简明语言学language-change.ppt

1、Language Change,语言的变迁,2,Introduction,Language change is one of the subjects of historical linguistics, which studies the language change and language relationships. Diachronic linguistics (历时语言学): the study of language changes through times Synchronic linguistics (共时语言学): the study of language at so

2、me certain point of time,3,4,Origin of human language,The divine-origin theory: language is the gift from God to mankind. The invention theory: the imitation of natural sound the cries of pain, fear, surprise, pleasure, etc. the gestures The evolutionary theory: the complexity of human brains and th

3、e nervous system,5,English History Overview,0-400 AD Roman Empire 450 1100 Old English 499-550 AD Germanic tribes defeat Celts: English ancestors (Angle/Saxon/Jutes) spoke different dialects of Low German & some borrowings from Latin ca. 600 AD England converted to Christianity: Latin influence 750

4、AD Beowulf, one of earliest extant texts ca 850-901 Alfred the Great (Norse influence),6,Beowulf,The image above contains the first line and half of Beowulf from the first leaf of the manuscript: HWT WE GARDEna in gear dagum eod cyninga,“What! We Spear-Danes in yore-days tribe-kings” Because there w

5、ere sounds in Old English (600-1100 AD) that were not thought to be represented by the Roman alphabet, Old English used runic characters for those sounds. The runes were asc (pronounced ash) (), eth (), thorn (), and wen (looks similar to a p but with a smaller curved bow).,7,English History Overvie

6、w,Middle English: 1066 AD Norman Conquest: French influence 1200 AD Normandy and England are separated 13th-14th c. Growing sense of Englishness 1340-1450 Chaucer,8,English History Overview,1450-1700 Early Modern English 1476 First English book printed 1564-1616 Shakespeare (Greek and Latin borrowin

7、gs) 16th-19th c. Imperialism (Swahili, Hindi, Tamil, Chinese, etc. via the colonies) 1700-Present Modern English,9,Sound change,Old English: Six simple vowels: a, , i, o, u, y Two diphthongs: ea, eo. ais pronounced , as in Modern English father. E.g: macian make. is pronounced , as in Modern English

8、 cat. E.g.:rdan read. eis pronounced e, as in Modern English fate. E.g.: Helpan help . i is pronounced i, as in Modern English feet. E.g.: lf life.,10,Sound change,uis pronounced u, as in Modern English tool. E.g.: fl foul. ois pronounced o, as in Modern English boat. E.g.:God God. yis pronounced y,

9、 like the in German ber or Fe. E.g.: Cyning king .,11,Sound change,The diphthong /au/ was pronounced as the long vowel /u:/ in Middle English time e.g. mus /mu:s/ mouse /maus/ hus /hu:s/ house /haus/ ut /u:t/ out /aut/,12,Sound change,Most Old English consonants are pronounced as in Modern English.

10、No silent consonants because every letter was pronounced. Old English cniht (Modern English: knight) Most Old English letters were taken from the Roman alphabet.,13,Sound change,14,Old English sound sample: LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, we have he

11、ard, and what honor the athelings won! /OE/Beowulf.Readings/Prologue.html,15,Morphology changes,Morphology change can be seen in derivation e.g. didst did hath has speakest speaks sayd said saith says sprung sprang,16,Morphology changes,The plural forms of nouns have also

12、changed. e.g. seed seeds instead of seedes way ways wayes In Old English, causative verbs could be formed by adding the suffix yuan to adjectives. e.g. red red-yuan redden,17,Morphology changes,In Old English new nouns could be formed by adding ing e.g. roof roofing carpet carpeting floor flooring,1

13、8,Syntactic change,The English speakers today no longer use the fifteenth centurys double comparative, such as “more gladder”, “more lower”, “ moost royallest” In Old English negation was expressed by particles such as “ne” and “na”. At the time of Shakespeare, negation was expressed by putting “not

14、” at the end of the sentence, such as “I saw you not”.,19,Syntactic change,Auxiliary Verbs versus Main Verbs Middle English didnt make a distinction between Auxiliary Verbs and Main Verbs. e.g. Revolt our subjects? (Do our subjects revolt) Give not him money. (Dont give him money),20,Vocabulary chan

15、ge,Addition of new words 新词的增加 a) Coinage新造词、创新词 Examples: Discman, Mp3, MD, MP4 Kodak: a brand of film, camera, Digital camera Xerox: photocopier 施乐牌复印机 Polaroid: “宝丽来” (一次成像的照相机) Ford福特 (a brand of a car), Benz奔驰, Toyoda, Toshiba, Haier， BMW宝马,21,Addition of new words,b) Clipped words缩略词 Fax: facs

16、imile Tel: telephone Add: address bike :bicycle,22,Addition of new words,c) Blending 紧缩法 telecom: telecommunications maglev train: magnetic levitation磁悬浮列车 Chunnel: channel tunnel Smog: smoke + fog Motel: motor + hotel Camcorder:camera + recorder,23,Addition of new words,d) Acronyms首字母缩略词 Examples:

17、BBC: British Broadcasting Corperation ISO 9001: International Standard Organization WHO: World Health Organization SARS: Severe Acute Respirotary Syndrome NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization SALT: Strategic Arms Limitation Talk限制战略武器会谈 IDD: International Direct Dialing国际长途直拨 VCR: video cassette

18、 recorder,24,Addition of new words,e) Back-formation逆生成法、逆构词法 e.g. editor edit peddler peddle enthusiasm enthuse laser lase,25,Addition of new words,f) Functional shift 功能性变化 words may shift from one part of speech to another without the addition of affixes.,26,Addition of new words,g) Borrowing 借用

19、e.g. Greek: electricity, atom, obstetrics, Latin: cancer, tumor, pp. (pages) French: mortgage, entail, extraodinaire, Chinese: wok, kung-fu Japanese: Jodo, karate In the realm of food and cooking, English has borrowed many words from French. In the realm of music, English has borrowed many words fro

20、m Italian.,27,Loss of words词的丧失,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,28,Loss of words词的丧失,The Old English word wer, meaning man, now i

21、s not used in modern English. The Old English word rice, meaning kingdom, has been lost in the modern language.,29,Changes in the meaning of words,1. Widening of meaning 词义的拓宽 a process to extend the meaning from its originally specific sense to a relatively general one e.g. offend: to strike agains

22、t to create anger bird: young bird any kind of bird companion: a person with whom you shared bread a person who accompanies you task: tax imposed a piece of work,30,Changes in the meaning of words,2. Narrowing of meaning 词义变窄 e.g. meat: food the edible flesh of mammals camp: a open field a place whe

23、re people live temporarily in tents or hunts girl: young person of either sex young woman knight: youth a medieval gentleman soldier orator: one who speaks a person skilled in the public address,31,Changes in the meaning of words,3.Meaning shift 词义的转移 e.g. lust: pleasure sexual craving silly: happy na