语言学基础教程.docx

语言学基础教程.docx

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语言学基础教程

语言学基础教程

Chapter8HistoricalLinguistics:

LanguageThroughTime

Whatishistoricallinguistics

Itisanindisputablefactthatalllanguageshavebeenconstantlychangingthroughtime.Essentially,modernlinguisticshascenteredaroundtwodimensionstodealwithlanguagechange:

thesynchronicdimensionandthediachronicdimension.Thesynchronicdimensionhasdominantlybeenappliedtodescribeandexplaindifferencesorvariationswithinonelanguageindifferentplacesandamongdifferentgroupsatthesametime.Thesynchronicdimensionisusuallythetopicofsociolinguistics,whichwillbediscussedinChapter10.Thischapterwillfocusonthediachronicdimensionoflanguagechange.Thosewhostudylanguagefromthislatterpointofviewareworkinginthefieldofhistoricallinguistics（Poole,2000:

123）.Toputitmorespecifically,historicallinguisticsisthestudyofthedevelopmentsinlanguagesinthecourseoftime,ofthewaysinwhichlanguageschangefromperiodtoperiod,andofthecausesandresultsofsuchchanges,bothoutsidethelanguagesandwithinthem（Robins,2000:

5）.

Whenlanguagechanges

Althoughlanguagechangedoesnottakeplaceovernight,certainchangesarenoticeablebecausetheyusuallyconflatewithacertainhistoricalperiodormajorsocialchangescausedbywars,invasionsandotherupheavals.ThedevelopmentoftheEnglishlanguageisacaseinpoint.Generallyspeaking,thehistoricaldevelopmentofEnglishisdividedintothreemajorperiods:

OldEnglish（OE）,MiddleEnglish（ME）,andModernEnglish（ModE）.

500（thetimewhenGermanictribesinvadedBritain）

OldEnglish

1100（thetimeaftertheNormanConquestin1066）

MiddleEnglish

1500（thebeginningofRenaissanceandthefirstprintingpresssetupin1476inEngland）

ModernEnglish

thepresent

Inabouttheyear449AD,theGermanictribesofAngles,SaxonsandJutesfromnorthernEuropeinvadedBritainandbecamethefoundersoftheEnglishnation.Theirlanguage,withtheGermaniclanguageasthesource,iscalled,thenamederivedfromthefirsttribe,theAngles.IthadavocabularyinheritedalmostentirelyfromGermanicorformedbycompoundingorderivationfromGermanicelements（Dension,1993:

9）.FromthisearlyvarietyofEnglisc,manyofthemostbasictermsintheEnglishlanguagecameintobeing:

mann（“man”）,cild（“child”）,mete（“food”）,etan（“eat”）,drincan（“drink”）andfeohtan（“fight”）.FromthesixthtotheeighthcenturiesAD,theAnglo-SaxonswereconvertedtoChristianity,andanumberofterms,mainlytodowithreligion,philosophyandmedicine,wereborrowedintoEnglishfromLatin,thelanguageofreligion.Theoriginsofthemodernwordsangel,bishop,candle,church,martyr,priestandschoolalldatefromthatperiod.Fromtheeighthcenturytothetenthcentury,theVikingsfromnorthernEuropeinvadedEnglandandbroughtwordssuchasgive,law,leg,skin,sky,takeandtheyfromtheirlanguage,OldNorse（Yule,2000:

218）.

Intheyearof1066AD,theNormanFrenchconqueredthewholeofEngland,bringingFrenchspeakersintotherulingclassandthenpushingFrenchtothepositionasthe“prestigelanguage”forthenexttwohundredyears.Thislanguagewasusedbythenobility,thegovernment,thelawandcivilizedbehavior,providingthesourceofsuchmoderntermsasarmy,court,defense,prisonandtax（Yule,2000:

219）.YetthelanguageofthepeasantsremainedEnglish.

BytheendoftheMEperiod,whenEnglishhadonceagainbecomethefirstlanguageofallclasses,thebulkofOElexishadbecomeobsolete,andsometenthousandFrenchwordshadbeenincorporatedintoEnglish,maybe75%survivingintoModE（Baugh&Cable,2001:

174）.

DuringtheearlyModEperiod,whichcoincidedwiththeRenaissanceperiod,EnglishborrowedenormouslexicalresourcesfromtheclassicallanguagesofLatinandGreek.And,lateronastheBritishEmpireexpanded,therangeoflexicalinfluencewidenedtoevermoreexoticsourcelanguages（Dension,1993:

13）.

ThetypesofborrowedwordsnotedaboveareexamplesofexternalchangesinEnglish,andtheinternalchangesoverlapwiththehistoricalperiodsdescribedabove.AccordingtoFennell（2005:

2）,theyear500ADmarksthebranchingoffofEnglishfromotherGermanicdialects;theyear1100ADmarkstheperiodinwhichEnglishlostthevastmajorityofitsinflections,signalingthechangefromalanguagethatrelieduponmorphologicalmarkingofgrammaticalrolestoonethatreliedonwordordertomaintainbasicgrammaticalrelations;andtheyear1500ADmarkstheendofmajorFrenchinfluenceonthelanguageandthetimewhentheuseofEnglishwasestablishedinallcommunicativecontexts.Thus,thoseinternalchangeswillbeelaboratedbelowatthephonological,lexical,semanticandgrammaticallevels.

Howlanguagechanges

ThechangeoftheEnglishlanguagewiththepa