Transcript description and explanation of language change

Chapter 7
Language Change
7.1 Introduction
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Everything will change.
All languages change though time.
Old English are hardly intelligible.
Historical linguistics
(description and explanation of language
change)
7.2 Phonological Changes
Old English
Middle English
Modern English
450-1150
1150-1500
1500-now
7.3 Morphological and
Syntactic change
Morphological change:
Addition of affixes & Loss of affixes
Syntactic change:
Change of word order & sentence structure
Addition of affixes: (in what
ways?)
Borrowed affixes & fusion
Loss of affixes: (sound changes)
Old English
Modern English
stan/stanas
gear/gear
stone/stones
year/years
• 英语在历史的发展中经历了很大的变化，除词汇外，英语
语言的屈折变化也 有显著的不同，以下分英语的不同时期
简述之。
• 首先，古英语有明显的词尾变化(屈折变化)。古英语中名
词、形容词、代词、 冠词都有性（阳性、中性、阴牲）数
(单数、复数）格（主格、宾格、与格、所有格、工具格）
的变化。这些词性的划分具有一定的随意性,如steorra
(star), wifinann （woman)是阳性名词，cild (child)
,wif (wife)是中性名词。形容词必须与被它修 饰的名词
保持性、数、格的一致。这样，同一伞个形容词由于所修
饰的名词性、数、 格不同,就会出现许多种不同形式。
• 此外,所有动词分为两类:弱式动词（相当于 现在的规则动词
）和强式动词（相当于现在的不规则动词）。动词也有词尾变
化来表示人称、数、时态和语气。（一些字母，在现代英语中
不再使用。字体书写与现代的也不同。）
• 中古英语时期英语出现了很大变化。最显著特点是大量词尾变
化渐渐消失。古英语中随意规定的那些语法性别逐渐演变为天
然性别。到中古英语后期,形容词基本上失去了性、数、格的
屈折形式,保留了(单音节和部分双音节形容词）比较级和最高
级的变化;名词只保留了所有格及标志复数的词尾形 式’S,
(e)s及en。到了14世纪,（e)s成为表示名词复数的标准词尾，
只有feet, geese, teeth, men, oxen, children, women,
mice 等少数名词以其特殊的复数形式沿袭至今。
• 此外,在这一时期，动词发生了两个显著变劫询的人
称变位基本消失，保留了现在英语中现在时单数第当人
称的词尾变化—个变化是几乎有 1/3的强式动词转化为弱
式动词,使得多数英语动词成为规则动词，剩下来的不规
则动词（包括派生动词）大约有350个。
• 语言学家把1500年至1700年这一期间的英语称作早期现代英语
,1700年 以后的英语称作后期现代英语。早期现代英语时期,
英谙的屈折形式继续消失。 如在中古英语时期，动词的祈使
语气仍有词尾变化,到了莎士比亚时代,动词祈使语气中的屈折
变化就被动词原形代替了。后期现代英语时期，许多学者开始
着手从事英语规范化的工作。有些语法学家认识到英语的语言
形式正确与否不 应该取决于是否合乎拉丁语语法，而应取决
于英国人的实际运用情况。因此,出现了一些较有价值的语法
书。自世纪以来,英语的语法没有重大变化。
7.4 lexical and semantic
change
• Addition of new words
• Loss of words
• Semantic changes
Addition of new words
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7.
coinage(创新词)
clipped words(缩略词)
blending(紧缩法)
acronyms(词首字母缩略词)
back-formation(逆构词法)
functional shift
borrowing
Coinage
A new word can be coined outright to
fit some purpose, e.g.
• walkman Kodak Xerox Taikonaut
• Ford Honda mouse potato
• Cyber citizen
Clipped words
The abbreviation of longer words or
phrases, e.g.
• gym—gymnasium
• memo—memorandum
• disco—discotheque
• fridge—refrigerator
Blending
A blend is a word formed by
combining parts of other words,
e.g.
• smog—smoke + fog
• motel—motor + hotel
• camcorder—camera + recorder
Acronyms
Acronyms are words derived from the initials of
several words, e.g.
• CBS---- Columbia Broad casting system 哥伦比亚广播公司
• ISBN----International Standard Book Number
• SARS--Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
• MAS--Malaysia Airlines [mə'leiʒə]
• PLA--People's Liberation Army
• CPI--consumer price index 居民消费价格指数
• Marlboro （万宝路）
Marlboro 其实是一句英文的首字缩写
Man Always Remember Love, Becourse Of Romance Only.
• 男人只因浪漫而牢记爱情。
Back-formation
New words may be coined from already
existing words by “subtracting” an affix
thought to be part of the old word.
• edit  editor
• hawk  hawker
• beg  beggar baby-sit  baby-sitter
Functional shift
Words may shift from one part of speech to another
without the addition of affixes, e.g.
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Noun verb: to knee, to bug, to tape, to brake…
Verb noun: a hold, a flyby, a reject, a retreat…
Adj. verb: to cool, to narrow, to dim, to slow…
Adj. noun: a daily, a Christian, the rich, the
impossible…
Borrowing
• When different cultures come into contact,
words are often borrowed from one language
to another. The following are some of the
loan words in English
• Latin
bonus education
exit
• German beer
waltz
quartz
• Chinese tea
kowtow
sampan
• Russian sputnik commissar vodka
• Arabic
zero
algebra
alcohol
Loss of words
• Words can be lost from a language as time
goes by. The following words, taken from
Romeo and Juliet, have faded out of the
English language.
• Beseem  to be suitable
• Wot
 to know
• Gyve
 a fetter Wherefore  why
Changes in the meaning
of words
• Widening of meaning
• Narrowing of meaning
• Meaning shift
Widening of meaning
• Holiday:
• Tail:
[+specific] holy day
[+general] any rest day
[+specific] tail of a horse
[+general] tail of any animal
Narrowing of meaning
• hound: any dog
a special kind of dog
• girl:
young person of either sex
young people of female sex
• deer:
any animal
a particular kind of animal
• meat: food
edible part of an animal
• corn: grain
a particular grain
Meaning shift
• inn:
a small, old hotel or pub
well-known, nice hotel
• nice: ignorant (1000 years ago)
good, fine
• lust: pleasure
with negative and sexual overtones
• silly: happy
naïve, foolish
7.5 Some recent trends
• Moving towards greater informality
• The influence of American English
• The influence of science and technology
7.6 Causes of the language change
• The rapid development of science and
technology;
• Social and political needs;
• More and more women have taken up activities
formerly reserved for men, more neutral job
titles have been created;
• “ Economy of memory” results in grammar
simplification;
• Regularization of exceptional plural forms
provides another example for analogical change.
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穿梭外交（shuttle diplomacy）
穿梭外交源于亨利·基辛格在1973年十
月战争之后狂热的外交方式。为了紧急寻
求促使以色列军队从埃及和叙利亚领土撤
军的方法，基辛格在7个月里往返于各方
的首都之间，寻求达成有限的目标。对于
一个大国政府中有如此资历的官员来讲，
这是前所未有的。
• “ Economy of memory”
• grammar simplification;
• “linguistic laziness” “least effort”
• internal borrowing
analogic change
• Nominative case accusative case
subject
object
Word order:
S O V
S V O
·black-blacken
Cause to be black
adj.+en=vt.