Linguistics Final Exam

Acrophonic principal

The logographic symbol means the first sound that the logo represents

Rebus Principle

A method of representing words or phrases through pictures or symbols, where the images convey sounds similar to the words.

Attestation

The act of providing evidence or proof of the existence or use of a language feature, typically through written or spoken examples.

Old language

First evidence of language through writing

Orthography

A set of writing conventions for a specific language.

Example of Orthography

Capitalized nouns in German

Grapheme

smallest meaningful unit of writingE

Example of Grapheme

“g”

Digraph

Two graphemes

Examples of Digraph

“ch” “sh” “th”

Concepts

• Indoeuropean

• Grimm's law

• Writing

Indoeuropean

Language Family

Indoeuropean Languages

• hellenic

• indoiranian

• italic

• slavic

• Anatolian

• germanic

• celtic

Anatolian

Oldest Mother Language

Anatolian Language

Hittite

Hittite

Oldest attested IE language

Indoiranian Language

Sanskrit

Hellenic Langauge

Greek

Italic language

Latin

Latin Language

• french

• spanish

• italian

• Portuguese

Germanic Langauge

• gothic

• old norse

Old Norse Languages

• swedish

• danish

Slavic Langauges

• russian

• Ukrainian

• polish

Grimms’ Law

shift in consonants

when did Grimms law occur

from protoeurpean to germanic shift

Grimms law p t k

f theta h

Grimms law b d g

p t k

Grimms law bh dh gh

b d g

Writing was invented for

Accounting

Latin pater

English father

Grimms law example

pater to father

writing

• cuneiform

• Egyptian hieroglyphics

• Chinese characters

• ugaritic

• Phoenician alphabet

Phoenician Alphabet developed into

• Greek

• latin

• English alphabet

Linguistic writing systems

• logographic

• syllabic

• alphabetical

Logographic

symbols represent words and sounds

Syllabic

One character = one syllable

Example of syllabic

Korean or Japanese

Alphabetical

One character = One sound

Types of English

• old english

• middle english

• Early Modern English

Old English Characteristics

• loose word order

• three grammatical genders

• 4-5 different nominal cases

• strong/weak verbs

• strong/weak adjective declensions

• ash, theta, thorn

Old English texts

• poetry

• original prose

• translations

Old English poetry example

Beowulf

Old English Original prose

• saints’ lives

• law codes charters

• homilies

Old English translation

• Bede’s history

• hexateuch

1066 CE

Norman Conquest

The year the transition from old to Middle English occurred

Middle English Characteristics

• influx of foreign vocab (French/Scandinavian)

• reduction of grammatical morphology

• nobles/law makers speaking french

• commoners speaking old/middle english

• stricter word order

• printing press 1460’s in england

• standardized writing system

When did Great Vowel shift occur

Middle English

Great vowel shift effects what

long vowels

What did the printing press do

decrepency in the way English is written and spoken

Texts from Middle English

• Canterbury tales

• complete bible

Early Modern English

• shakespeare

• King James Bible (Hebrew and greek)