Jeremy Smith
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199291953
- eISBN:
- 9780191710568
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199291953.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This book addresses the question: why do sound changes happen when and where they do? It discusses the origins of a series of sound changes in English. It relates the arguments to larger questions ...
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This book addresses the question: why do sound changes happen when and where they do? It discusses the origins of a series of sound changes in English. It relates the arguments to larger questions about the nature of explanation in history and historical linguistics, and examines the interplay between sound change and social change. Drawing on the latest research in linguistics and history, it shows how insights in one field illuminate the other. After the opening chapter describing the book's approach and a general theoretical framework for the study of sound-change, the book discusses problems of evidence and considers the nature of phonological processes. It then presents detailed investigations of major sound-changes from three transitional periods: first, when English emerged as a language distinct from the other West Germanic varieties; secondly, during the transition from Old to Middle English; and thirdly, during the time when Middle English evolved into Modern English.Less
This book addresses the question: why do sound changes happen when and where they do? It discusses the origins of a series of sound changes in English. It relates the arguments to larger questions about the nature of explanation in history and historical linguistics, and examines the interplay between sound change and social change. Drawing on the latest research in linguistics and history, it shows how insights in one field illuminate the other. After the opening chapter describing the book's approach and a general theoretical framework for the study of sound-change, the book discusses problems of evidence and considers the nature of phonological processes. It then presents detailed investigations of major sound-changes from three transitional periods: first, when English emerged as a language distinct from the other West Germanic varieties; secondly, during the transition from Old to Middle English; and thirdly, during the time when Middle English evolved into Modern English.
Andrew Pawley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195300307
- eISBN:
- 9780199790142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300307.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
There are over twenty separate language families within the more than 700 “Papuan” languages of New Guinea, East Nusa Tenggara, and Island Melanesia, none of which can be convincingly shown to be ...
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There are over twenty separate language families within the more than 700 “Papuan” languages of New Guinea, East Nusa Tenggara, and Island Melanesia, none of which can be convincingly shown to be related. This degree of linguistic diversity is unsurpassed in any other region of comparable size in the world, and exceeds that of the whole of Africa. The classical Comparative Method does confirm the existence of a large Trans New Guinea language family within Papuan. It occupies the central mountain cordillera of New Guinea and some regions to the north and south. The creation of this large family is suggested to be associated with a farming-based population expansion there during the last 10,000 years. The major concentrations of unrelated Papuan language families occur in the Sepik/Ramu river regions, along the north coast to the west of the Sepik as far as the Bird's Head, and in Northern Island Melanesia. These concentrations of diverse families appear to be relics of ancient linguistic strata, the product of in situ diversification that began in each region in the late Pleistocene.Less
There are over twenty separate language families within the more than 700 “Papuan” languages of New Guinea, East Nusa Tenggara, and Island Melanesia, none of which can be convincingly shown to be related. This degree of linguistic diversity is unsurpassed in any other region of comparable size in the world, and exceeds that of the whole of Africa. The classical Comparative Method does confirm the existence of a large Trans New Guinea language family within Papuan. It occupies the central mountain cordillera of New Guinea and some regions to the north and south. The creation of this large family is suggested to be associated with a farming-based population expansion there during the last 10,000 years. The major concentrations of unrelated Papuan language families occur in the Sepik/Ramu river regions, along the north coast to the west of the Sepik as far as the Bird's Head, and in Northern Island Melanesia. These concentrations of diverse families appear to be relics of ancient linguistic strata, the product of in situ diversification that began in each region in the late Pleistocene.
Eva Lindström, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, and Michael Dunn
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195300307
- eISBN:
- 9780199790142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300307.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter provides an overview of the Papuan and the Oceanic languages (a branch of Austronesian) in Northern Island Melanesia, as well as phenomena arising through contact between these groups. ...
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This chapter provides an overview of the Papuan and the Oceanic languages (a branch of Austronesian) in Northern Island Melanesia, as well as phenomena arising through contact between these groups. It shows how linguistics can contribute to the understanding of the history of languages and speakers, and what the findings of those methods have been. The location of the homeland of speakers of Proto-Oceanic is indicated (in northeast New Britain); many facets of the lives of those speakers are shown; and the patterns of their subsequent spread across Island Melanesia and beyond into Remote Oceania are indicated, followed by a second wave overlaying the first into New Guinea and as far as halfway through the Solomon Islands. Regarding the Papuan languages of this region, at least some are older than the 6,000-10,000 ceiling of the Comparative Method, and their relations are explored with the aid of a database of 125 non-lexical structural features. The results reflect archipelago-based clustering with the Central Solomons Papuan languages forming a clade either with the Bismarcks or with Bougainville languages. Papuan languages in Bougainville are less influenced by Oceanic languages than those in the Bismarcks and the Solomons. The chapter considers a variety of scenarios to account for their findings, concluding that the results are compatible with multiple pre-Oceanic waves of arrivals into the area after initial settlement.Less
This chapter provides an overview of the Papuan and the Oceanic languages (a branch of Austronesian) in Northern Island Melanesia, as well as phenomena arising through contact between these groups. It shows how linguistics can contribute to the understanding of the history of languages and speakers, and what the findings of those methods have been. The location of the homeland of speakers of Proto-Oceanic is indicated (in northeast New Britain); many facets of the lives of those speakers are shown; and the patterns of their subsequent spread across Island Melanesia and beyond into Remote Oceania are indicated, followed by a second wave overlaying the first into New Guinea and as far as halfway through the Solomon Islands. Regarding the Papuan languages of this region, at least some are older than the 6,000-10,000 ceiling of the Comparative Method, and their relations are explored with the aid of a database of 125 non-lexical structural features. The results reflect archipelago-based clustering with the Central Solomons Papuan languages forming a clade either with the Bismarcks or with Bougainville languages. Papuan languages in Bougainville are less influenced by Oceanic languages than those in the Bismarcks and the Solomons. The chapter considers a variety of scenarios to account for their findings, concluding that the results are compatible with multiple pre-Oceanic waves of arrivals into the area after initial settlement.
DAVID BERESFORD-JONES and PAUL HEGGARTY
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197265031
- eISBN:
- 9780191754142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265031.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, American History: pre-Columbian BCE to 500CE
This volume is a collection which includes the text of papers presented at the September 2008 Cambridge Symposium on Archaeology and Linguistics in the Andes. The Cambridge symposium sought to bring ...
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This volume is a collection which includes the text of papers presented at the September 2008 Cambridge Symposium on Archaeology and Linguistics in the Andes. The Cambridge symposium sought to bring together the disciplines of linguistics and archaeology, in order to dispel a number of popular myths about the language history of the Andes. This introductory chapter first sets out the structure of the book and introduces its component chapters. Thereafter it clarifies briefly a number of principles from historical linguistics that are indispensable to an understanding of how language data can inform us about prehistory at all, as a general methodological background to the chapters that follow. Next, it reviews the traditional model for associating the linguistic and archaeological records in the Andes, and the problems that attend it. Finally, it looks at one particular cross-disciplinary proposal that has commanded much attention worldwide, but precious little hitherto in the Andes: the ‘farming/language dispersal’ hypothesis.Less
This volume is a collection which includes the text of papers presented at the September 2008 Cambridge Symposium on Archaeology and Linguistics in the Andes. The Cambridge symposium sought to bring together the disciplines of linguistics and archaeology, in order to dispel a number of popular myths about the language history of the Andes. This introductory chapter first sets out the structure of the book and introduces its component chapters. Thereafter it clarifies briefly a number of principles from historical linguistics that are indispensable to an understanding of how language data can inform us about prehistory at all, as a general methodological background to the chapters that follow. Next, it reviews the traditional model for associating the linguistic and archaeological records in the Andes, and the problems that attend it. Finally, it looks at one particular cross-disciplinary proposal that has commanded much attention worldwide, but precious little hitherto in the Andes: the ‘farming/language dispersal’ hypothesis.
RICHARD L. BURGER
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197265031
- eISBN:
- 9780191754142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265031.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, American History: pre-Columbian BCE to 500CE
This chapter explores the possibility that the development of the Chavín Horizon may have stimulated the expansion of one of the major central Andean language families, particularly Aymara, once ...
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This chapter explores the possibility that the development of the Chavín Horizon may have stimulated the expansion of one of the major central Andean language families, particularly Aymara, once spread much more widely and further north than today. Pre-Chavín cultures on the coast and in the highlands are reviewed and found to be unlikely sources of this expansion. While the Chavín Horizon may provide a possible source for the first expansion of Aymara, in terms of both its chronology and widespread geographical impact, the ‘strong hypotheses’ proposed to explain the expansion are found to be unconvincing, particularly that linking the expansion to the adoption of maize as a staple. Other hypotheses emphasizing the role of religion and cosmopolitanism are proposed as possible alternatives. The current discussion is placed within the larger context of the history of Andean archaeology and historical linguistics and is viewed as an important step forward in resolving this long-standing problem.Less
This chapter explores the possibility that the development of the Chavín Horizon may have stimulated the expansion of one of the major central Andean language families, particularly Aymara, once spread much more widely and further north than today. Pre-Chavín cultures on the coast and in the highlands are reviewed and found to be unlikely sources of this expansion. While the Chavín Horizon may provide a possible source for the first expansion of Aymara, in terms of both its chronology and widespread geographical impact, the ‘strong hypotheses’ proposed to explain the expansion are found to be unconvincing, particularly that linking the expansion to the adoption of maize as a staple. Other hypotheses emphasizing the role of religion and cosmopolitanism are proposed as possible alternatives. The current discussion is placed within the larger context of the history of Andean archaeology and historical linguistics and is viewed as an important step forward in resolving this long-standing problem.
PIETER MUYSKEN
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197265031
- eISBN:
- 9780191754142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265031.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, American History: pre-Columbian BCE to 500CE
This chapter explores various sociolinguistic scenarios of language contact which may be potentially invoked to account for the complex relationship between Quechua and Aymara. The evidence for the ...
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This chapter explores various sociolinguistic scenarios of language contact which may be potentially invoked to account for the complex relationship between Quechua and Aymara. The evidence for the Quechuan and Aymaran language families having separate origins, but engaging in intensive borrowing, is stronger than that supporting common origin. One language may be assumed to have been ‘modelled’ on the other. It is argued here on linguistic grounds that it was most likely Aymara that provided the model for Quechua. The precise nature of their contact remains to be established, however. The chapter describes and evaluates eight scenarios, not necessarily mutually exclusive, that might be invoked to account for it. All are drawn from the literature on language contact studies, illustrating how results from such work can bear on deep-time historical linguistics. Finally, the chapter speculates on what might constitute archaeological evidence for these scenarios.Less
This chapter explores various sociolinguistic scenarios of language contact which may be potentially invoked to account for the complex relationship between Quechua and Aymara. The evidence for the Quechuan and Aymaran language families having separate origins, but engaging in intensive borrowing, is stronger than that supporting common origin. One language may be assumed to have been ‘modelled’ on the other. It is argued here on linguistic grounds that it was most likely Aymara that provided the model for Quechua. The precise nature of their contact remains to be established, however. The chapter describes and evaluates eight scenarios, not necessarily mutually exclusive, that might be invoked to account for it. All are drawn from the literature on language contact studies, illustrating how results from such work can bear on deep-time historical linguistics. Finally, the chapter speculates on what might constitute archaeological evidence for these scenarios.
Namhee Lee, Lisa Mikesell, Anna Dina L. Joaquin, Andrea W. Mates, and John H. Schumann
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195384246
- eISBN:
- 9780199869916
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195384246.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter offers evidence for language as a complex adaptive system (CAS). This empirical support is drawn from computer simulations of language evolution, the development of pidgin and creole ...
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This chapter offers evidence for language as a complex adaptive system (CAS). This empirical support is drawn from computer simulations of language evolution, the development of pidgin and creole languages, Nicaraguan Sign Language, and historical linguistics.Less
This chapter offers evidence for language as a complex adaptive system (CAS). This empirical support is drawn from computer simulations of language evolution, the development of pidgin and creole languages, Nicaraguan Sign Language, and historical linguistics.
Gard B. Jenset and Barbara McGillivray
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198718178
- eISBN:
- 9780191787515
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198718178.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
Chapter 1 sets out the aims of the book, and introduces the core topics of models in historical linguistics, and the role of quantitative vs. qualitative methods in historical linguistics. The ...
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Chapter 1 sets out the aims of the book, and introduces the core topics of models in historical linguistics, and the role of quantitative vs. qualitative methods in historical linguistics. The importance of use of both quantitative and qualitative models simultaneously is discussed. The chapter also introduces the ‘chasm’ metaphor for the current situation in historical linguistics, where quantitative methods are still confined to a minority of researchers in the field, but a methodological ‘chasm’ seems to separate them from the majority. A meta study of current research in historical linguistics is presented to substantiate this claim. The meta study shows that, compared to the leading general linguistics journal, historical linguistics is lagging behind in adopting quantitative research methods.Less
Chapter 1 sets out the aims of the book, and introduces the core topics of models in historical linguistics, and the role of quantitative vs. qualitative methods in historical linguistics. The importance of use of both quantitative and qualitative models simultaneously is discussed. The chapter also introduces the ‘chasm’ metaphor for the current situation in historical linguistics, where quantitative methods are still confined to a minority of researchers in the field, but a methodological ‘chasm’ seems to separate them from the majority. A meta study of current research in historical linguistics is presented to substantiate this claim. The meta study shows that, compared to the leading general linguistics journal, historical linguistics is lagging behind in adopting quantitative research methods.
Joshua L. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195336993
- eISBN:
- 9780199893997
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195336993.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
Academics experienced some of the same accusations of disloyalty and mistrust as Mencken during World War I, which led to the firing of faculty members for treasonous teachings. It was in this ...
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Academics experienced some of the same accusations of disloyalty and mistrust as Mencken during World War I, which led to the firing of faculty members for treasonous teachings. It was in this embattled and uncertain context that the literary canon of “American literature” and the field of linguistics as the scientific study of language were constituted. Professors of English noted that one of their most evident methods of demonstrating national loyalty as a profession was to highlight their expertise in the study of what was presumed by many to be the national language. Like Mencken, they sought to capitalize on the growing fascination with U.S. English and the governmental interest in legitimating the existence of an undeclared national language. This chapter situates the new methodology of linguistics in the 1920s in this postwar environment. Linguists participated in the larger historical trends of interwar language institutionalization, and the field of study was constituted in relation to the language politics of the day both in terms of its existence as an academic field and its coalescing methodologies.Less
Academics experienced some of the same accusations of disloyalty and mistrust as Mencken during World War I, which led to the firing of faculty members for treasonous teachings. It was in this embattled and uncertain context that the literary canon of “American literature” and the field of linguistics as the scientific study of language were constituted. Professors of English noted that one of their most evident methods of demonstrating national loyalty as a profession was to highlight their expertise in the study of what was presumed by many to be the national language. Like Mencken, they sought to capitalize on the growing fascination with U.S. English and the governmental interest in legitimating the existence of an undeclared national language. This chapter situates the new methodology of linguistics in the 1920s in this postwar environment. Linguists participated in the larger historical trends of interwar language institutionalization, and the field of study was constituted in relation to the language politics of the day both in terms of its existence as an academic field and its coalescing methodologies.
Jonathan Owens
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199290826
- eISBN:
- 9780191710469
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290826.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
A widespread interpretation of the history of Arabic is that of Old Arabic, roughly Classical Arabic of the 9th and 10th centuries, developing into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. This ...
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A widespread interpretation of the history of Arabic is that of Old Arabic, roughly Classical Arabic of the 9th and 10th centuries, developing into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. This development involved a simplification of grammar and a spread of analytic as opposed to synthetic structures. This idea, first propounded in 1854, constitutes interpretations of Arabic language history until today. This book takes a very different interpretive perspective. Arguing that the historical comparative method has never been systematically applied to explain the development of contemporary spoken Arabic (the dialects), it is shown through a number of case studies that in many respects contemporary spoken Arabic has moved relatively little from a reconstructed ‘proto-Arabic’. This book, providing major methodological innovation as far as Arabic historical linguistics goes, aims to incorporate wide-ranging comparative data from the modern dialects, together with a detailed reading of the classical sources, in particular the works of the grammatical tradition and the Koranic variants. It is shown that many presumed ‘innovations’ in the modern dialects are, in fact, well-attested in detail in the classical descriptions. It is suggested that the results will require a re-thinking of Semitic historical linguistics, and points to the need for a broader Sociolinguistic history of the Arabic language.Less
A widespread interpretation of the history of Arabic is that of Old Arabic, roughly Classical Arabic of the 9th and 10th centuries, developing into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. This development involved a simplification of grammar and a spread of analytic as opposed to synthetic structures. This idea, first propounded in 1854, constitutes interpretations of Arabic language history until today. This book takes a very different interpretive perspective. Arguing that the historical comparative method has never been systematically applied to explain the development of contemporary spoken Arabic (the dialects), it is shown through a number of case studies that in many respects contemporary spoken Arabic has moved relatively little from a reconstructed ‘proto-Arabic’. This book, providing major methodological innovation as far as Arabic historical linguistics goes, aims to incorporate wide-ranging comparative data from the modern dialects, together with a detailed reading of the classical sources, in particular the works of the grammatical tradition and the Koranic variants. It is shown that many presumed ‘innovations’ in the modern dialects are, in fact, well-attested in detail in the classical descriptions. It is suggested that the results will require a re-thinking of Semitic historical linguistics, and points to the need for a broader Sociolinguistic history of the Arabic language.
D. Gary Miller
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199583423
- eISBN:
- 9780191723438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583423.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
Most current thinking about language change is directly linked to ideas from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter shows how the neogrammarian concept of synchronic regularity ...
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Most current thinking about language change is directly linked to ideas from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter shows how the neogrammarian concept of synchronic regularity tested and improved the techniques of reconstruction in Chapter 2. By highlighting the concerns of the past and reviewing the accomplishments that became the building blocks of modern historical linguistics, this chapter offers contemporary discussions of such past problems as Grassmann's Law, Grimm's Law, Verner's Law, and the Indo‐European consonants. An Appendix briefly sketches standard Proto‐Indo‐European phonology for the novice.Less
Most current thinking about language change is directly linked to ideas from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter shows how the neogrammarian concept of synchronic regularity tested and improved the techniques of reconstruction in Chapter 2. By highlighting the concerns of the past and reviewing the accomplishments that became the building blocks of modern historical linguistics, this chapter offers contemporary discussions of such past problems as Grassmann's Law, Grimm's Law, Verner's Law, and the Indo‐European consonants. An Appendix briefly sketches standard Proto‐Indo‐European phonology for the novice.
Gard B. Jenset and Barbara McGillivray
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198718178
- eISBN:
- 9780191787515
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198718178.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
Chapter 3 provides an overview of the use of corpora and quantitative methods in historical linguistics over time. This chapter further substantiates the claims in Chapter 1 regarding the underuse of ...
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Chapter 3 provides an overview of the use of corpora and quantitative methods in historical linguistics over time. This chapter further substantiates the claims in Chapter 1 regarding the underuse of corpora and quantitative methods in historical linguistics, and traces some of the historical roots of the current situation. The chapter demonstrates that there has been a persistent underrepresentation of quantitative research in historical linguistics, but that various material (lack of cheap and accessible computing power) and conceptual factors (early quantitative methods that provoked a negative reaction) have held back a more widespread adoption of quantitative corpus methods. A number of common counterarguments to the use of quantitative methods are discussed and refuted.Less
Chapter 3 provides an overview of the use of corpora and quantitative methods in historical linguistics over time. This chapter further substantiates the claims in Chapter 1 regarding the underuse of corpora and quantitative methods in historical linguistics, and traces some of the historical roots of the current situation. The chapter demonstrates that there has been a persistent underrepresentation of quantitative research in historical linguistics, but that various material (lack of cheap and accessible computing power) and conceptual factors (early quantitative methods that provoked a negative reaction) have held back a more widespread adoption of quantitative corpus methods. A number of common counterarguments to the use of quantitative methods are discussed and refuted.
John McWhorter
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195309805
- eISBN:
- 9780199788378
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309805.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
Foreigners often say that the English language is “easy”. A language like Spanish is challenging in its variety of verb endings and gender for nouns, whereas English is more straightforward. But ...
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Foreigners often say that the English language is “easy”. A language like Spanish is challenging in its variety of verb endings and gender for nouns, whereas English is more straightforward. But linguists generally deny claims that certain languages are ‘easier’ than others, since it is assumed that all languages are complex to the same degree. For example, they will point to English's use of the word “do” — Do you know French? This usage is counter-intuitive and difficult for non-native speakers. This book agrees that all languages are complex, but questions whether or not they are all equally complex. The topic of complexity has become an area of great debate in recent years, particularly in creole studies, historical linguistics, and language contact. This book describes when languages came into contact (when French-speakers ruled the English for a few centuries, or the Vikings invaded England), a large number of speakers are forced to learn a new language quickly and thus came up with a simplified version, a pidgin. When this ultimately turns into a “real” language, a creole, the result is still simpler and less complex than a “non-interrupted” language that has been around for a long time. This book makes the case that this kind of simplification happens by degrees, and criticizes linguists who are reluctant to say that, for example, English is simpler than Spanish for socio-historical reasons. It analyzes how various languages that seem simple but are not creoles, actually are simpler than they would be if they had not been broken down by large numbers of adult learners. In addition to English, the book looks at Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Malay, and some Arabic varieties.Less
Foreigners often say that the English language is “easy”. A language like Spanish is challenging in its variety of verb endings and gender for nouns, whereas English is more straightforward. But linguists generally deny claims that certain languages are ‘easier’ than others, since it is assumed that all languages are complex to the same degree. For example, they will point to English's use of the word “do” — Do you know French? This usage is counter-intuitive and difficult for non-native speakers. This book agrees that all languages are complex, but questions whether or not they are all equally complex. The topic of complexity has become an area of great debate in recent years, particularly in creole studies, historical linguistics, and language contact. This book describes when languages came into contact (when French-speakers ruled the English for a few centuries, or the Vikings invaded England), a large number of speakers are forced to learn a new language quickly and thus came up with a simplified version, a pidgin. When this ultimately turns into a “real” language, a creole, the result is still simpler and less complex than a “non-interrupted” language that has been around for a long time. This book makes the case that this kind of simplification happens by degrees, and criticizes linguists who are reluctant to say that, for example, English is simpler than Spanish for socio-historical reasons. It analyzes how various languages that seem simple but are not creoles, actually are simpler than they would be if they had not been broken down by large numbers of adult learners. In addition to English, the book looks at Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Malay, and some Arabic varieties.
Donald Ringe (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199284139
- eISBN:
- 9780191712562
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284139.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This volume traces the prehistory of English from Proto-Indo-European, its earliest reconstructable ancestor, to Proto-Germanic, the latest ancestor shared by all the Germanic languages. It begins ...
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This volume traces the prehistory of English from Proto-Indo-European, its earliest reconstructable ancestor, to Proto-Germanic, the latest ancestor shared by all the Germanic languages. It begins with a grammatical sketch of Proto-Indo-European, then discusses in detail the linguistic changes — especially in phonology and morphology — that occurred in the development to Proto-Germanic. The final chapter presents a grammatical sketch of Proto-Germanic. This is the first volume of a linguistic history of English. It is written for fellow-linguists who are not specialists in historical linguistics, especially for theoretical linguists. Its primary purpose is to provide accurate information about linguistic changes in an accessible conceptual framework. A secondary purpose is to begin the compilation of a reliable corpus of phonological and morphological changes to improve the empirical basis of the understanding of historical phonology and morphology.Less
This volume traces the prehistory of English from Proto-Indo-European, its earliest reconstructable ancestor, to Proto-Germanic, the latest ancestor shared by all the Germanic languages. It begins with a grammatical sketch of Proto-Indo-European, then discusses in detail the linguistic changes — especially in phonology and morphology — that occurred in the development to Proto-Germanic. The final chapter presents a grammatical sketch of Proto-Germanic. This is the first volume of a linguistic history of English. It is written for fellow-linguists who are not specialists in historical linguistics, especially for theoretical linguists. Its primary purpose is to provide accurate information about linguistic changes in an accessible conceptual framework. A secondary purpose is to begin the compilation of a reliable corpus of phonological and morphological changes to improve the empirical basis of the understanding of historical phonology and morphology.
Jonathan S. Friedlaender (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195300307
- eISBN:
- 9780199790142
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300307.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
The broad arc of islands north of Australia, extending from Indonesia east towards the central Pacific, is home to a set of human populations whose diversity is unsurpassed elsewhere. Approximately ...
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The broad arc of islands north of Australia, extending from Indonesia east towards the central Pacific, is home to a set of human populations whose diversity is unsurpassed elsewhere. Approximately 20% of the world's languages are spoken here, and the biological and genetic heterogeneity among the groups is also extraordinary. This book describes the origins of the genetic and linguistic variation there. It lays out the very complex structure of the variation within and among the islands in this relatively small but important region. This book applies genetic analyses to an intensively sampled set of populations, and subjects these and complementary linguistic data to a variety of phylogenetic analyses. This reveals a number of heretofore unknown ancient Pleistocene genetic variants that are only found in these island populations, and identifies the genetic footprints of more recent migrants from Southeast Asia who were the ancestors of the Polynesians. Finally, a number of explanatory models are tested to see which best account for the observed pattern of genetic variation. The results indicate that a number of commonly used models of evolutionary divergence and biogeography are overly simple in their assumptions, and that human diversity often has accumulated in very complex ways.Less
The broad arc of islands north of Australia, extending from Indonesia east towards the central Pacific, is home to a set of human populations whose diversity is unsurpassed elsewhere. Approximately 20% of the world's languages are spoken here, and the biological and genetic heterogeneity among the groups is also extraordinary. This book describes the origins of the genetic and linguistic variation there. It lays out the very complex structure of the variation within and among the islands in this relatively small but important region. This book applies genetic analyses to an intensively sampled set of populations, and subjects these and complementary linguistic data to a variety of phylogenetic analyses. This reveals a number of heretofore unknown ancient Pleistocene genetic variants that are only found in these island populations, and identifies the genetic footprints of more recent migrants from Southeast Asia who were the ancestors of the Polynesians. Finally, a number of explanatory models are tested to see which best account for the observed pattern of genetic variation. The results indicate that a number of commonly used models of evolutionary divergence and biogeography are overly simple in their assumptions, and that human diversity often has accumulated in very complex ways.
Willem J.M. Levelt
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199653669
- eISBN:
- 9780191742040
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199653669.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter takes a look at efforts to identify the origins of language. It studies research that was conducted on language from the Enlightenment until the romanticism period, and then identifies ...
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This chapter takes a look at efforts to identify the origins of language. It studies research that was conducted on language from the Enlightenment until the romanticism period, and then identifies empirical evidence that emerged from historical and comparative linguistics. The next section considers challenge for historical linguists, which was the search for roots, or the hypothetical seeds of language's words. This chapter also discusses language origins in the context of Darwinian evolution and Heyman Steinthal's psychology of language that could explain the origins of language.Less
This chapter takes a look at efforts to identify the origins of language. It studies research that was conducted on language from the Enlightenment until the romanticism period, and then identifies empirical evidence that emerged from historical and comparative linguistics. The next section considers challenge for historical linguists, which was the search for roots, or the hypothetical seeds of language's words. This chapter also discusses language origins in the context of Darwinian evolution and Heyman Steinthal's psychology of language that could explain the origins of language.
Gard B. Jenset and Barbara McGillivray
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198718178
- eISBN:
- 9780191787515
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198718178.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
An innovative guide to quantitative, corpus-based research in historical and diachronic linguistics, this book provides an original and thoroughly worked-out methodological framework, which ...
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An innovative guide to quantitative, corpus-based research in historical and diachronic linguistics, this book provides an original and thoroughly worked-out methodological framework, which encompasses the entire research process. The authors argue that, although historical linguistics has been successful in using the comparative method, the field lags behind other branches of linguistics with respect to adopting quantitative methods. In a theoretically agnostic way, the book provides a framework for quantitatively assessing models and hypotheses in historical linguistics, based on corpus data. Using case studies, the authors illustrate how research questions in historical linguistics can be answered within a framework of quantitative corpus linguistics. With an eye for the needs of researchers, the book explains and exemplifies the benefits of working with quantitative methods, corpus data, corpus annotation, and the benefits of open and reproducible research. Historical corpora, corpus annotation, and historical language resources are discussed in depth, with the aim of enabling researchers to identify appropriate existing resources, or creating their own. The view of quantitative corpus linguistics advocated here offers a unified account of how they fit into the bigger research picture of historical linguistics research.Less
An innovative guide to quantitative, corpus-based research in historical and diachronic linguistics, this book provides an original and thoroughly worked-out methodological framework, which encompasses the entire research process. The authors argue that, although historical linguistics has been successful in using the comparative method, the field lags behind other branches of linguistics with respect to adopting quantitative methods. In a theoretically agnostic way, the book provides a framework for quantitatively assessing models and hypotheses in historical linguistics, based on corpus data. Using case studies, the authors illustrate how research questions in historical linguistics can be answered within a framework of quantitative corpus linguistics. With an eye for the needs of researchers, the book explains and exemplifies the benefits of working with quantitative methods, corpus data, corpus annotation, and the benefits of open and reproducible research. Historical corpora, corpus annotation, and historical language resources are discussed in depth, with the aim of enabling researchers to identify appropriate existing resources, or creating their own. The view of quantitative corpus linguistics advocated here offers a unified account of how they fit into the bigger research picture of historical linguistics research.
Gard B. Jenset and Barbara McGillivray
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198718178
- eISBN:
- 9780191787515
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198718178.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
Chapter 2 deals with the foundations of the framework outlined in the book. The basic assumptions of the framework are made explicit, and the chapter continues with three main sections on the major ...
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Chapter 2 deals with the foundations of the framework outlined in the book. The basic assumptions of the framework are made explicit, and the chapter continues with three main sections on the major principles of the framework, best practices for conducting research within the framework, and a section on data-driven historical linguistics. The section on principles lays down twelve principles underpinning the framework. These principles are referred to throughout the rest of the book, including the case studies. The aim of these principles is to make historical linguistic research more transparent and reproducible, to facilitate communication across different theoretical paradigms, and to allow researchers to tackle complex problems in a systematic way. The best practices section explains additional methodological points, while the final section discusses the role of corpora in historical linguistics research practice.Less
Chapter 2 deals with the foundations of the framework outlined in the book. The basic assumptions of the framework are made explicit, and the chapter continues with three main sections on the major principles of the framework, best practices for conducting research within the framework, and a section on data-driven historical linguistics. The section on principles lays down twelve principles underpinning the framework. These principles are referred to throughout the rest of the book, including the case studies. The aim of these principles is to make historical linguistic research more transparent and reproducible, to facilitate communication across different theoretical paradigms, and to allow researchers to tackle complex problems in a systematic way. The best practices section explains additional methodological points, while the final section discusses the role of corpora in historical linguistics research practice.
Bettelou Los
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199274765
- eISBN:
- 9780191705885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274765.003.0011
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This final chapter wraps up the main conclusions of the book: the origin of the to-infinitive and its reanalysis as a non-finite subjunctive clause, and its rise and spread at the expense of the ...
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This final chapter wraps up the main conclusions of the book: the origin of the to-infinitive and its reanalysis as a non-finite subjunctive clause, and its rise and spread at the expense of the finite subjunctive clause. It also reflects on wider issues to do with the interpretation of historical linguistic data, especially the absence of certain constructions (the problem of ‘negative evidence’) and how we can make the most of the data we have. The key to these problems is not to look at syntactic constructions in isolation, but to focus on their function in the language. This means that historical linguists sometimes have to cast their nets wide and look at other fields — discourse, theories of textual cohesion, translation studies, and pragmatics — in order to find the answers to syntactic problems.Less
This final chapter wraps up the main conclusions of the book: the origin of the to-infinitive and its reanalysis as a non-finite subjunctive clause, and its rise and spread at the expense of the finite subjunctive clause. It also reflects on wider issues to do with the interpretation of historical linguistic data, especially the absence of certain constructions (the problem of ‘negative evidence’) and how we can make the most of the data we have. The key to these problems is not to look at syntactic constructions in isolation, but to focus on their function in the language. This means that historical linguists sometimes have to cast their nets wide and look at other fields — discourse, theories of textual cohesion, translation studies, and pragmatics — in order to find the answers to syntactic problems.
Martin W. Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780824865917
- eISBN:
- 9780824875626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824865917.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Historical linguistics offers powerful tools for the broad-based approach to world history pioneered by Jerry Bentley. Linguistic analysis, for example, has allowed scholars to solve the mystery of ...
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Historical linguistics offers powerful tools for the broad-based approach to world history pioneered by Jerry Bentley. Linguistic analysis, for example, has allowed scholars to solve the mystery of the Roma migration to Europe in the medieval period. Unfortunately, historical linguistics is currently threatened by a movement that seeks to reinvent it as a computational science, using techniques borrowed from evolutionary biology and epidemiology. Applying such methods to the vexed issue of the origin of the Indo-European languages, a team of scholars has concluded that this language family originated not among Bronze-Age pastoralists from the Eurasian steppe, as the archeological consensus maintains, but rather among Neolithic farmers living in Anatolia. Careful historical analysis, however, shows that the findings of these scholars are incorrect at nearly every turn. Traditional methods of historical linguistics must therefore be preserved if scholarship on language is to contribute to the further development of Bentleyan world history.Less
Historical linguistics offers powerful tools for the broad-based approach to world history pioneered by Jerry Bentley. Linguistic analysis, for example, has allowed scholars to solve the mystery of the Roma migration to Europe in the medieval period. Unfortunately, historical linguistics is currently threatened by a movement that seeks to reinvent it as a computational science, using techniques borrowed from evolutionary biology and epidemiology. Applying such methods to the vexed issue of the origin of the Indo-European languages, a team of scholars has concluded that this language family originated not among Bronze-Age pastoralists from the Eurasian steppe, as the archeological consensus maintains, but rather among Neolithic farmers living in Anatolia. Careful historical analysis, however, shows that the findings of these scholars are incorrect at nearly every turn. Traditional methods of historical linguistics must therefore be preserved if scholarship on language is to contribute to the further development of Bentleyan world history.
