Introduction When a child learns to speak, they invent words,

but these get corrected by adults

Sometimes new words do stick Blog Groupon

Other times words change meaning Uptight (1960s meant cool, sharp looking) Spam (lunchmeat or junk email?) Terrific (causing terror really great)

Introduction Different people also use words differently

This can be in response to social pressure, cultural identity, or ideologies

Words can change, but so can sounds, syntax, spelling, and speaking styles

We can use this knowledge of current languages to help study and recreate ancient languages as well

How (and Why) Languages Change

External change Types of changes that occur because of language

contact and language borrowing More rapid Example: English borrowing word ‘syrup’ from Arabic

Internal change Types of changes that occur because of the way

speakers gradually modify their language over time Slower Example: change in the meaning of ‘bad’ from bad to

good (slang)

External Change Words are the most easily borrowed parts of

speech

Remember the borrowed words we looked at in chapter 2?

Guess which words are native or foreign

Moose (NA)

Bandage

Elixir (Greek)

Bathroom

Delicatessen (Ger)

Bonkers

Capital

Garage (Fr)

Lemon (Persian)

Skunk (NA)

Tapioca (SA Indian)

Llama (SA Quechua)

Handbag

Typhoon (Chi)

Stone

Canoe (NA Indian)

Admiral (Arabic)NippySquash (NA Indian)Coffee (Arabic)Syrup (Arabic)Fahrenheit (Ger)Cliché (Fr)Futon (Japanese)Floor

External Change Sometimes speakers of a borrowing language

will pronounce the words the native way

But most of the time the words are changed to fit the style of the borrowing language

Example: American vs British pronunciation of ‘garage’

External Change Speakers also change the way borrowed words

are used Au jus means “with gravy” We say with au jus, which means “with with gravy” We fit it to our syntax

Another example is how to pluralize words Example: safari (there is no plural in Swahili) We say safaris

External Change We also reanalyze unfamiliar words and make

them our own

‘hamburger’ meant in the style of Hamburg (a city)

What does it mean now?

We have taken ‘burger’ to mean something specific in our language and have made new words from it Cheeseburger Baconburger Veggieburger

External Change Word change example: ‘robot’

Where did this word come from?

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/mysteries-of-vernacular-robot-jessica-oreck-and-rachael-teel

What about pants?

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/mysteries-of-vernacular-pants-jessica-oreck

Internal Change Slower and more predictable than external change

Tend to follow rules and structural patterns of the language

Example: using ‘they’ as gender neutral singular pronoun Instead of he/she Ties to feminism and gender equality

Replacing ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ with more informal ‘you’

Y’all or youse (South, New York) Ties to ideology and cultural identity

Internal Change Change can also happen because of

misanalysis

Errors in speaking or spelling Could’ve: some mistakenly say could of instead of the

correct could have

Originally, this

was a ‘napron,’ but it shifted to

‘an apron’

Internal Change Language is spoken in real settings by real

people so of course it will change

Even morphemes can change

What is the first morpheme in ‘disrespectful?’

Internal Change Language is spoken in real settings by real

people so of course it will change

Even morphemes can change

What is the first morpheme in ‘disrespectful?’

Dis-

What does it mean to dis someone?

Examples of Language Change

Languages evolve and related languages can evolve out of one native language

English is 1,000 but is very different now than it was at a native language

Examples of Language Change

Between 1400-1700 occurred the Great English Vowel Shift

Changed structural aspects of language

Also reflected social and ideological aspects

Language Families Languages have similarities

These are usually related languages

Language Families Languages have similarities

These are usually related languages

They are called a family of languages or genetically related languages

Examples: Greek and Latin, Sanskrit

English, Dutch, German

Language Families Linguists can reconstruct ancient languages by

knowing how languages are related

They compare sets of words in related languages and observe any shifts or changes

Cognates are sets of words in related languages that have descended from a common ancestral language

Language Families

Languages in Contact Some languages seem to spring to life over

night

Most of the time this is because of population contact Example: Colonization

Languages in Contact

Languages in Contact Pidgin is a language that developed through

contact of two unrelated languages

It is a hybrid language made out of the unique situation of two cultures merging

They tend to be short-lived

An exception is creole, a mix of French, English, and African cultures and languages (slave trade) This developed from a pidgin language and is now a

complete language on its own New Orleans, Haiti

Languages in Contact

Bilingualism This is the ability to speak two languages

Many people speak one language at school or work and a different one at home

Many times future generations abandon their home language, which is called transitional bilingualism

This is the first step toward language death

However, if generations maintain bilingualism, this is called stable bilingualism

Bilingualism If you speak more than one language you have to

know how to use them properly in different contexts

Codeswitching is when a person uses more than one variety of language in either one situation or in different situations

You can even switch in and out during one sentence or conversation

Can anyone in class do this?

Bilingualism