Historical linguistics

LING 200Spring 2006

Overview of unit

• Some basic concepts in historical linguistics• Examples of language families• Types of language change• Linguistic reconstruction• Reconstruction and prehistory

• Synchronic linguistics– What is language (at a particular point in time)?

• Diachronic linguistics (a.k.a. historical linguistics)

– How does language change over time?• How do words change over time (etymology)?

– What aspects of language can be reconstructed?– What does a reconstructed language reveal

about the culture and/or location of its speakers?

What is historical linguistics?

Overview

• Similarities between languages• Language families• Language change• Reconstruction and comparative method• Reconstruction and prehistory

Observations'water' the ci:š tho thu'rope' t’e tkni t'o t'u

'3' thoq mta:t thaq'y thatt'e

'run' l-qc ‘sg./du. run’

wájti- l-qeç 'sg./du. run'

-t'e 'sg./du. run'

-n--yet ‘pl. run’

l-es 'pl. run'

-z 'pl. run'

‘jump’ l-th -tup l-th -thah ‘go fast’

Deg Xinag Sahaptin Witsuwit'en Sekani

Similarities between languages

• May be due to:– borrowing– coincidence– inheritance from common ancestor

Language families

ancestor language daughter daughter daughter

•Deg Xinag, Witsuwit’en, Sekani are daughters or descendants of Proto-Athabaskan

•Trees as a model of divergence over time

… …

Proto-Anglo-Frisian Old English Old Frisian Middle English Modern English Modern Frisian

Proto-Romance (Latin) Spanish Portuguese Italian French Rumanian ...

Some terminology

• Deg Xinag [the] ‘water’, Witsuwit’en [tho] ‘water’ and Sekani [thu] ‘water’ are cognate words (or cognates)

• Deg Xinag [the] ‘water’, Witsuwit’en [tho] ‘water’ and Sekani [thu] ‘water’ are reflexes of Proto-Athabaskan *thu: ‘water’

Ancestor languages

Actually attested: Latin

Hypothetical, reconstructed: Proto-Anglo-Frisian, Proto-Romance

Indo-European languages

Indo-European language family

Family time-depth

• How long ago was the ancestor language spoken?– Proto-Indo-European: 5000-6000– Proto-Germanic: 2500-3500

• Family of remote time-depth– phylum, stock

More language families

each dot = 1 language family

Africa

Niger-Congo

languages

China, Taiwan

Kam-Tai a.k.a. Tai, Tai-Kadai

Miao-Yao a.k.a Hmong-Mien

(Most western linguists don’t believe Kam-Tai and Miao-Yao are Sino-Tibetan.)

Proto-Chinese

Mandarin Wú Gàn Xiāng Southern group

N. NW SW E. Kejia Yue Min

Peking Shānxi, Sìchuān, Shànghai E. Hunan Chéngbù Hakka Cantonese Xiāmen,

(Beijing) Xian Kunming Taiwanese

Athabaskan (Athapaskan, Athabascan) family

Estimated time-depth: 2500 years

Na-Dene Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak Eyak Proto-Athabaskan

CAY S. AK Tset CBC PCA NW Can Sar Apache

Deg Xinag Witsuwit’en Sekani

CAY = Central Alaska-Yukon; S. AK = S. Alaska; Tset = Tsetsaut, CBC = Central BC, PCA = Pacific Coast Athabaskan; NW Can = NW Canada; Sar = Sarcee

Penutian

Proto-Sahaptian

Sahaptin Nez Perce

Language isolate

• No known related languages– Zuni– Haida– Basque– Sumerian

Haida

Zuni

Language change

• How languages change/types of language change– phonetic, phonological change– morphological change– semantic change

• Phonetic change: change in pronunciation of phonemes

• Phonological change: change in phoneme inventory. May result from:– phoneme merger or split– several phonetic changes– borrowing of words with new sound

Phonetic vs. phonological change

Phonetic change

Babine-Witsuwit’en language (western B.C.)

Takla, Babine dialects

Witsuwit'en, François L. dialects

Affrication isogloss

Witsuwit'en Babine

[cs] [cs] 'hook'

[chs] [chs] 'down feathers'

[tinc’j] [tinc’j] '4'

[ts’ac] [ts’ac] 'plate'

Babine/Takla dialects: added an allophonic rule of Affrication

/c ch c’/ --> [c ch c’] / syllable[____

[c] = voiceless palatal stop; [c] = voiceless palato-alveolar affricate

Consonant inventoryAll Babine-Witsuwit’en dialects

lab alv pal lab-vel uvu glot

stops p t th t’ c ch c’ kw kwh kw’ q qh q’

aff ts tsh ts’

aff-lat t th t’

fric s z ç xw h

fric-lat

nasals m n

apx y w

apx-lat l

Phonological change

• Change affecting phoneme inventory• Merger

– e.g. *t, *d > /t/• Cf. synchronic neutralization

– e.g. /d/ [t] / ___ # (not phonetically distinct from /t/ word finally)

Examples of phonological change

1. Development of Proto-Athabaskan consonant inventory in Tsek’ene

2. Development of Proto-Athabaskan vowel inventory in Tsek’ene

Proto-Ath consonant inventorylabial alveolar retroflex palato-

alveolarpalatal uvular labio-

uvularglottal

  t th t'     c ch c' q qh q' qw qwh qw'

  ts tsh ts'

t th t’

č čh č’        

  t th t'

           

  s z š ž w w h

  l            

m n          

w       j      

Reflexes of retroflex, palato-alveolars in Tsek’ene

*ts’, t’, č’ > ts’

Proto-Athabaskan Sekani

*ts’a:t’ ‘diaper, cradle’

ts’at ‘swamp moss’

*t’’t’ ‘kidney’ -nsts’ze

*č’n ‘wing, side’ -ts’nè ‘bone, side’

Reflexes of retroflex, palato-alveolars in Tsek’ene

• alveolar sibilant, retroflex sibilant, palato-alveolar sibilant > alveolar

• place merger only– stops > stops– fricatives > fricatives– voiceless aspirated stops remained voiceless,

etc.

Tsek’ene consonant inventorylabial alveolar palato-

alveolarpalatal velar labio-

velar

 p t th t'   k kh k' kw kwh kw'

  ts tsh ts' č čh č’        

  t th t'          

  s z š ž x xw h

  l          

m n        

    j    w  

Morphological change•Morphemes are added

French > Witsuwit'en

'table' la table ltap

'devil' le diable lyap

French > Sekani

‘angel’ les anges lìzãs

•Morphemes disappear

Proto-Athabaskan

Witsuwit'en Sekani

‘forehead' *-tha:q' -nthaq --(-ts’è)

‘daughter’ *-thme --(-yez ‘woman’s child’

-thuè

‘man’s daughter’

*tshe -tsh --

•Morphemes change lexical category

Proto-Athabaskan Witsuwit'en*q(e) 'fork, cleft' (noun)

-iqz 'between' (postposition)

*-ze:q' 'inside of mouth' (noun)*-ze:q', *-zq' 'burp' (verb)

-zeq 'inside of mouth' (noun)(-kw'aq 'burp')

Proto-Athabaskan Sekani

*qš ‘dirt, grime’ (noun) -kãš ‘be dark’ (verb)

•Reanalysis of two(+) morphemes as one

Proto-Athabaskan Witsuwit'en

*qh-n-e:-ç 'speak' hnc, -qhnc 'word, language'

•Analogy (paradigm leveling)

Proto-Athabaskan

Central BC

Proto-Babine-Carrier

Carrier Babine-Witsuwit’en

Proto-Babine-Carrier

Witsuwit'en

progressive future progressive future

1sS *i-s- *th-i-s- is- thas-

2sS *a-n- *th-a-n- in- than-

3sS *i- *th-i- i- tha-

Future vowel > uniformly [a]

Progressive vowel > uniformly [i]

Semantic changeNarrowing (hyponym formation)

NarrowingProto-Athabaskan Sekani

*-m ‘snore, growl’ -h-xõh ‘snore’

Proto-Athabaskan Witsuwit’en

*n-ta':c ‘dance’ n-tec ‘(white people) dance’

*t 'blood' tl ‘blood clot, “gunshot meat”’

*-ta':n' ‘defecate’ -tshan ‘(insect) lays eggs’

Broadening Hypernym formation

Broadening

Proto-Athabaskan Sekani

*ci’:ce: ‘blueberry’ čìče ‘berry’

Proto-Athabaskan Witsuwit’en

*-a:t' ‘fish meat’ -yet ‘flesh, weight’

(*-wa:n'- ‘edge’ -yepen’ ‘strip of fish meat’)

Semantic shift

or

Semantic shiftProto-Athabaskan Witsuwit’en

*yu ‘beads, clothes’ yu ‘medicine’

*the': ‘mat’ the ‘basket’

Proto-Athabaskan Sekani

*ts’a:t’ ‘diaper, cradle’ ts’at ‘swamp moss’

*l-t’a: ‘trot, go in herd’ -t’a ‘sg./du. run’

*ts’’-we: ‘spruce’ ts’pe ‘swamp’ts’pe lè ‘black spruce’

Conservative vs. innovative

• Languages are a mixture of conservative and innovative characteristics

• cf. 'old’: All the (modern) daughters of a proto-language are of equal time-depth

Conservative vs. innovative

Proto-Athabaskan

Witsuwit’en Sekani

*q ‘rabbit’ q kah

*-cht ‘take, grab’

-cht -cht

*-tshi ‘head’ -tshe-chn ‘neck’ (head-base)

-tshì

*ya:--thc ‘speak’

ye--tc ya--thic ‘(dog) barks’

Language change summary• Language change over time is normal• Languages may change on various levels

– phonetic– phonological– morphological– semantic– syntactic

• Languages are a mixture of conservative and innovative features

Reconstruction

• The comparative method– assemble cognate sets– infer:

• representation of the proto-language• set of rules which can predict attested forms

Navajo

Reconstructing the Proto-Athabaskan consonant inventory

Tsetsaut Deg Xinag

Navajo Sekani Wit.

‘plate’ ts'a t'oc ts'à: ts'à ts'ac 'stick' -čhe -čhn -tshìn -čhin -chn

'ear' -tse: -tsee -čà: -tse -tsq

‘lower leg'

-pfa -to -čá:t -tsate -tset

'rabbit' kax q kàh kah q

Consonant correspondencesTsetsaut Deg

XinagNavajo Sekani Wit.

ts t ts ts tsč č(/c) ts č c

ts ts č ts ts

pf t č ts ts

k q k k q

PA

*ts

*c

*č

*t

*q

Na-Dene family

Na-Dene Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak Eyak Proto-Athabaskan

Consonant correspondences

PA Eyak Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak*ts ts *ts*č č *č*t c *cw

*c c *c*q q *q

Reconstruction of morphemes

*ts'a:c' 'plate'

*-chn 'stick'

*-č 'ear'

*-ta:(te) ‘lower leg'

*q 'rabbit'

Sound changes, Proto-Athabaskan to daughter languages

• Tsetsaut (root initial sound changes)– *c > c – *č > ts – *t > pf – *q > k

*ts'a:c' ts'a 'plate'

*-chn -čhe 'stick'

*-č -tse: 'ear'

*-ta:(te) -pfa ‘lower leg'

*q kax 'rabbit'

• Deg Xinag – *ts > t – *c > c, č (unconditioned split) – *č > ts

*ts'a:c' t'oc 'plate'

*-chn ‘stick’ tčhn ‘coffin'

*-č -tsee 'ear'

*-ta:(te) -to ‘lower leg'

*q q 'rabbit'

PA *c > DX c, č

*--ct --čt ‘be rotten’

*-ch’tl’e: -čhdl ‘younger brother’

*ci:'ce: cec, cac ‘berry’

*ct c ‘mittens’

*-cm' -c ‘tickle’

• Navajo – *c > ts – *t > č – *q > k

*ts'a:c' ts'à: 'plate'

*-chn -tshìn 'stick'

*-č -čà: 'ear'

*-ta:(te) -čá:t ‘lower leg'

*q kàh 'rabbit'

• Sekani– *c > č – *č > ts– *t > ts – *q > k

*ts'a:c' ts'à 'plate'

*-chn -čhin 'stick'

*-č -tse 'ear'

*-ta:(te) -tsate ‘lower leg'

*q kah 'rabbit'

• Witsuwit’en – *č > ts– *t > ts

*ts'a:c' ts'ac 'plate'

*-chn -chn 'stick'

*-č -tsq 'ear'

*-ta:(te) -tset ‘lower leg'

*q q 'rabbit'

Sound changes, Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak to daughter

languages

• Eyak– *cw, *c > c

• Proto-Athabaskan– *cw > *t

Reconstruction and prehistory

• Where was Proto-Athabaskan spoken?

Where was Proto-Athabaskan spoken?

Michael Krauss (University of Alaska):the PA homeland (Urheimat) "was in

eastern Alaska, interior, perhaps extending into Canada already".

Considerations1. Areas where languages are deeply

differentiated suggest long occupation of territory. Areas where languages are closely related suggest recent spread into territory.

Languages of Alaska and western B.C. show most differentiation within the family (as opposed to Mackenzie R. drainage languages, Apachean and Pacific Coast languages, which form subgroupings).

NW Canada

Tsetsaut

Central Alaska-Yukon

S. Alaska

Central B.C.

Apachean

Sarcee

8 daughters of Proto-

Athabaskan

2. Languages which are genetically related are usually spoken in nearby geographical areas.

Eyak is spoken at mouth of Copper R.

(Alaska); Tlingit is spoken along Alaska panhandle.

Eyak

Tlingit

3. The reconstructed lexicon of a proto-language may also provide information about the Urheimat.

Reconstructed lexicon of PA suggests northern origin.

(Some) reconstructed lexical items

• Mountains and snow– *Âu: ‘ice, icicle, glacier’ – *qe:t ‘ice flat’ – *a:ç ‘snowshoe’ – *ts«Â ‘mountain’

• Water– *-qhe: ‘go by boat’ – *t'i:ç ‘canoe’ – *-th«s ‘portage’ – *te: ‘river, sandbar’ – *han()e: ‘river’ – *w«n ‘lake’

• Fish– *qe:s ‘king salmon (Chinook)’ – *si:ye: ‘dog salmon (chum)’ – *u:q’e: ‘fish, salmon’– Jim Kari, University of Alaska Fairanks: no

reconstructable term for ‘sockeye salmon’ (more restricted distribution; not found in Yukon R.)

Continental divide

king salmon

sockeye

• Plants– *a:q ‘fern’ – *t«n«ç ‘arctostaphylos, bearberry’ – *ci':ce: ‘blueberry’

• Birds– *ta:-č«e: ‘loon’ – *th«Äs(-Â) ‘merganser’ – * ‘Canada goose’ – *te:Â ‘crane’

• Mammals– *w«č«ç ‘caribou’ – *ç...ts' ‘grizzly bear’ – *ç«š~*ç« ‘black bear’ – *t«-we: ‘mountain sheep’ – *n«-Â-thi/:s ‘wolverine’

Not reconstructable

• ‘cactus’• ‘sagebrush’• ‘dry river’

Semantic changes in plains languages

• *-qhe: ‘go by boat’ > ‘glide’ (Navajo)– Navajo [pi sits'ánkh] 'I have been sleepless'

(lit. ‘sleep glided away from me’) – Navajo [chahalxe:l ji ná:khé:í] 'owl (sacred

name)' (lit. ‘the one who comes gliding back with darkness’)

– Sarcee 'go to trade, go by foot or horseback in order to shop; travel by canoe (archaic)'

– Chiricahua Apache 'several run, trot'

• PA *ys 'snow lying on ground' > Navajo– zas, yas 'snow' – sisas 'the seed lies' – na:sas 'I scatter seed, I let mass of fine particles

spill, I sprinkle'

Historical linguistics summary

• All languages change over time• Change occurs at all levels of grammar• Earlier stages of the language can often be

reconstructed• Trees model historical divergence of

languages from common ancestor

For further learning

• LING 454: Methods in comparative linguistics

• LING 404: Indo-European