized (opaque): meaning is not clearly
deduced from the parts
 Amalgamate compounds: not recognised as such anymore because of sound and
spelling change. E.g. lord
 Neoclassical compounds: one of the constituents is not a free morpheme  Latin
or Greek item + English Free Morpheme.
 3. CONVERSION or ZERO DERIVATION
A very prolific source of new words in English is conversion: converting words from one
grammatical category to another (changes grammatical category) with no changes in
form.


to show (verb) > show (noun)
nurse (noun) > to nurse (verb)
96
The name of practically every part of the body has been converted to use as a verb:







One may head a committee (to be in control, to lead)
Shoulder or elbow one’s way through a crowd (to push people to get through)
Finger a note (like when you play a piano)
Thumb a ride
Tiptoe through the house (walk on your toes)
Foot a bill
Shin up a tree
All this without any modification of form such as this would be necessary in other
languages
 nouns > verbs:
 to contact
 to telephone
 to date
 to chair
 - verbs > nouns (with light verbs: do, get, take, have):
 take a walk, a run, drive, a spin, a cut, a break, a look
 - adjectives > nouns:
 commercial 'ad on a TV or radio show'
 private 'a soldier of low rank'
 adjectives > verbs: better, round, tame
 to better oneself
 he rounded off the talk with a funny story
 nobody could tame him
 adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions > nouns / adjectives
 ins and outs (details)
 the in group (influential)
 the inner cities
 the ups and downs
Change of form is sometimes involved in the process of conversion:
 voicing of final consonants
noun > verb
 advice > to advise
 thief > to thieve
 shift of stress
verb > noun




to contrást > cóntrast
to convíct > cónvict
to contráct > cóntract
to recórd > récord
97
 4. CLIPPING
Clipped forms are words formed by dropping one or more syllables from a longer word
with no change in meaning. The new form often replaces the original Word altogether.
The clip form replaces the original form













gent < gentleman
cos < cousin
mob < Lat. mobile vulgus
wig < Fr. perruque > periwig
bus < Lat. omnibus
taxi < taximeter
cab < cabriolet
glam < glamour
mag < magazine
prom < promotion
vibe < vibration
pants < pantaloons
bra < Fr. brassiere
(shoulder strap)
mobile vulgus: “movable common people”
omnibus (Dative/Ablative plural –ibus- for Latin pronoun omnis “all”): “for all”
taxi and cab are examples of synecdoche
Clipping can shorten a form by:
 Cutting between words: soap < soap opera
 Cutting between morphemes: bio < biography
 Or it ignores lexical and morphemic boundaries and cuts in the middle of a
morpheme: rehab < rehabilitate
 5. BLENDING




Blending is not a new phenomenon, but in past centuries it was limited to coinings
of creative writers. Now it is highly productive.
There was blending in 'Sir Gawain and the Green Man.
Portmanteau, another term to refer to these type of words. Introduced by L. Caroll.
Portmanteau: a type of suitcase, formed by 2 parts that closed as a book
Blends are words formed by fusing elements of two other words.












flexitarian < flexible + vegetarian “a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat”
compfusion < computer + confusion “confusion over computers”.
cronut < croissant + doughnut “croissant and doughnut”
brunch < breakfast + lunch
chunnel < channel + tunnel
alcoholiday < alcohol + holiday
smog < smoke + fog
modem < modulator + demodulator
monergy < money + energy
advertorial < advertisement + editorial
fantabulous < fantastic + fabulous
hospitel < hospital + hotel
98
However, there are blends in which we find a complete word; these are less prototypical
cases




affluential < affluent + influential
computerate < computer + literate
pleather < polyester + leather
glocal < global + local
The part of the base form which is kept is generally unpredictable and the shortening
may not respect the morphological boundaries


medical + evacuation > medevac
medical + aid > medicaid
There is also a slight frontier between blends and neoclassical compounds


 televangelist
 teletext
tele = television
teleshopping
teleordering
tele- = far
It is a prefix
 Acronyms and alphabetisms are words formed from the initial letters or
syllables from other words.
 Although these type of contraction existed in the Middle Ages, it has been highly
productive since World War I. The alphabetism e.g. was already used in the
Middle Ages.
 6. ALPHABETISM
Alphabetisms are words formed from the initial letters of a series of words but they
pronounced as sequences of letters
 i.e. (Lat. id es)
 e.g. (Lat. exempli gratia)
Prototypical alphabetisms:
 CD: compact disk
 PC: Personal computer
Less
prototypical
alphabetisms:


Other examples of alphabetisms:
 FYI: For Your Information
 ATM: Automatic Tele Machine
 FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions



99
or
marginal
B2B: Business to Business
B2C - Business to Consumer
TGIF: Thank God It’s Friday
aka: Also Known As
btw: By The Way
 7. ACRONYMS
Acronyms are abbreviations formed from the initial letters or syllables of a series of
words and are pronounced as an ordinary word.
Prototypical acronyms


Laser: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
Radar: radio detecting and ranging
Other (informal) acronyms
 Opals: older people with active lifestyles
 Dumbo: drunken upper-class middle-aged businessman over the limit
 The fuzzy boundaries between alphabetisms and acronyms
 In the alternative spellings of the same form:
DINKY, dinky (dual income no kids)
 In the combination of the two kinds of pronunciation (alphabetisms + acronyms):
CD Rom (read-only memory)
 An alphabetism in one language may be borrowed as an acronym into another
language: IRA (Irish Republican Army) is an acronym in Spanish and an
alphabetism in English.
 8. EPONYMS
The name of a person or a place is applied to a common noun.
 Pasteurize (from Louis Pasteur)
 Wellingtons (from the Duke of Wellington)
 Cardigan (from the 7th Earl of Cardigan)
 Sadism (from the Marquis de Sade -d.a.f. sade-)
 Sandwich (from the 4th Earl of Sandwich)
Which of the various kinds of word making are the most prolific sources of
new words today?
Type
Percent
Compounding
Affixation
40 %
28 %
Shifting
Shortening
17%
8%
Blending
5%
Borrowing
2%
(Algeo and Algeo, Fifty Years among the New Words: A
Dictionary of Neologisms 1941-1991, 2014)
100
UNIT 8. The historical background of the English language. Loan words

Borrowings reflect the contact of two languages and gives us much information
about the relation established between two communities
"By examining the type of words borrowed from a particular language we could discover
how a particular country has influenced the life and thought of our own people”
Sheard


The core vocabulary of English is, and has always been, native English.
Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of the words we use every day were either
borrowed from other languages or made up using the elements of borrowed words.
Periods in the History of English



Old English: 5th c. – 11th c.
Middle English: 11th c. – 15th c.
Modern English: 15th c. –
o Early Modern English: 15th c. – 17th c.
Key dates:



449 AD (the Germanic settlement)  start of Old English
1066 AD (Norman Conquest)  start of Middle English
Publication of printing books  start of Modern English
English has always borrowed words from other languages:




Celtic, Latin, Scandinavian (OE)
Norman French, Central French and Latin (ME)
Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish (Renaissance)
Innumerable languages since then
BORROWINGS IN THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD
The Old English Period overview
 Old English period covers a span of 617 years (449 AD - 1066 AD)
 The Germanic settlement is the birth of English
 Christianization of Anglo-Saxons (between Germanic settlement and Viking
invasions  introduction of Latin words)





Celts inhabited England (Bronze Age)
Roman invasion (55 BC - 410 AD)
Germanic settlement (410 AD – 787 AD)
o Introduction of Christianity into Britain (597)
Viking Invasions (787 AD – 1066 AD)
Norman Conquest (begins in 1066 AD and marks the end of OE)
101
 CELTIC
Celts



The island was inhabited by a race of people called the Celts who arrived from
Central Europe. Picts, Scots and Britons settled in England in circa 2000 BC.
Celts went to Britain by 2000 BC (Bronze Age)
Speakers of an IE language: Celtic
Place names from Celtic origin


Rivers: Thames, Yare, Avon, Exe
Towns: Kent, York, Lincoln





Dun ‘fortress’ > Duncombe
Barr ‘top, summit’ > Barr
Cumb ‘deep valley’ > Cumberland
Torr ‘peak, high rock’ > Torbay, Torcross
Canti ‘rim, border, shore’ > Kent
Compounds of Celtic and
Anglo-Saxon terms


Brill: bre 'hill' + OE hyll
Brewood: bre 'hill' + OE wudu 'wood'
 LATIN



The most important source of loan words in in English throughout its history has
been Latin.
English borrowed words from Latin in Old English, Middle English and Early
Modern English periods.
However, the influence of Latin on English can be traced even earlier than the 5th
century (beginning of OE)  Germanic borrowed words from Latin before the
Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians) settled in England.
I. Continent period (Continental Europe)

The first Latin words were introduced through an early contact between the
Romans and the Germanic tribes on the continent, before the Germanic tribes
migrated to the British Isles and English became an independent language.
102

The vocabulary borrowed reflect the nature of dealings between the two groups:
words connected with war, trade and food.
 campus > camp ‘battle’
 pondo > pund ‘pound’
 moneta > mynet ‘mint’
 vinum > win ‘wine’
 caesus > cēse ‘cheese’

These words are common to several or to all Germanic languages.
Vinum - Wine:
o Mod. German: wein
o Mod. Dutch: wijn
o Danish & Swedish: vin

Loan words of this period were later subject to the ongoing sound changes.
Palatalization


Latin
caesus
discus
OE
cēse
disc
ModE
cheese
dish
Continental Europe
Latin  Germanic
- war
- trade
- food
Birth of English
OLD ENGLISH
England
2000 BC
Roman
Celts
invasion
arrived in
J. Caesar
England.
Place names
Germanic
Christianization of
settlement
the Anglo-Saxons
- Palatalization
- Umlaut
- Vowel breaking
Scandinavian
invasion
The second period starts with the Roman invasion
II. Roman invasion (4 centuries)


In the year 55 BC, Romans arrived in Britain with Julius Caesar, but it was not until
43 AD with Emperor Claudius that the Roman conquest of Britain (43-84 AD) took
place.
Latin was the official language of the government.
103
Norman
Conquest.
End of OE
period


British Celts continued to speak their own language.
The Britons continued speaking Brythonic and adapted to Roman culture in order to
gain protection from the Roman Empire.
o North: Picts & Scots (unromanized Celts)
o South: Britons (romanized Celts)

When Visigoths attacked Rome, Roman legions left Britain to defend Rome.
Latin through Celtic transmission
 Among the early English loanwords from Latin, some were not acquired from
Romans but from the British Celts.
 Words might have been borrowed from Latin by the Celts and then by the AngloSaxons.
 Almost nothing remains outside a few elements found in place names.
English ceaster ‘city’ < Latin castra ‘camp’
Lancaster, Winchester, Dorchester, Manchester



Latin -thru Celticvallum
strata via
portus
OE
weall
stræt
port
ModE
'wall'
'street'
'port'
THE GERMANIC CONQUEST OF BRITAIN (449 A.D.)  Birth of Old English
The Romans left Britain.


Once the Romans left, the Britons, romanized Celts, had to defend themselves
against repeated attacks from the Picts and Scots, unromanized Celts.
The Britons “invited” some Germanic tribes (Jutes, Angles, Saxons) to help them in
exchange of the island of Thanet but as they saw that the Celts were weak, these
tribes invaded Britain and settled.
Jutes (North of the Danish Peninsula)
Angles (South of the Danish Peninsula
and Germany)
Saxons (Germany and Holland)
104
Settlement
Jutes: Kent
Angles: East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia
Saxons: Essex, Sussex, Wessex
o Jutes spoke Kentish
o We think ModE derives from Mercia's
dialect: Mercish

Lack of integration marked the relationship between the
new invaders and Celts, as a consequence Celticspeaking inhabitants were pushed into Scotland, Wales,
Cornwall, and Ireland.

The Anglo-Saxons referred to them as Wealas (Welsh)
“foreigner”, “stranger” or “slave”.

The dominant languages would have been the West
Germanic dialects, those spoken by the Germanic tribes.
This fact explained why Celtic was a minor source of loanwords.
"There is never much impact from a language spoken by a subjugated indigenous people
(the lower language) on the one spoken by a dominant people (the upper language)”
Bloomfield
 Celtic is the substratum of English: influence of the non-dominant language on
the dominant language on the dominant language, even though it is very limited.
105
INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN (597 A.D.)
The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons in the sixth century under the influence of
Ireland and Rome.
 Linguistic consequences:
1. Anglo-Saxon acquired the Roman alphabet.
The runes that the Germanic languages used evolved to a runic alphabet. Some of that
symbols were adopted by Old English.
2. Many Latin words entered the English language. Many words related with religion and
education were borrowed from Latin.
3. This is the third period of borrowing from Latin after:
 Continent period: Germanic tribes came into contact with Roman merchants on
the continent.
 Latin through Celtic transmission: Latin words borrowed by the Celts were then
borrowed by Anglo-Saxon or reinforced.
 LATIN (Christianization period)
o words connected with religion




Lat.
altar
angelus
missa
templum
>
>
>
>
OE
altar ‘altar’
engel ‘angel’
mæsse ‘mass’
tempel ‘temple’
o words connected with education and learning



Lat.
schola
>
magister >
grammatica >
OE
scol ‘school’
master
grammatic ‘grammar’
THE VIKING CONQUEST - SCANDINAVIAN INVASION OF ENGLAND (787 A.D.)
Second wave of invasions by Norsemen in the late 8th century
 The Swedes went to Russia.
 The Norwegians to Iceland and parts of the British Isles.
 The Danes to Normandy and England.
 Linguistic consequences:

North Germanic dialects spoken by the Scandinavians were closely related to West
Germanic dialects of Anglo-Saxon, but speakers simplified their language to talk each
other.
106


The Vikings and Anglo-Saxons could understand each other.
Loss of inflections and simplification of Old English seem to have started there, in
the Viking invasions.
 OLD NORSE: Scandinavian influence
1. Personal names ending in -son: Jackson, Johnson…
2. Everyday objects and actions and specialized domains of ships, law and war:
law, take, cut, anger, wrong, freckle, both, ill, ugly (everyday terms)
3. When a Scandinavian (Old Norse) word was borrowed:
o It could completely replace the OE word
 ON systir > sister (OE sweostor)
 ON taka > tacan “take” (OE niman)
 ON sky (OE heofon)
o Both words could be retained, with one restricted to the Northern dialect.
 ON kirkja > Scottish kirk (ModE church)
o An OE word could be retained but acquired the meaning of the ON cognate >
Semantic Loan
 OE wið ‘against’ < ON við ‘in conjunction, company with’  ModE with
 OE bread ‘bit, piece of food’  ‘bread’ < ON brauð ‘bread’
 OE dream ‘joy’  ‘dream’ < ON draumr ‘dream’
4. Phonological features can help to determine whether a word is a native OE term
or a word is a native OE term or a Scandinavian borrowing






scream < ON skræma
skill < ON skil
skin < ON skinn
gift < ON gift
kid < ON kið
kettle < ON ketill
Words of Scandinavian origin
do not show palatalization of
/sk/, /g/, /k/.
In general, languages borrow open-class (lexical) words and do not borrow closed-class
(function) words, but when languages have a close relationship (like Scandinavian and
English for a long period of time) they borrow function words.
5. Borrowing of function words





Third person plural pronouns that replaced the native forms: they, their, them
(OE hi, hira, him)
The pronoun both (ON baðir)
OE
ON
ModE
The preposition from (ON frá)
hī
þeir they
The conjunction though (ON þó)
hira þeir their
The quantifier hundredth (ON hundrað)
him þeim them
107
BORROWINGS IN THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD
 FRENCH
The Norman Conquest






The Norman Conquest in 1066 is the most important event affecting the linguistic
development of English.
Edward the Confessor was the last king in direct succession line from Alfred the
Great. He died without an heir, and another king, Harold, was elected.
As soon as he was proclaimed king, William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy
challenged the election because he was distantly related to Edward the Confessor.
William the Conqueror invaded Britain and defeated King Harold at the battle of
Hastings in 1066 (Oct 14th).
The Normans ‘Norsemen’ were actually Scandinavians who had settled in France in
the 9th and 10th centuries. They were indeed descendants from the Vikings (Norman
- North men / Norse men).
Scandinavians who settled in France assimilated to the dominant culture:
 They learned French
 Christianized
 When they invaded England, brought with them Norman French
 Linguistic consequences of the Norman Conquest





English became the third language in its own country.
French became the language of the ruling class and upper class for the next
three centuries.
Latin was the language of the church and scholarship.
English continued to be used by 90% of the population.
More than 10.000 French words were borrowed
Political and social consequences



Positions of influence and prestige were occupied by Norman nobility and clerics.
For upwards of two centuries, therefore, the country's "important"
English was not written for two centuries and therefore evolved a lot
LOANS  reflected the way of living
 Early loans
These are some of the earliest loans that are unquestionably French.






castle
prison
garden
108
hour
market
people
 Governmental and administrative words






-
OF
corone
empire
autorité
parlement
roial
cort
Eng
crown
empire
authority
parliament
royal
court
The Norman Conquest made French the language of the official class in England.
Hence, it is not surprising that many words having to do with government and
administration are of French origin.
 Law




OF
justice
crime
preve
punissement
Eng
justice
crime
proof
punishment
The Normans took the law in their own hands and it is reflected in vocabulary
 War (Army and Navy)




OF
armée
pais
bataille
sege
 Nobility titles
Eng
army
peace
battle
siege






OF
noble
prince
duc
conte
marchis
madame
Eng
noble
prince
duke
count
marquis
madam
*King, queen, lord and lady from Old English were kept
-
The Saxon aristocracy were executed or driven away from their castles and their
lands and their property was now in the possession of Norman barons
The social structure of England changed
The Norman Conquest also brought about the almost total replacement of the
English aristocracy with a Norman one.
Words designating English titles of nobility except for king, queen, lord and lady date
from the period when England was in hands of Norman French ruling class.
The structure of Clergy changed as well
109
 Clergy tittles and ecclesiastic





-
OF
cardinal
deien
abbesse
chapelain
miracle
Eng
cardinal
dean
abbess
chaplain
miracle
The Norman Conquest also brought about changes of personnel among the upper
clergy and administrative officers.
Positions of prestige and influence were occupied by Norman clerics.
 Fashion, art and food.
- French was the language of the upper classes (the language to be imitated) and its
influence is reflected in fashion, art, literature, medicine and food-related
vocabulary.
 Fashion





OF
dresser
bouton
joel
bleu
diamant
 Art and medicine
Eng
dress
button
jewel
blue
diamond





 Food, cooking and eating (food and techniques)










OF
saussiche
bacum
fruit
orenge
grappe
tarte
boef
frire
plate
apetite
Eng
sausage
bacon
fruit
orange
grape
tart
beef
fry
plate
appetite
110
OF
paleis
art
poète
serurgien
stomaque
Eng
palace
art
poet
surgeon
stomach
What happened next?
When a new French word was introduced different situations were possible:
1.





The English word disappeared
OE leod
people
OE dom
judgement
OE here
army
OE blaed
flower
OE lyft
air
2.




Both words were kept, but used in different contexts:
ox - beef
sheep - mutton
pig - pork
calf - veal

boil, fry, roast
 English words are used for live animals whereas French words are used for prepared
meat (the upper classes enjoyed these dishes).
 French names were given not only to animals when served up as food but also to the
culinary processes by which animals were cooked.
Two sources of French words
- In the 13th century, John of England launched a conflict against the king of France that
should result in the loss of the duchy of Normandy and most of the other English
possessions in France.
- The loss drastically changed the situation between England and Normandy and
dissolved the bond that existed between them.
- England's military, economic, and cultural interests shifted to central France. The
French language continued to be cultivated at the English royal court, just as at most
other European courts.
- From the 13th century on, therefore, the French spoken in and around Paris (Central
French) became the source of new loans in English.
-
Summing up, French words were borrowed from two dialects: Norman French
(spoken in England) and Central French (the source of Modern Standard French).
 Norman French influence: from the time of the Conquest until the loss of
Normandy.
 Central French influence, beginning after the loss of Normandy.
111
Norman French
1066
Norman Conquest
Political Changes:
 French  Language of Government &
Administration
Social Changes:
 French  Language of the ruling class,
nobility, ecclesiastical higher ranks
 English  Language of the ordinary
people (90%)
Borrowings








Government
&
Administration
Law
War
Nobility tittles
Ecclesiastic tittles
Food, culinary techniques
Fashion
Art
Central French
13th century
Loss of Normandy
England  Influence
from Central France
 Middle English borrowed the Anglo-Norman and the French forms of the same word
(borrowed the word twice).
We can normally distinguish these borrowings by phonetic differences:
Latin 'c' before 'a'
-
In Norman French remains as /k/ ME cattle
In Central French develops as /tʃ/  ME chattel




Lat. capitāle > NF catel > ME cattle -one type of property (animal)Lat. capitāle > CF chatel > ME chattel -other types of propertiesLat. captiare > NF cachier > ME catch
Lat. captiare > CF chace > ME chase
Old Franconian > /w/
-
Appears as /w/ in Norman French
Appears as /g/ in Central French






NF wardein > ME warden
NF warantir > ME warranty
CF garden > ME guardian
CF garant > ME guarantee
Using the knowledge of the sound changes in the history of French we may date
when the word was borrowed.
The shift from /tʃ/ to /ʃ/ and from /dʒ/ to /ʒ/ differentiate earlier (medieval) and
later (modern) borrowings from Central French.
champion (medieval borrowing)
/tʃ/
chandelier (modern borrowing)
/ʃ/
112
/tʃ, dʒ/
Medieval Central French borrowings
 Champion /tʃ/
 Chain /tʃ/
 Gentle /dʒ/
 Germ /dʒ/
/ʃ, ʒ/
Modern Central French borrowings
 Chandelier /ʃ/
 Chevron /ʃ/
 Genre /ʒ/
 Rouge /ʒ/
Eng chief /tʃi:f/
OF chef
Eng chef /ʃef/
Doublets: The same word may be borrowed at different times, resulting in doublets such
as this one.
Central French:
Medieval French > Modern French
/tʃ, dʒ/ > /ʃ, ʒ/
About three quarters of the French words borrowed during the ME period are still
used, and words derived directly or indirectly from French now account for more than
a third of English vocabulary.
3/4 still used = 1/3 of total English vocabulary
BORROWINGS IN THE MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD. RENAISSANCE (15TH-17TH ) & THE
AGE OF REASON





The interest in the classics in the age of the Renaissance opened the gates to a
new wave of borrowings from Latin and — to a lesser extent — from Greek.
Latin and Greek were thought to be the perfect examples, the purest languages.
In the 16th and 17th c. Latin was the main language of philosophy and science.
To a well-educated Renaissance person Latin was like a second language
But its use in the sphere of religion became more restricted after the
Reformation and the publication of the English versions of the Bible.
Early ModE Period.
1. Printing Press arrived in England.
2. Protestant Reformation.
3. Migration from rural areas to big cities.
4. Expansion of the British Empire.
o Linguistic Factors
 Standardization started.
 Great Vowel Shift.
 Great concern on the richness of the English vocabulary.
 Great concern on the decay of English.
113
Renaissance  back to classics: Latin & Greek
The Age Of Reason  Logic
 GREEK & LATIN
Modern English added words:
 From the fields of philosophy and education
 alumnus
 arena
 curriculum
 data




exclusive
investigate
sporadic
transcendental
 From the fields of medicine, mathematics, geometry, botany, biology, geography…
 abdomen
 evaporate
 calculus
 lacuna
 cerebellum
 larva
 codex
 radius
 commensurable
 recipe
 compute
 species
Ways of enriching English vocabulary:
1. Borrowing from Latin & Greek: Many inkhorn (words borrowed that only were used
in writing) terms were borrowed
2. Native resources: compounding, derivation
Adaptation of inflectional endings:








Lat. conspicuus > conspicuous
Lat. externus > external
Lat. celeritās > celerity
Lat. frequentia > frequency
Lat. extermināre > exterminate
Lat. consolidare > consolidate
As a result of colonisation and the expansion of the British Empire, the English
language started to spread all over the world.
Since the 16c. English has adopted words from many different languages:


Tea – from China
Potato – from Haiti (through Spanish)
 SPANISH
Direct contacts between England and Spain were intensified in the first part of the Early
Modern English period, partly due to the good relations under Queen Mary.






alligator
cockroach
maize
114
guitar
mosquito
sherry
Besides native Spanish words, Spanish contacts also introduced into English a number
of loans of non-European, mainly of American origin:
American-based Spanish loans related to people, products and nature:








cannibal 1553
negro 1555
maize 1565
potato 1565
alligator 1568
tobacco 1577
banana 1597
avocado 1697
 ITALIAN
Trade and private travel in Italy became fashionable in the 16th c.
Moreover, at the beginning of the 18th c., Italian music and especially Italian opera
became very fashionable in England, and with that came a wave of Italian loanwords.







artichoke
balcony
ghetto
influenza
concerto
soprano
diva
 GERMAN
Chemical elements, food
During the Renaissance and after, there were strong commercial and cultural ties
between Britain and the Low Countries.



cobalt
quartz
zinc


lager
delicatessen




Caravan < Persian karwan
Bazaar < Persian bazar
Bungalow < Hindi bangla
Shampoo < Hindi champo
 OTHER LANGUAGES




Alcohol < Arabic alkuhl
Apricot < Arabic albarkuk
Cherub < Hebrew kerubh
Rabbi < Hebrew rabh – i
The proportion of native and foreign words in the English vocabulary
Germanic
French
Latin
Greek
Other Romance
Celtic
SOED (Shorter Oxford
English Dictionary)
General Service List
(list of basic vocabulary)
22.20%
28.37%
28.29%
5.32%
1.86%
0.34%
47.08%
38%
9.59%
0.25%
0.20%
---115