Transcript Syntax - Serwis Informacyjny WSJO
Historical Phonology & Morphology
How Sound Systems and Word Structures Change over Time
Linguistic Structures
Languages are made up of structured systems These systems exist at different levels Languages have Phonology: sound structures Morphology: word structures Syntax: sentence structures
Historical Linguistics
When languages change over time, the changes can occur in any of these structured systems One therefore speaks of Historical phonology Historical morphology Historical syntax
Historical Phonology
Different types of sound change can happen over time Question: how individual sound changes affect the phonology of a language; that is, how they effect the number and relations of phonemes
A sound change might have No/little effect on the phonological system Change the allophones of a phoneme Decrease the number of phonemes Increase the number of phonemes If the number of phonemes changes, it will affect minimal pairs
No effect on the phonological system
# 1 EMidE /t d n/ = dentals >> RETRACTION >> ModE /t d n/ = alveolars #2 Ogerm /*b *d *g/ >> OE /p t k/ = unaspirated ModE /p t k/ + STRESSED SYLLABLE = aspirated
Phonological Change
Suppose that we started to pronounce /g/ as [k] (weakening).
E.g. ‘bigger’ /’ b ıgɘ
/ /
> [’ b ıkɘ
] ]
/g/
CONDITIONED CHANGES
• • #1 ASSIMILATION (palatalisation + affrication) WGerm * kirka > OE circe = ModE church # 2 UMLAUT (distant assimilation) Back vowels >> fronted (pre-OE plur.) m ūs-i << OE m īs (pre-OE plur.) gōs-i << OE gēs #3 MANNER OF ARTICULATION - OE modor >> MidE mother
#1 LAT tutur >> turtle sporadic unstressed syllables DISSIMILATION
METATHESIS
# 1 West & South Slavic languages Milk : mleko Garden : ogród # 2 Germanic languages - OE þridda >> ModE third
#1 HAPLOLOGY
LOSS
# 1 WORD INITIAL /k/ + /n/ Knowledge : acknowlwdge # 2 POST-VOCALIC /r/ #3 LOSS + COMPENSATORY LENGTHENING MidE sight /s ɪxt / >> /si:t/ Apocope (final vowels) syncope (medial vowels)
Phonemic Merger
#1 Cockney English: Two unconditioned changes: [ θ ] > [f] and [ ð ] > [v] - 4 phonemes have been reduced to 2 That : vat were once minimal pairs; now homophones [væt] (Cockney) Thin : fin were once minimal pairs; now homophones [f ɪ n] (Cockney)
Phonemic Split
#1 An earlier allophone >> a phoneme (phonemisation) OE /y y:/ >> UNROUNDING >> /i: ɪ / - sea : see ; made : maid #2 OE /f θ s/ >> PHONEMISATION >> Middle English /v ð z/
EXCRESCENCE
#1 A sound appears /u/ + /x/: OE brohte >> MidE broughte Epenthesis (medial) Prothesis (initial)
Other phonological changes
#1 The phonology of a language can change in more drastic ways than just the addition/subtraction of phonemes SOUND SHIFT = the Great Vowel Shift Long Vowels: Raising/Diphthongising /i:/ & /u:/
Regularity of Sound Change
A fundamental principle of historical phonology
Sound change is regular
If sound A changes to sound B in a particular environment in some words, then sound A changes to sound B in all words with that environment.
Regularity of Sound Change
Example: Southern American English [e] > [ ɪ ] / _ [n] (vowel raising) Pen and ten are [p h ɪ n] and [t h ɪ n], homophonous with pin and tin.
This sound change is regular It affects [ environment: when, tennis, Ben, men, glen, etc.
e ] in all words with this
Regularity of Sound Change
Regularity of sound change is a very important principle It will allow us to reconstruct the pronunciation of languages in the distant past, even when we have no written records We will see how when we do historical
reconstruction
Historical Morphology
Over time, the morphology of a language changes The set of morphemes in the language changes The function and meaning of morphemes changes Inflectional paradigms change Derivational rules change
Historical Morphology
In extreme cases, languages that were once isolating can develop inflectional morphology Likewise, languages can lose inflectional morphology and become isolating* In the last 1500 years, English has lost much of its inflectional morphology
Historical Processes
Some common types of morphological change are:
Grammaticalization (Grammaticization) Analogy Reanalysis Folk Etymology Back Formation Root Creation Functional Shift Commonisation Taboo Deformation Compounding Affixation Acronymy Abbreviation (Clipping)
Historical Processes
Remember: The building blocks of morphology are
morphemes
, not words The historical processes described here involve changes to morphemes
Grammaticalization
Over time, a free morpheme (i.e. a word) acquires grammatical (i.e. morphological or syntactic) function Often this process is accompanied by Phonological reduction (gets shorter) Fusion (becomes bound) Semantic bleaching (loses original meaning)
Grammaticalization
Example 1: English
be going to
>
be gonna
Original meaning: motion through space New Function: future tense marker (“I’m gonna take linguistics next quarter.”) Phonological reduction: 3 syllables > 2 syllables, vowels become schwa *I’m gonna the store to buy some soap.
Semantic bleaching: sense of motion is lost I’m gonna stay right here.
Grammaticalization
Example 2: English
have
Original meaning: possession Function: auxiliary verb (“I ’ve eaten lunch already”) indicating completed action Phonological reduction: have can be pronounced /v/ only when grammaticalized: *Do you’ve any money on you?
Semantic bleaching: possession meaning is lost
Analogy
A powerful force in morphological change A morphological rule is extended, or generalized, to forms by analogy with other forms that already fit the rule Q: Why can we make sentences or derive words that we have never heard before?
A: We have learned the morphological and syntactic rules and can apply them But rules also have exceptions
Analogy
Example: English past tense {-ed} Children growing up hear present and past tense forms of verbs, and induce an inflectional rule based on them: walk walked + /t/ learn learned + /d/ fade faded + / ˙ d/ Rule: Add an allomorph of {-ed} to verb stem to make past tense
Analogy
Having learned the rule, the child might make an analogy: Walk : walked :: go : ______ Learn: learned :: teach : ______ By analogy, the child applies the rule and says: “Yesterday we
goed
to the park” “Bill
teached
“I
taked
me how to tie my shoes” some cookies”
Analogy
Eventually the child may learn the exceptions to the rule. But sometimes analogical formations stay in the language, and the exceptions are regularized.
In some English dialects today, people say teached and throwed.
Similar changes have happened to many verbs in English, and continue to happen.
What’s the past tense of strive? cleave? dive?
Analogy
Analogy often has the effect of reducing the overall number of allomorphs Example 2: Old English {old} had two allomorphs, /old/ and /eald/: Old - elder - eldest Today these are obsolete. By analogy with Red - redder - reddest (no change to stem) We now have only one allomorph: Old - older - oldest
Reanalysis
Speakers of a language reinterpret the location of morpheme boundaries This may create new morphemes, or change the forms of existing morphemes Example 1: English a
napron
> an
apron
Example 2: English an
ewt
> a
newt
Listeners put the morpheme boundary in a new location, and changed the form of the words napron and ewt.
Reanalysis
Example 3: Creation of a new morpheme Historical morpheme boundary: alcohol-ic Alcohol: noun; -ic: adjective-forming suffix Alcoholic: adj (“an alcoholic beverage”) “An alcoholic person” > alcoholic: noun (“a person addicted to alcohol) New morpheme boundary: alc-oholic -oholic/-aholic: derivational suffix: work aholic, choc-oholic
Reanalysis
Example 4: Lollapalooza Slang: “Something outstanding or amazing” After the big Lollapalooza music tours, palooza was reanalyzed as a derivational suffix meaning “an event that’s big and exciting” Country-palooza, Polka-palooza, Metal- palooza, Soap-a-palooza, Polar-palooza, …
Folk Etymology
A specific type of re-analysis in which people misunderstand the historical origin of a word (etymology refers to word origins) Example 1: In some dialects of English, asparagus is now called sparrow-grass.
Example 2: Hamburger derives from the German city Hamburg plus suffix -er.
Speakers assume the word is a compound with first morpheme ham, so conclude that burger is a morpheme too, meaning a type of food patty.
Back Formation
A specific type of reanalysis and/or analogy that creates new stems from derived or inflected forms Happens when language speakers misidentify a word as being composed of a stem and affix, then remove the affix to get back to what they think is the original stem Child (pointing to plate of cheese): “What’s that?” Parent: “Cheese” Child (hearing /z/ and assuming it is a plural suffix): “Can I have a chee?”
Back Formation
Consider these verb-noun pairs compensate denigrate operate procrastinate compensation denigration operation procrastination delegate _________ delegation orientation By analogy, speakers assume the verb stem is orientate (historically it is orient). Orientate is a back-formation.
Back Formation
In Old English, the word for pea was pise (singular), pisan (plural) In Middle English, singular pease was reanalyzed as having a plural {-s} suffix.
A new singular form pea was created by back formation, and peas was reanalyzed as a plural.
The singular pease is still preserved in the old nursery rhyme: “Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot nine days old.”
#1 Words out of nothing
ROOT CREATION
GAS NYLON RAYON
FUNCTIONAL SHIFT (ZERO-DERIVATION/CONVERSION)
A knee >> to knee A shoulder >> to shoulder a burden In and out >> to know the ins and outs
COMMONISATION
#1 Proper names, inventors, popularisers, trade names: The 4th Earl of Sandwich >> a sandwich Diesel >> a diesel engile Bowie >> a bowie knife Derringer >> a derringer Echo >> echo Spartan >> spartan A sliding fasterner >> zipper
TABOO DEFORMATION
GOD-DAMNED >> GOL-DARNED, GOL-DERNED, GOSH DARNED EUPHEMISMS: TO DIE >> TO BE MET ONE’S MAKER, PASS AWAY, LEAVE THE VALE OF TEARS
AFFIXATION
MORPHEMES ARE FUSED TOGETHER ANTIESTABLISHARIANISM
COMPOUNDING
#1 NOUN + NOUN OE w īfmann; MidE hūswīfe; ModE schoolboy #2 ADJ. + ADJ.
OE wynsum; MidE snauwhīt; ModE red-hot #3 NOUN + ADJ.
watertight, life-long, time-consuming # 4 VERB + NOUN MidE pickepurse; ModE pickpocket, press-button #5 PREP. + NOUN/VERB afterbirth, downfall, output
ACRONYMY #1 The initial sounds of several words RADAR LASER
MOTEL SMOG URINALISYS
BLENDING
TELLY LAB PROF.
DOC
ABBREVIATING (CLIPPING)