LINGUISTICS: lesson 3

What is a language family?

a group of languages with a common origin

currently: 7000 spoken languages, from 90 language families

def: proto-language

ancestor language (which is not spoken anymore)

e.g. Classical Chinese

def: geneti relationship

relationship between languages, which is not biologically transmitted but defined by cultural transmittion from generation to generation

def: cognates

word (pairs) with a common etymological origin

daf: false cognates/ false friends

words which appear to have a common origin but DO NOT

e.g.: much (eng) and mucho (spanish)

e.g.: pao (portugese) and bao (chinese)

def: comparative method

feature-by-feature comparing of two (or more) languages to reconstruct the proto-language

Language families of the world

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What are the most common hypotheses on family relations between languages?

…

What us this

a tree diagram of the Indo-European language family

What is this?

a dated phylogenic tree

tree diagram of the Indo-European language family

incorporating the temporal dimension

methodology adopted from biology

What are the main hypothesis on the origin of Indo-European?

1. Anatolian hypothesis

2. Kurgan hypothesis

What is the Anatolian hypothesis?

Anatolia (Turkey) as the center of expansion

What is the Kurgan hypothesis?

Ukraine as the center of expansion

What is the Wave model?

an alternative of modern research to the tree model

esp in dialectology

What are the main hypothesis on the origin of languages?

1. monogenesis

2. polygenisis

What is monogenesis?

The idea that all languages come from a common proto-language (less probable)

What is polygenesis?

The idea that all languages come from multiple proto-languages (most likely)

What does the comparative method do?

1. comparison of cognates

2. finding shared retentions (features that are kept between desc and parent)

3. shared linguisic innovations

How does the comparative method actually work?

1. collecting cognates (phonetic structure/ sematics, important to use basic vocabulary)

2. establishing sound correspondences (e.g. english /f/ always correspondents with the Latin /p/)

3. determine complementary distribution (why sounds differ)

   1. e.g. Language A had -t- between vowels and language B has -d- between vowels —> which language changed? and which preserved the original?

4. reconstruction of proto-phonemes: assertation of *-t- as the original

5. systematization in terms of typology: check if this hypothesis works in the general universal patterns

What are the basic problems of ‘sound change’?

1. what changes are possible

2. how is the change embedded in the linguistic system?

3. why does one language change, and another one not?

==> the cause is not a problem because it cannot be known!

What are some patterns of sound change?

1. assimilation

2. dissimilation

3. metathesis

4. tonogenesis

5. sandhi

6. haplology

7. loss of sounds

8. prothesis

9. nasalization

10. vowel fronting

What is assimilation (sound change)?

e.g.: cupboard → cuboard

e.g.: octo → otto

What is dissimilation (sound change)?

e.g.: peregrinus → pelegrin → pellegrino → peligrino

What is metathesis (sound change)?

when two sounds change place

e.g.: periculum → peligro

What is tonogenesis (sound change)?

When a language gains tones

What is sandhi (sound change)?

e.g.: n + p feels awkward → m + p

e.g.: tone sandhi: tone 3 + 3 is awkward → tone 2 + 3

What is haplology (sound change)?

e.g.: Englaland → England

What is loss of sounds (sound change)?

e.g.: castle loss of the /t/ sound

What is prothesis (sound change)?

Addition of a sound in the beginning

e.g.: status → estado

What is nasalization (sound change)?

vowels followed by consonants are nasalized

What is vowel fronting (sound change)?

When a vowel is pronounced more to the front of the mouth

e.g. backvowel fronted to the umlaut under the influence of the /i/ or /j/ in German

How many language families in China?

1. Sino-Tibetan

2. Austro-Thai (Thai-KAdai and Austronisian)

3. Miao-Yao

4. Mon-Khmer

5. Turkic (Altaic)

6. Mongolic (Altaic)

7. Manchu-Tungus (Altaic)

8. Korean

9. Indo-European