英语专业考研语言学复习大纲语言史

Chapter 7 ：Historical Linguistics <![endif]>
I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:
1. One of the tasks of the historical linguists is to explore methods
to reconstruct linguistic history and establish the relationship between languages.
2. Language change is a gradual and constant process, therefore often indiscernible
to speakers of the same generation.
3. The history of the English language is divided into the periods of Old English,
Middle English and Modern English.
4. Middle English began with the arrival of Anglo-Saxons, who invaded the British
Isles from northern Europe.
5. In Old English, all the nouns are inflected to mark nominative, genitive, dative and
accusative cases.
6. In Old English, the verb of a sentence often precedes the subject rather than
follows it.
7. A direct consequence of the Renaissance Movementwas the revival of French as
a literary language.
8. In general, linguistic change in grammaris more noticeable than that in the sound
system and the vocabulary of a language.
9. The sound changes include changes in vowel sounds, and in the loss, gain and
movement of sounds.
10. The least widely-spread morphological changes in the
historical development of English are the loss and addition of affixes.
11. In Old English, the morphosyntactic rule of adjective agreement stipulated
that the endings of adjective must agree with the head noun in case, number and gender.
12. The word order of Modern English is more variable than that of Old
English.
13. Derivation refers to the process by which new words are formed by the
addition of affixes to the roots, stems, or words.
14. “Smog” is a word formed by the word -forming process called
acronymy.
15. “fridge ” is a word formed b y abbreviation.
16. Modern linguists are able to provide a consistent account for
the exact causes of all types of language change.
17. Sound assimilation may bring about the loss of one of two phonetically similar syllables in sequence, as in the case of change of “Engla - land ” to “England”.
18. Rule elaboration occurs whenthere is a need to reduce ambiguity and
increase communicative clarity or expressiveness.
19. Language change is always a change towards the simplification
of language rules
20. The way children acquire the language is one of the causes for language
change.
II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:
21. H _______ linguistics is the subfield of linguistics that
studies language change.
22. The historical study of language is a d ________________ study of
Ian guage rather tha n a synchronic study.
23. Europea n R ______ Moveme nt separates the period of Middle
English from that of modern English.
24. An importa nt set of exte nsive sound cha nges, which affected 7
long or tense vowels and which led to one of the major discrepa ncies betwee n phon emic represe ntatio ns of words and morphemes at the end of the Middle En glish Period, is known as the Great V _________________ Shift.
25. A _______ i nvo Ives the deleti on of a word-fi nal vowel segme nt.
26. A cha nge that invo Ives the in serti on of a consonant or vowel
sound to the middle of a word is known as e _________ .
27. The three sets of consonant shifts that Grimmdiscovered became
known collectively as Grimm s L ____ .
28. Sound change as a result of sound movement, known as m _________ ,
invo Ives a reversal in positi on of two adjoining sound segme nts.
29. B _______ i s a process by which new words are formed by taking
away the supposed suffixes of exit ing words.
30. Sema ntic b _______ refers to the process in which the meaning
of a word becomes more gen eral or in clusive tha n its historically earlier deno tati on.
31. The original form of a Ianguage family that has ceased to exist
is called the p _______ .
32. Sound a ________ refers to the physiological effect of one sound
on another. In this process, successive sounds are made identical or
similar to one another in terms of place or manner of articulation.
33. In order to reduce the excepti onal or irregular morphemes, speakers of a
particular Ian guage may borrow a rule from one part of
the grammara nd apply it gen erally. This phe nomen onis called i ___________ borrow ing.
34. By ide ntify ing and compari ng similar lin guistic forms with
similar meanings across related Ianguages, historical linguists recon struct the proto form in the com mon an cestral la nguage. This process is called c rec on structi on.
35. The m ___ r ule of adjective agreeme nt has bee n lost from
En glish.
III. There are four choices follow ing each stateme nt. Mark the choice
that can best complete the stateme nt:
36. Historical li nguistics explores _______________ .
A. the n ature of Ian guage cha nge
B. the causes that lead to Ian guage cha nge
C. the relati on ship betwee n Ian guages
D. all of the above
37. Lan guage cha nge is _____________ .
A. universal, continuous and ,to a large extent, regular and
systematic
B. con ti nu ous, regular, systematic, but not uni versal
C. uni versal, con ti nu ous, but not regular and systematic
D. always regular and systematic, but not universal and continuous
38. Moder n En glish period starts roughly ____________ .
A. from 449 to 1100
B. from 1500 to theprese nt
C. from 1100 to theprese nt
D. from 1700 to theprese nt
39. OldEnglishdates back to the mid-fifth century when ______________ .
A. the NormanFrench invaders under William the Conqueror arrived in En gla nd
B. the printing tech no logy was inven ted
C. An glo-Sax ons inv aded the British Isles from n orther n Europe
D. the Celtic people bega n to in habit En gla nd
40. Middle En glish was deeply in flue need by __________ .
A. Norma n French in vocabulary and grammar
B. Greek and Lat in because of the Europea n ren aissa nee moveme nt
C. Danish Ian guages because Denmark placed a king on the throne of En gla nd
D. the Celtic people who were the first in habita nts of En gla nd
41. Lan guage cha nge is esse ntially a matter of cha nge ______ .
A. i n collocati ons
B. i n meaning
C. in grammar
D. in usages
42. In Old and Middle English, both /k/ and /n/ in the word
“knight ” were pronounced, but in modern English, /k/ in the sound
/kn-/ clusters was not pronounced. This phenomenons known as ____________ .
A. sound additi on
B. sound loss
C. sound shift
D. sound moveme nt
43. A cha nge that invo Ives the in serti on of a consonant or vowel sound to the middle of a word is known as .
A. apocope
B. epe nthesis
C. pare nthesis
D. an tithesis
44. Segme nt switch of sound positi ons can be see n in the example of the modern word “ bird ” which comes from the old English word “ bridd ” . The change of the word from “ bridd ” to “ bird ” is a cas e of .
A. Derivati on
B. Ble nding
C. Compo unding
D. Abbreviati on
46. “Wife ” , which used to refer to any woman, stands for “ a
married woman in modernEnglish. This phenomenons known as
A. sema ntic shift
B. sema ntic broade ning
C. s ema ntic elevati on
D. sema ntic n arrowi ng
47. En glish lang uage bel ongs to .
A. In do-Europea n Family
B. Si no-Tibeta n Family
C. A ustro nesia n Family
D. Afroasiatic Family
48. By analogy to the plural formation of the word dog- s , speakers started say ing “cows” as the plural of “ cow ” in stead of the earlier plural “ k ine ” . This is the case of ■ A. elaborati on
C. sound assimilati on
B. exter nal borrow ing
D. i nternal borrowi ng A. metathesis B. sound loss
C. sound additi on
D. apocope
45.
is a process of combining two or more words into one lexical un it.
35.
49.
Morphologcial cha nges can invo Ive ________ . A.
the loss of morphological rules B.
the additi on of morphological rules C.
the alterati on of morphological rules D.
all of the above 50. The most dramatic morphological loss concerns the loss of
A. comparative markers
B. tense markers
C. gen der and case markers
D. none of the above
IV. Define the following terms:
51. Apocope 52. Metathesis 53. Derivati on
54. back-formatio n 55. sema ntic n arrowi ng
56. protola nguage
57. haplology 58. epe nthesis 59. Compo unding
60. Ble nding 61. sema ntic broade ning 62. sema ntic shift
63. Great Vowel Shift 64. acron ym 65. sou nd assimilatio n
V. An swer the follow ing questi ons:
66. What is the purpose or sig ni fica nee of the historical study of Ian guage?
67. What are the characteristics of the n ature of Ian guage cha nge?
68. What are the major periods in the history of En glish?
69. As Ian guage cha nges over time, the meaning of a word may deviate from its
original denotation. Discuss the major types of semantic
cha nges.
70. Over the years from Old English period to the Modern English period, English
has undergone some major sound changes. Illustrate these cha nges with some examples.
71. What are the most widely-spread morphological changes in the
historical developme nt of En glish?
72. What are the causes of Ian guage cha nge? Discuss them in detail.
Chapter 7 Historical Lin guistics
I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:
I. T 2.T 3.T 4.F 5.F 6.T 7.F 8.F 9.T 10.F
II. T 12.F 13.T 14.F 15.F 16. F 17. T 18. T 19. F 20.T
II. Fill in each of the followi ng bla nks with one word which beg ins with the letter give n:
21.HistoricaI 22.diachr onic 23.Re naissa nee
24. VoweI
25. Apocope 26.epe nthesis w
Metathesis 29.Backformatio n 30.broade ning 32.assimilatio n 33. internal morphos yn tactic
III. There are four choices follow ing each stateme nt. Mark the choice
that can best complete the stateme nt:
36.D 37.A 38.B 39.C 40.A 41.C 42.B 43.B 44.A 45.C
28. 31.protola nguage parative
46. D 47.A 48. D 49. D 50. C
IV. Define the following terms:
1. Apocope : Apocope is the deleti on of a word-fi nal vowel segme nt.
2. Metathesis: Sound cha nge as a result of sound moveme nt is known as
metathesis. It invoIves a reversal in position of two neighbouring sound segme nts.
3. Derivatio n: It is a process by which new words are formed by the additi on of
affixes to the roots, stems or words.
4. back-formatio n: It is a process by which new words are formed by tak ing away
the supposed suffix of an existi ng word.
5. sema ntic n arrow ing: Sema ntic n arrowi ng is a process in which the
meaning of a word becomes less general or inclusive than its historically earlier meaning.
6. Protolanguage: It is the original form of a Ianguage family that has ceased to exist.
7. Haplology: It refers to the phe nomenon of the loss of one of two
phonetically similar syllables in sequenee.
8. Epe nthesis: A cha nge that invo Ives the in serti on of a consonant
or vowel sound to the middle of a word is known as epe nthesis.
9. Compounding: It is a process of combining two or more than two words into one
lexical un it.
10. Ble nding: It is a process of forming a new word by comb ining parts of
other words.
11. semantic broadening: Semantic broadening refers to the process in which
the meaning of a word becomesmore general or inclusive than its historically
earlier deno tati on.
62. semantic shift: Semantic shift is a process of semantic change in which a word loses its former meaning and acquires a new, sometimes related, meaning.
63. Great Vowel Shift: It is a series of systematic sound change at the
end of the Middle English period approximately between 1400 and 1600 in
the history of En glish that invo Ived seve n long vowels and con seque ntly led to one of the major discrepa ncies betwee n En glish pronun ciati on and its spelling system.
64. Acronym: An acronym is a word created by combining the initials of
a nu mber of words.
65. sound assimilati on: Sound assimilatio n refers to the
physiological effect of one sound on another. In an assimilative
process, successive sounds are made identical, or more similar, to one ano ther in terms of place or manner of articulati on, or of haplology.
V. An swer the follow ing questi ons:
66. What is the purpose or sig ni fica nee of the historical study of
Ian guage?
1) Researches in historical linguistics shed light on prehistoric developme nts in the
evolutio n of Ian guage and the conn ecti ons of earlier and later varia nts of the same Ian guage and provide valuable
in sights into the ki nship patter ns of differe nt Ian guages.
2) The identification of the changes that a particular Ianguage has
un derg one en ables us to recon struct the lin guistic history of that
Ianguage, and thereby hypothesizes its earlier forms from which curre nt speech and writ ing have evolved.
3) The historical study of Ian guage also en ables them to determ ine
how non - linguistic factors, such as social, cultural and
psychological factors, in teract over time to cause lin guistic cha nge.
67. What are the characteristics of the n ature of Ian guage cha nge?
All liv ing Ian guages cha nge with time an d Ian guage cha nge is in evitable. As a gen eral rule, la nguage cha nge is uni versal, con ti nu ous and, to a considerable degree, regular and systematic. Language change is extensive, taking place in virtually all aspects of the grammar.
Although Ian guage cha nge is uni versal, i nevitable, and in some cases, vigorous, it is never an overnight occurrenee, but a gradual and constant process, ofte n in discer nible to speakers of the same gen eratio n.
68. What are the major periods in the history of En glish?
The major periods in the history of En glish are Old En glish period (roughly from 449 to 1100), Middle English period(roughly from 1100 to 1500), and Modern English period (roughly from 1500 to the present). Old English dates back to the mid-fifth century whenAnglo-Saxons invaded the British Isles from no rther n Europe.
The pronunciation of Old English is very different from its modenfiorm. For example, the Old English word "ham" is pronounced as /ha:m/. In terms of morphology, nearly half of the nouns are inflected to mark nominative , genitive, dative, and accusative cases . In addition, suffixes are added
to verbs to in dicate ten se. Syn tactically , the verb of an Old En glish sentence precedes, hut does not follow, the subject.
Middle English began when the NormanFrench invaders invaded England
un der William the Conq ueror in 1066. Middle En glish had bee n deeply in flue need by Norma n French in vocabulary and grammar. For example, such terms as " army," " court," " defense," " faith," "prison" and "tax" came from the Ianguage of the French rulers.
Moder n En glish period starts with Europea n ren aissa nee moveme nt. A direct con seque nee of the Ren aissa nee moveme nt was the revival of Lati n as a literary Ianguage. In the post-Renaissanee period, the "British Empire" set up En glish-speak ing colonies in many parts of the world. By the nin etee nth een tury, En glish was recog ni zed as the Ian guage of the gover nment, the law, higher educati on, and bus in ess and commerce in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Today Modern English is widely used and has in fact become an important tool of international com muni cati on among peoples of differe nt eoun tries.
69. As Ian guage cha nges over time, the meaning of a word may deviate
from its original denotation. Discuss the major types of semantic cha nges. Major types of sema ntic cha nges are sema ntic broade ning, sema ntic
n arrowi ng and sema ntic shift.
Semantic broadening refers to the process in which the meaning of a word becomes more general or inclusive than its historically earlier denotation. Take the word "holiday" for example, The older meaning was a " holy day." Today every one enjoys a holiday, whether he or she is religious or not.
Semantic narrowing is a process in which the meaning of a word becomes less general or inclusive than its historically earlier meaning. For example, "wife," used to mean "any woman," but now i t means “married fe - males” only.
Sema ntic shift is a process of sema ntic cha nge in which a word loses
its former meaning and acquires a new, sometimes related, meaning . For
example, the word silly meant “happy” in Old English, and naive in Middle En glish, but "foolish" in Moder n En glish.
70. Over the years from Old En glish period to the Moder n En glish
period, En glish has un derg one some major sound cha nges. Illustrate these cha nges with some examples.
The major sound cha nges in clude cha nges in vowel soun ds, and in the loss, gain and moveme nt of soun ds.
The changes in vowel sounds can be seen in the Great Vowel Shift in the history of English, which led to one of the major disagreements between the pronunciation and the spelling system of Modern English. These changes invo Ive seve n long, or tense vowels, for example
Sounds do not just change, they can be lost. vowel sounds change, but somesounds simply disappeared from the general pronunciation of English. One example of sound loss is the /kn - / clusters in the word - in itial positi on. In Old and Middle En glish, both /k/ and /n/ were pronoun ced, as is shown in the spelling of such words as "knight" and "knee." Although
Modern English spelling of these words still keeps the initial letter k, its sound is no Ion ger pronoun ced.
Sound changes can also take the form of sound addition. Sound addition in eludes the gain or in serti on of a sound, for example:
spi nle sp in dle _
emty empty _
Sound change can take the form of sound movement. It invoIves a reversal in position of two neighbouring sound segments. For example, the /r/ sound in the Old English words "bridd" ("bird") and "hros" ("horse") was moved to the right of the vowel sounds in their ModenEnglish counterparts "bird" and "horse."
71. What are the most widely-spread morphological changes in the historical developme nt of En glish?
The most widely-spread morphological changes in the historical developme nt
of En glish are the loss and additi on of affixes. A nu mber of morphological rules in Old English are now lost in Modern English. Some of these rules are about derivational affixes, such as suffixes "-baere" and "-bora" .In Old En glish an adjective would derive if "-baere" was added to a noun, such as: lust ("pleasure") + baere lustbaere ("agreeable")
But this rule has bee n lost in moder n En glish.
The most dramatic morphological loss concerns the loss of gender and case marking. In Old En glish,for example, "st n" ("st on e") was marked masculine, while "gief" ("gift") and "d or" ("wild animal") were marked respectively feminine and n euter. I n moder n En glish, the gen der markers of these words have bee n lost.
Some affixes have been added to the English morphological system.Take "-able" for example, it has bee n added to En glish since the Old En glish period. At first, words ending in "-able," such as "favourable" and
"conceivable," were borrowed altogether from French. Then this suffix be
came a productive rule in En glish. It was used with other verbs to form adjectives.
Con temporary En glish speakers apply this suffix rule to more stems, thus producing newadjectives such as " payable," and “washable. ”
72. What are the causes of Ian guage cha nge? Discuss them in detail.
Lan guage cha nges are due to the follow ing causes:
1) Sound assimilation: Sound assimilation refers to the
physiological effect of one sound on another. In an assimilative
process, successive sounds are made identical, or more similar, to
one ano ther in terms of place or manner of articulati on, or of haplology, the
loss of one of two phonetically similar syllables in seque nee. For example, the Old En glish word "En gla-la nd" ("the land of the Angles") came to be
pronounced “ England ” through the assimilati on of "la-la soun ds.
2) Rule simplification and regularization: Somechanges are the
result of simplification and regularization. The plural forms of
borrowed words are usually irregular, thus complex. For example, the plural
forms of "age ndum", "datum", "curriculum" and "memorandum"are "agenda" , "data" , "curricula" and "memoranda". The irregular plurals of these nouns
have bee n replaced by regular plurals of "agendas", "curriculums", and
"memorandums" among many speakers, thus making them simplified and
regularized.
3) Internal borrow ing : In order to reduce the nu mber of exceptional or irregular
morphemes, speakers of a particular Ianguage
mayborrow a rule from one part of the grammara nd apply it gen erally. For
example, by analogy to the plural formation of "foe-s" and
"dog-s", speakers started say ing "cows" as the plural of "cow" in stead of the earlier plural ki ne.
4) Elaborati on: Rule elaborati on occurs whe n there is a n eed to
reduce ambiguity and in crease com muni cative clarity or
expressive ness. If a particular grammatical feature is lost as a result of a cha nge in the phono logical system, some other feature may be added in ano ther comp onent of the grammar.
5) Social triggers: Socio-political changes such as wars,
invasions, occupation, colonization, and Ianguage planning and standardization policies lead to Ianguage changes. For example, in
the history of En glish, the Norma n Conq uest marked the beg inning
of the Middle En glish period. And British colonial settleme nt, and the country' s political, cultural and economic advances in distant lands such as North America, Ocea nia , South Africa, and In dia lead to the cha nge of En glish into British, America n, Australia n, South Africa n and In dia n varieties.
6) Cultural transmission: Although a new generation has to find
a way of using the Ian guage of the previous gen erati on, it has to
find expressi ons that can best com muni cate the views and con cepts of the time and the cha nged and ever-cha nging social life, and re-create the Ian guage of the com mun ity. For example, while old people tend to call a
refrigerator "icebox," the younger generation is more often heard speaking of
a "fridge." This tenuous
tran smissi on process adds up to the in evitable and ongoing Ian guage cha nge and variati on.
7) Childre n's approximati on toward the adult grammar: The way
childre n acquire the Ian guage is ano ther basic cause for Ian guage
cha nge. Childre n usually con struct their pers onal grammars by themselves and gen eralize rules from the lin guistic in formatio n they hear.
Childre n' s grammar n ever models exactly after that of the adult speech community, because children are exposed to diverse lin guistic in formatio n.
All the above factors con tribute to Ian guage cha nges.。