英语语言学概论笔记

Chapter 7 Historical Linguistics 历史语言学

1.The purpose and significance of the historical study of language

研究语言变化的目的和意义

The historical study of language is of great importance to our understanding of human languages and human linguistic competence.

Researches in historical linguistics shed light on prehistoric development in the evolution of language and the connections of earlier and later variants of the same language, and provide valuable insights into the kinship patterns of different languages.

The historical study of language also enables us to determine how non-linguistic factors, such as social, cultural and psychological factors, interact over time to trigger linguistic change.

研究语言变化对于理解人类语言和人类的语言能力极其重要。

历史语言学的研究成果揭示语言变化的史前发展和同一语言早期和后期变体自己的联系，为不同语言的亲缘关系提供线索。

历史语言学的研究还可以使我们对非语言的因素，如社会文化和心理因素等在语言变化过程中所起的作用有更深的认识。

2.The nature of language change

语言变化的本质

All living languages change with time. Unless a language is no longer spoken by the general public of a society, such as Latin, its change is inevitable. As a general rule, language change is universal, continuous and, to a considerable degree, regular and systematic. Language change is extensive, taking place in virtually all aspects of the grammar.

Although language change is universal, inevitable, and in some cases, vigorous, it is never an overnight occurrence.

Language development may be regarded as linguistic evolution from one stage to another.

所有尚在使用的语言都随着时间的变化而变化。语言的变化是不可避免的。语言变化是普遍的、连续的，在一定程度上也是规则的和系统的。语言变化涉及语法系统的各大组成部分。在语言演变过程中，词汇和语法规则有的消亡了，有的诞生了，有的是外借的，有的则转化了其意义或功能。

尽管语言变化是普遍的，必然的，有时甚至是显著的，但语言的变化是一个缓慢的渐变过程，其变化是同代人所不易察觉的。

语言的发展可以看作是语言从一个阶段到另一个阶段的演化过程。

3.Major periods in the history of English

英语历史发展的主要阶段

a)Old English (450-1100) 古英语阶段

b)Middle English (1100-1500) 中古英语阶段

c)Modern English (1500-今) 现代英语阶段

Most Modern English speakers find Middle English only partially comprehensible, and Old English simply unintelligible, just like a foreign language hardly recognizable as the native language they speak.

大多数现代英语的使用者发现，对于他们来说，中古英语只能部分地被理解，古英语则如外语一般，简直不可理解。

Old English dates back to the mid-fifth century when Anglo-Saxons invaded the British Isles from northern Europe.

Middle English began with the arrival of the Norman French invaders in England. Middle English had been deeply influenced by Norman French in vocabulary and grammar.

Modern English is separated with Middle English with European renaissance movement.

古英语源自欧洲大陆的盎格鲁撒克逊民族所操的语言。

中古英语深受诺曼底占领者所操的法语的影响。词汇和语法等均受其影响。

现代英语是英语自身发展和欧洲文艺复兴运动渗透结合的产物，很多词汇是外来语。

As British influence reached other continen ts, the “British Empire” established English-speaking colonies in many parts of the world. English is now the native language in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

英帝国的兴起及其移民化过程的成功使现代英语的使用遍布全球。以现代英语为母语的国家包括英国、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰等。

4.Linguistic change in English

英语语言系统的变化

Language change is essentially a matter of change in the grammar. We refer to the change in the grammar of a language as linguistic change. Linguistic change occurs in all components of the grammar, including changes in the sound, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic systems. 语言变化实质上是语法变化。我们把一种语言的语法变化称为语言变化。语言变化包括语音系统、形态系统、句法系统、词汇系统和语义系统等部分的变化。

a)sound change 语音变化

●V owel sound change 元音变化

The change occurred at the end of the Middle English period, approximately 1400-1600. These changes led to one of the major discrepancies between the phonemic representations of words and morphemes, that is, between the pronunciation and the spelling system of Modern English. Known as the Great Vowel Shift in the history of English, these changes involve seven long, or tense, vowels. Refer to P132 of the test book for examples.

元音变化出现在中古英语后期，大约在1400到1600年之间。这些变化使一些单词的音位表达和词素之间出现了很大的不一致。这些变化在英语史上被称为元音大变位，涉及七个长元音，或紧元音。实例见书本132页。

●Sound loss 语音消失

Not only did types of vowel sounds change, but some sounds simply disappeared from the general pronunciation of English.

不仅数种元音发生了变化，而且一些语音还从英语的整个发音体系中消失了。

实例：

1》古英语中/x/ 在现代英语中已不存在。

如：古英语nicht (night) 读做/nixt/，而现代英语读做/nait/

2》古英语和中古英语中有/kn/，都发音，在现代英语中/k/不发音了。

如：knight/knee 在古英语中字母k是发音的，而在现代英语中不发音

3》古英语中有一类名词的复数形式不是在词尾加/s/音，而是加/i/这个音，现在没有了。如：goose的复数形式在古英语中的发音是/go:si/

4》现代英语中出现了位于词尾的元音音段的省略现象，称为词尾音脱落。

如：name/love在古英语中发音为/na:ma:/和/lufu/，在中古英语中发音为/na:mə/和/luvə/，而在现代英语中的发音为/neim/和/lΛv/

5》词尾音脱落还影响了某些词的拼写。

如：古英语单词helpe随着词尾音的消失，在中古英语和现代英语中拼写成了help

●Sound addition 语音增加