John Benjamins Publishing Company
1. Explaining similarities
Abstract
Historical linguistics as a concept has come to be used in a number of ways. First, in referring to a discipline investigating the development of single languages from an earlier to a later point in time, e.g. two or more stages of Ancient Egyptian, the language of Pharaonic times, whose written records date back four and a half millennia, and which probably became extinct as a spoken language (known as Coptic) several centuries ago. A second way in which the term historical linguistics has come to be used is as a short hand for historical-comparative linguistics – more specifically the comparative study of genetically related languages, hence the alternative term genetic linguistics. This is the way in which the term is used in the present study. In historical-comparative linguistics, or simply comparative linguistics, one reconstructs “upstream”, i.e. one works backwards from today’s languages in order to establish genetic relationships and in order to reconstruct earlier stages by studying collateral relationships. Even though as a discipline historical (or dia-chronic) linguistics grew out of philology, one does not necessarily depend on written documents or texts in order to be able to reconstruct historical changes in languages, as should become clear from the following chapters. What is needed to begin with are solid analyses of individual languages. This chapter sets out to list a number of reasons why languages may manifest similarities in their lexical and grammatical structures. After a discussion of chance, sound symbolism, borrowing and shared inheritance, basic principles of the comparative method are explained. As a first step, these involve setting up sound correspondences between cognate roots in languages assumed to be genetically related, and reconstructing historical changes in these forms.
Abstract
Historical linguistics as a concept has come to be used in a number of ways. First, in referring to a discipline investigating the development of single languages from an earlier to a later point in time, e.g. two or more stages of Ancient Egyptian, the language of Pharaonic times, whose written records date back four and a half millennia, and which probably became extinct as a spoken language (known as Coptic) several centuries ago. A second way in which the term historical linguistics has come to be used is as a short hand for historical-comparative linguistics – more specifically the comparative study of genetically related languages, hence the alternative term genetic linguistics. This is the way in which the term is used in the present study. In historical-comparative linguistics, or simply comparative linguistics, one reconstructs “upstream”, i.e. one works backwards from today’s languages in order to establish genetic relationships and in order to reconstruct earlier stages by studying collateral relationships. Even though as a discipline historical (or dia-chronic) linguistics grew out of philology, one does not necessarily depend on written documents or texts in order to be able to reconstruct historical changes in languages, as should become clear from the following chapters. What is needed to begin with are solid analyses of individual languages. This chapter sets out to list a number of reasons why languages may manifest similarities in their lexical and grammatical structures. After a discussion of chance, sound symbolism, borrowing and shared inheritance, basic principles of the comparative method are explained. As a first step, these involve setting up sound correspondences between cognate roots in languages assumed to be genetically related, and reconstructing historical changes in these forms.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
- Figures xiii
- Maps xv
- Tables xvii
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Part I. The comparative method
- 1. Explaining similarities 3
- 2. Explaining sound change 23
- 3. Classification and subclassification techniques 59
- 4. Morphosyntactic changes 93
- 5. Semantic change 115
- 6. Internal reconstruction 141
- 7. Language-internal variation 153
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Part II. The linguistic manifestation of contact
- 8. Borrowing 179
- 9. Pidginisation and creolisation 213
- 10. Syncretic languages 237
- 11. Language contraction and language shift 253
- 12. Language contact phenomena and genetic classification 265
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Part III. Studying language change in a wider contex
- 13. Language typology and reconstruction 283
- 14. Remote relationships and genetic diversity on the African continent 307
- 15. Language and history 333
- 16. Some ecological properties of language development 347
- References 373
- Appendix 407
- Language and language family index 409
- Subject index 419
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
- Figures xiii
- Maps xv
- Tables xvii
-
Part I. The comparative method
- 1. Explaining similarities 3
- 2. Explaining sound change 23
- 3. Classification and subclassification techniques 59
- 4. Morphosyntactic changes 93
- 5. Semantic change 115
- 6. Internal reconstruction 141
- 7. Language-internal variation 153
-
Part II. The linguistic manifestation of contact
- 8. Borrowing 179
- 9. Pidginisation and creolisation 213
- 10. Syncretic languages 237
- 11. Language contraction and language shift 253
- 12. Language contact phenomena and genetic classification 265
-
Part III. Studying language change in a wider contex
- 13. Language typology and reconstruction 283
- 14. Remote relationships and genetic diversity on the African continent 307
- 15. Language and history 333
- 16. Some ecological properties of language development 347
- References 373
- Appendix 407
- Language and language family index 409
- Subject index 419
