Transcript Historical Linguistics: Reconstruction and prehistory

Historical Linguistics:
Change, reconstruction
LING 400
Winter 2010
Overview

Reconstruction
– Time-depth
– Conversative vs. innovative languages
– Reconstruction and prehistory

More historical change
– Morphological, morphosyntactic
– Semantic
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Time-depth
“Persian is an
old language.”
 All (modern)
daughters of
proto-language
have equal
time-depth.

Time-depth

Proto-Indo-European: 5000-6000 years ago
– Proto-Germanic: 2500-3500

Oldest IE written documents
– Hittite 1300 B.C.
– Sanskrit 1200 B.C.
– Greek 1000 B.C. (Mycenean earlier)
Reconstruction

The comparative method
– assemble cognates
– deduce proto-form, meaning

“Reconstructible”
– Not necessarily attested in all branches
– *ēg̤w- ‘drink’
 Hittite
 Latin ēbrius ‘drunk’
A cognate set
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Sanskrit [snuʂā́]
‘daughter-in-law’
Old English [snoru]
‘daughter-in-law’
Old Church Slavonic [snŭxa] ‘daughter-in-law’
Latin [nurus]
‘daughter-in-law’
Greek [nuós]
‘daughter-in-law’
Armenian [nu]
‘bride, daughter-in-law’
Albanian [nuse]
‘bride’
Reconstruction

*sn… or *n…? ‘daughter-in-law’
– Latin nix, niv- ‘snow’
– English snow
– PIE *sneig̤w- ‘to snow’
vs.
– Latin ne- ‘not’
– Old English ne ‘not’
– PIE *ne ‘not’
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[u], OCS [ŭ], OE [o] < *u
Medial *s? *ʂ? r?
– Sanskrit *s > ʂ / u__
– Latin s > r/ V__V,  Germanic
– Greek, Armenian *s > 0 / V__V
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… (ending, accent)
PIE *snu|sos
‘daughter-in-law’ or ‘bride’?
– most early IE societies patriarchal and patrilocal
– ‘daughter-in-law’ in most; ‘bride’ restricted
Conservative vs. innovative
 Sanskrit
[snuʂā́] < *snu|sos
– conserves [sn], [u]; accent
– innovates *s > ʂ / u__
 Albanian
[nuse] ‘bride’
– conserves [u], medial [s]
– innovates *s > 0 / __n, semantics
Reconstruction and prehistory

Calvert Watkins: ‘the lexicon of a language
remains the single most effective way of
approaching and understanding the culture of
its speakers…The reconstruction of vocabulary
can offer a fuller, more interesting view of the
culture of a prehistoric people than
archaeology precisely because it includes
nonmaterial culture.’
Proto-Indo-European
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*med̤u- ‘mead, honey’
*daiwer- ‘husband’s brother’
– *wife’s relatives
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*sneig̤w- ‘snow’
*laks- ‘salmon’ (lox)
*mori- ‘body of water; lake (?), sea (?)’ (mermaid)
*gr̩-no ‘grain’ (> corn)
*owi- ‘sheep’ (> ewe)
*demə- ‘house, household’
– *dem(ə)- ‘to build’ (> timber)
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*kwel- ‘to revolve, go around’, *kw(e)-kwl-o- ‘wheel’
Historical linguistics

1786 Sir William Jones observed similarities
between Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, Latin,
Gothic, Celtic, Old Persian
 19th century: reconstruction of PIE
 20th century on
– Hittite, Tocharian
– Comparative method applicable elsewhere
Major branches of Athabaskan family
38 daughter languages
Language change
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Languages may change on various levels
–
–
–
–
phonetics, phonology
morphology
syntax
semantics
Morphemes disappear
PA
Deg Xinag
Witsuwit’en
‘man’s daughter’ *-tsheʔ -[tθhɑʔ] -[tshɛʔ]
‘arm’
*-qɑ̰:neʔ -[qon]
--
Tsek’ene
--[kònèʔ]
Paradigm leveling
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Elimination of irregularity among
morphologically related forms
Witsuwit’en
Babine-Carrier
progressive
future
progressive
future
1sS *i-s-
*th-i-s-
i-s-
th-ɑ-s-
2sS *ɑ-n-
*th-ɑ-n-
i-n-
th-ɑ-n-
3sS *i-
*th-i-
i-
th-ɑ-
‘Leveled’ progressive paradigm
(uniformly [i])
‘Leveled’ future paradigm
(uniformly [ɑ])
Semantic change
Reduction (hyponym formation)
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Proto-Athabaskan
Tsek’ene
 *-ʁəm ‘snore, growl’
-[hxõ̀h] ‘snore’
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Witsuwit’en
 *-ntɑ̰:c ‘dance’
-[ntec] ‘(white
people) dance’
Extension
Hypernym formation
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ProtoAthabaskan
Tsek’ene
 *cḭ:ce:
‘blueberry’
ʧɪ̀ʧe ‘berry’
Where was ProtoAthabaskan
spoken?
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Michael Krauss
– the PA homeland
(Urheimat) ‘was in
eastern Alaska,
interior, perhaps
extending into
Canada already.’
Considerations

Deep vs. shallow differentiation
 Location of related languages
 Reconstructed vocabulary
Differentiation
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Deep
differentiation:
long occupation
of territory
– Alaska, western
BC
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Closely related:
recent spread
– Mackenzie R.
– Pacific Coast
– Apachean
Na-Dene family
Related languages
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Usually nearby
 Eyak
– mouth of Copper R.
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Tlingit
– Alaska panhandle
Reconstructed vocabulary
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Mountains and snow
– *tsəɬ ‘mountain’
– *ʔa:ç ‘snowshoe’
– *ɬu: ‘ice, icicle, glacier’
1910 map
Hudson Bay Mt., B.C.
Summary

All languages change over time
 Change occurs at all levels of grammar
 Earlier stages can often be reconstructed, with
implications for prehistory
Question

Bronze Age 3300-1200 BC (bronze <
copper+tin)
– PIE *ajes- ‘copper or bronze’ (attested in Latin,
Greek, Sanskrit)
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Iron Age (1300 BC on) (iron, steel)
– *isarno ‘iron’ only attested in Germanic, Celtic
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Are *ajes and *isarno relevant to dating of
PIE? (PIE estimated 5000-6000 BC.)