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History of English: Language Change and Development

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History of English: Language Change and Development History of English: Course Structure Language Change 1. Language Change & Development and Development 2. Old English Nigel Musk 3. Middle English Teachers’ Programme 6161--9090 hp Depar tmen t of Cult ure & Commun icati on 4. Early Modern English Linköping University Language Variation & Change Change as a Social Phenomenon Language variation is a prerequisite for change Language change is most often described in linguistic terms, yet There i s al ways l anguage vari ati on w ithin a commun ity or soc ie ty language and language change is essentially a SOCIAL for many different (social) reasons: phenomenon. Both language and language change arise through communication. differing needs (occupation, leisure, interests , etc. ) People tend to adjust their language to become more like each differing social standing (sociolects) other (accommodation) differing contacts with other communities, e .g . with differing regional varieties (dialects) & languages Accommodating to others can operate across phonology (accent), lexis (vocabulary), grammar (morphology & syntax) But even one and the same person shows a tendency to speak and discourse (discursive features) (and write) differently in different social contexts/constellations Also at a societal level, the more social upheaval, the more Variation is facilitated byyggp the relative ease of geographical and lingu is tic c hange social mobility (mobility isn’t a new phenomenon!) Aspects of Language Subject to Categories of Change Change Distinction often made between: Phonology Internal change – including the normal “drift of language” Lexis (vocabulary) External change – due to language contact Morphology Grammar Syntax Discourse Conditioned Phonological Internal Change: Phonology Change 1 Assimilation – adjacent sounds become more alike A speaker tends not to make more effort than is necessary This can lead for example to co-articulation effects becoming e.g. OE blīðs/blīþs : bliss, permanent. OE gōdspell ‘good news’ : gospel Therefore a distinction can be made between: Palatalisation of velar consonants before front vowels: e.g. cheese OE. cēse = OS. kāsi, Du. kaas G. Käse ), conditioned (or combinatory) change, e.g. through co- yellow OE. geolu = OS. gelo, Du. gel, G. gelb articulation effects Modern distinction in past tense /d/ : /t/ : /ɪd/ unconditioned (or spontaneous) change Tendency for intervocalic consonants to become voiced (vowels are always voiced) Conditioned Phonological Conditioned Phonological Change 2 Change 3 Other phoneme losses Simplification of consonant clusters (elision) OE : ModE Reduction & loss of final unstressed vowels hlāf : loaf hlūd : loud hnecca : neck hnitu : nit hring : ring hrōf : roof hlǣfdige : lady niht : night OE sunu : son OE sunne : sun But note that question words retained breathiness longer: what, OE mōna : moon when, where OE steorra : star cnēo(w) : knee cnotta : knot gnætt : gnat includes vowels in plurals e.g. OE dagas : days camb,comb : comb, wamb,womb : womb with vowel reduction (weakening) first to –e and then -ə and Modern example: yod-dropping, e.g. suit, lute then lost Unconditioned Phonological Unconditioned Phonological Change 1 Change 2 Metathesis – reversal of two (mostly) adjoining phonemes Epenthesis – addition of a phoneme in the middle of a word e.g. OE ācsian : ask e.g. OE æmtig : empty OE brid(d) : bird, Sēo eorþe wæs æmtig (from Genesis) OE wæps (variation in OE too: wæsp) : wasp OE spin(e)l : spindle, hros (cf. OE hors, ON hross, Sw russ) : horse OE þunor : thunder Modern example: pretty (good) – ‘purty’ (good) Modern examples: glottal stop [ʔ]: something [sʌmʔθɪŋ], epenthetic vowel [ə]: in ScE/IrE film [fɪləm] Unconditioned Phonological Unconditioned Phonological Change 3 Change 4 Sound shifts Chain shifts Sound “laws” whereby the same phoneme changes in all words Push (to avoid merging) or pull effects(to mergers) (under the same conditions – stress, position, etc.) desk [ɛə/ɪə] busses Tendency to preserve [ɛ] bosses symmetry of phonological [ʌ] [ɔ] system – to optimise the bat head ppghonological space Northern Cities Chain Shift [æ] [ɑ] bloc k socks Unconditioned Phonological Change 5 Internal Change: Lexis 1 Mergers of phonemes Reasons for lexical change Front close vowels /i/ : /y/ (unrounding) New ideas and innovations give rise to new words OE lȳtel : little OE yfel : evil Through polysemy – words have different or multiple meanings, OE synn : sin e.g. common words like get, go Over time one or more meanings may fall out of use and new meanings develop Great vowel shift included one merger Compare: speak [spɛːk] and feed [feːd]inME] in ME By association with other words, e.g. metaphors, metonymy Disadvantages of mergers: more homonyms arise = potential detriment to communication TidtbtiffidththttTo avoid taboo, negative, offensive words or those that are too e.g. to : two : too; their : there; son (OE sunu) : sun (sunne) direct - euphemisms Reasons for lexical change 1 Reasons for lexical change 2 Metaphors - association by similarity Metonymy - association by contiguity, e.g. cause & effect, concrete & abstract toast [LME] There is a connection between the toast you eat and the toast you make with a raised glass. Toast is based on Latin eavesdrop [OE] In Old English eaves, then spelled efes, was a torrere ‘to parch, scorch, dry up’, the source also of torrid singular word, but the -s at the end made people think it was a [E17th], and torrent [LME] a rushing or ‘boiling’ flow of water. ‘To plural, which is how we treat it today. If you eavesdrop you parc h’ was t he ea rliest m eanin g of th e En gli sh w or d, an d bef or e secretly listen to a conversation. The word was formed in the long it was used to describe browning bread in front of a fire. early 17th century from the old word eavesdropper [LME], ‘a Drinking toasts goes back to the late 17th century, and person who listens from under the eaves’. Eavesdropper came originated in the practice whereby a drinker would name a lady from the noun eavesdrip or eavesdrop, ‘the ground on to which and request that all the people present drink her health. The water drips from the eaves’. This was a concept in an ancient idea was that the lady's name flavoured the drink like the pieces law which banned building closer than two feet from the of spiced toast that people sometimes added to wine in those bdboundary o f your ldiland, in case you damage d your ne ihb'ighbour's days. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins land by ‘eavesdrop’. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins Reasons for lexical change 3 Internal Change: Lexis 2 Euphemism - (the use of) a mild, comforting, or evasive Patterns of lexical change expression that takes the place of one that is taboo, negative, offensive, or too direct: Gosh God, Broadening of meaning – refers to a wider range of meanings terminate kill, sleep with have sex with, pp,ass water, (referents) relieve oneself urinate. Narrowing of meaning WORD COMMON EUPHEMISMS lavatory bog (slang), comfort station, convenience, little boys' room, little Amelioration house, loo, restroom (AmE), washroom (AmE), water closet (WC) die depart this life, give up the ghost, kick the bucket (slang), pass away, pass on Deterioration Pocke t Fo wl er' s Mode rn En gli sh Usage Patterns of lexical change 1 Patterns of lexical change 2 Broadening of meaning 1 Broadening of meaning 2 food [OE] Recorded since the beginning of the 11th century, food small [OE] A word recorded since around AD 700. In Old English it is related to fodder [OE] and foster [OE], originally found in the could refer to something slender or narrow as well as something sense ‘feed, nourish’. It can refer to mental as well as physical more generally of less than usual size. From the 16th century nourishment—the expression food for thought to indicate small beer was a term for weaker beer, the sort that people som ethin g th at dese rv es seri ous co n si der ati on h as been in use dra nk fo r br eakf ast wh en w ater suppli es w er e un saf e. In since the early 19th century. Cannon fodder for soldiers Macbeth Iago dismisses women as fit only to ‘chronicle small regarded as expendable dates from the First World War. beer’, and from this sort of use developed the sense of Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins something insignificant. [… ] Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins food what is taken to support life. Late OE. fōda :- *fōðan-, a small (dial.) slender, thin: †narrow; of limited size or extent; of fine unique formation, the synon. words in other Gmc. langs. being f. texture OE.; of low strength or power XII. OE. smæl = OS. (Du.), *fōðjan FEED . v iz. ON. fœ ði, fœð a OHG. smal (G . sc hma l), ON . sma lr. Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology Patterns of lexical change 3 Patterns of lexical change 4 Narrowing of meaning 1 Narrowing of meaning 2 In Anglo-Saxon times starve simply meant ‘to die’, especially a [ME] A poison does not necessarily need to be in liquid form, but in lingering death from hunger, cold, disease, or grief. People early use the word meant a drink or medicine, specifically a continued to use the word in this way for many centuries, and in potion with a harmful or dangerous ingredient. The source was northern English dialect starve can still mean ‘to die of cold’. Old French poison ‘magic potion’, from Latin potio, also the OOodctoayoxford Dictionary of W odOgsord Origins sour ce of poti on [ME ]. Th e sayin g on e m an' s m eat i s an oth er starve †die OE.; die of hunger; cause to die of hunger, cold, etc. man's poison has been around for centuries and was being XVI.
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