Language history, language change, and language relationship: an introduction to historical and comparative linguistics

607 Pages·2009·3.27 MB·English

by  Hans Henrich Hock

Language History, Language Change,
and Language Relationship
≥
Trends in Linguistics
Studies and Monographs 218
Editors
Walter Bisang
Hans Henrich Hock
Werner Winter
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
Language History,
Language Change,
and Language Relationship
An Introduction to
Historical and Comparative Linguistics
Second revised edition
by
Hans Henrich Hock
Brian D. Joseph
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
MoutondeGruyter(formerlyMouton,TheHague)
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Language history, language change, and language relationship :
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ISBN978-3-11-021842-8(hardcover:alk.paper)
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1.Historicallinguistics. 2.Comparativelinguistics. I.Joseph,
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v
Preface to the Second Edition
As historical linguists, we have an interest both in preserving aspects of the
past and in noting (and explaining) changes. To these ends, in preparing this
second edition of our textbook, and especially in writing this preface, we de-
cided to preserve the original “Ur/Proto-”Preface but also to augment that
original, that is, change it by addition, including this introductory word. We
note further that our explicitly signaling inclusion of our e-mail addresses in
the preface to the first edition may sound hopelessly archaic at this point
(much as the language of Shakespeare strikes the modern ear), given the
prevalence of electronic communication in the 21st century (not so in 1995,
however, when the worldwide web was still quite young!).
In updating the book for this second edition, we followed a similar strategy.
Much is the same as before, though we tried to correct typographical errors
and occasional infelicities of wording. Some material was added and some de-
leted, with the goal of improving the book’s readability, as well as bringing it
more up-to-date in the light of new research or new circumstances (such as
moving into the 21st century). Many of these changes are reflected in the
Chapter Notes and the References. In addition, there are entirely new sec-
tions on the Brahmi writing system and various scripts of India in Chapter 3
(§5.3) and on the contentious issue of Indo-European “race” and language in
Chapter 18 (§4.5); the discussion of the Balkan convergence area in Chapter
13 (section §3) has been thoroughly rewritten; and several extensive, complex
discussions, such as that of Kinshasa Lingala, have been eliminated from
Chapter 12.
In all cases, our goals were to make the material as readable and as accu-
rate as possible, based on the latest findings. As before, our hope is that we
have succeeded in making the study of language history, language change, and
language relationships as exciting to our readers as we find it ourselves.
We also would like to thank several people who have helped us in revising
this book. Most important was a seminar, organized by Thomas Krisch and
Oswald Panagl at the University of Salzburg with the goal of an in-depth
evaluation of the first edition. We also benefited from comments and correc-
tions from friends and colleagues, including Thomas Balke, Joe Eska, Hoss
Firooznia, Kirk Hazen, Georg Jochnowitz, Mary Allen Johnson, Ilse Lehiste,
Benjamin Slade, Daniel Taylor, and Rex Wallace, as well as from the feedback
of hundreds of students who took our courses in historical linguistics. Finally
vi Preface to the Second Edition
Hope Dawson provided valuable technical assistance early in the revision
process.
Our respective venues, and names, and e-mail addresses remain the same,
though the date below, of course, has changed – continuity in the face of
change, so with life as with language!
Champaign, Illinois, and Columbus, Ohio
June 2009
Hans Henrich Hock ([email protected])
and Brian D. Joseph ([email protected])
Preface to the First Edition vii
Preface to the First Edition
Why does language change? Why can we speak to and understand our grand-
parents but have trouble reading Shakespeare? Why is Chaucer’s English of
the fourteenth century so different from Modern English of the late twentieth
century that the two are essentially different languages? Why are the Ameri-
cans and the English “one people divided by a common language”? And how
can the language of Chaucer and Modern English – or Modern British and
American English – still be called the “same language”?
The present book provides answers to questions like these in a straightfor-
ward way, aimed at the non-specialist, with ample illustrations from both fam-
iliar and more exotic languages. Specific topics covered include:
– The discovery of Indo-European, the far-flung family of related lan-
guages that embraces not only English, German, French, Russian, and
most of the other modern European languages but also the two classical
languages of Europe (Latin and Greek), and a number of languages outside
Europe, including Sanskrit, the sacred language of India.
– The history of writing with emphasis on the development of our alpha-
bet. The antecedents of our writing systems in the ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphs and the “cuneiform” writing of ancient Mesopotamia. The
decipherments that made it possible to read long-forgotten ancient
scripts.
– Change in grammatical structure. How do languages change in their
pronunciation and grammar? What kinds of changes can be observed?
And what are the effects of these changes?
– Change in vocabulary. How do meanings change and how do we create
new words? How do we “borrow” words from other languages, such as
rouge from French or pundit from Sanskrit? And what do these develop-
ments tell us about change in culture and society or about general tenden-
cies of human nature?
– Change in sign languages. Do they undergo changes that parallel those
found in oral languages?
– The relation between “language” and “dialect”. Is it really true, as some-
one claimed, that a language is merely a “dialect with an army and a navy”?
What are the effects of the dynamic interaction between language and dia-
lect on language change?
viii Preface to the First Edition
– Multilingualism and its consequences. What happens when languages
come in contact, especially if contact is intense and long-lasting? The re-
sults range from a simple “foreign accent” to the extreme case of “pidgins”,
which have a highly simplified structure and a greatly reduced vocabulary,
as mirrored in the famous expression Me Tarzan– You Jane. What are the
social and attitudinal factors that give rise to these and other outcomes of
contact?
– The question of language relationship. How can we establish that the
members of the Indo-European language family, or any other language
family, are really related to each other? Is it possible to establish a common
ancestor for all human languages? And how did human language arise in
the first place in the distant past?
– Recovering history from language. How do we “reconstruct” the ances-
tral languages from which the related languages are descended like daught-
ers from a common mother? What does reconstruction tell us about the
culture of prehistoric societies? And how can we apply some of the insights
of historical linguistics to real-world issues?
In writing this book, we, the authors, have been fortunate to receive sup-
port and encouragement from many different sources. Dr. Marie-Louise
Liebe-Harkort, then Editor-in-Chief of Mouton de Gruyter, set things in mo-
tion by requesting that Hans Henrich Hock produce an elementary introduc-
tion to historical and comparative linguistics at a less advanced level than his
Principles of Historical Linguistics (1986/1991). After Hock had produced a
working draft of some eighty-five percent of the present book, Brian D. Jo-
seph was invited to join the project, to provide a fully American perspective,
to help with the remaining parts of the book, and to offer comments and ad-
ditions to earlier parts. Since taking over as Editor-in-Chief of Mouton de
Gruyter in 1994 Dr. Anke Beck has provided continued and enthusiastic sup-
port for the project. A referee for Mouton de Gruyter provided a first profes-
sional reaction with many helpful hints for improvement. Dr. Werner Winter,
editor of “Trends in Linguistics” has given encouragement and helpful sugges-
tions on a near-final version of the book. We are very grateful to Mouton de
Gruyter for having placed our work in the hands of all such highly capable
and helpful colleagues.
We are also grateful for feedback from a class at The Ohio State University,
a group of students from many different institutions who attended the 1993
Linguistic Institute at The Ohio State University, and from several generations
of students at the University of Illinois who put up with earlier drafts, some of
which were highly preliminary indeed. Robert L. Good, a student at the Uni-
Preface to the First Edition ix
versity of Illinois, made extensive comments on an earlier version. Heinrich
Sharad Hock provided very helpful comments on the first two chapters of a
near-final version, from the perspective of a second-year undergraduate stu-
dent. To all of these we owe deep gratitude.
Our deepest gratitude must go to Zarina M. Hock, who worked through
the entire final draft, making invaluable suggestions on almost every page,
both as an experienced editor and as an educated “general” reader. Her in-
sights and suggestions have made the text friendlier and more accessible for
those who are not specialists in linguistics.
We hope that the final product accomplishes what we set out to do –
to reach a general, non-specialist readership, and to convey to our readers at
least some of the excitement that can be derived from understanding language
change and the relationship between languages. We encourage our readers to
send us suggestions that might help us reach this goal even more effectively in
a third edition, and to this end we add our e-mail addresses.
Champaign, Illinois, and Columbus, Ohio
Fall 1995
Hans Henrich Hock ([email protected])
and Brian D. Joseph ([email protected])