The causes of language change
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The Causes of Language Change
邓美琦、沈卓尔
1. The advent of new things
2. Theory of least effort
3. Language contact
4. Children’s approximation towards the adult’s grammar
Language contact is the borrowing of words from foreign languages. “loan word”: English has borrowed a very large number of words from many different languages throughout its history. (Latin/Greek/Scandinavian/Dutch/French/Spanish/Italian/ German/…)
Old English words “ciese”, “cinn”, and “cild” to their modern counterparts
“ cheese”、“chin”、“child”.
(2) Simplification of grammar
a. Analogy
Reducing word forms by likening different forms of the word to the root.
(2) Social and political changes
A. shuttle diplomacy、mini-summit、Euro、 Scientific Outlook on Development B. chairman foreman fireman chairperson supervisor fire fighter
e it is difficult to time the lowering of the velum to produce nasality with the
consonant articulation./a/ in /an/ ----/ a~/
C. assimilation of manners of articulation
Kindergarten, bildungsroman, femme fatale, déjà vu, … alibi, tsunami, haiku, feng shui, mahjong, …
Children’s early simple grammars become more and more complex until they approximate the grammar used by adults. However, the grammars in never exactly like that of the adult community, because children’s input is from various dialects and many different individual styles.
Simplification (loss of some features)
Elaboration (addition of new components)
foe/foes dog/dogs cow/kine dwarves cows agendum/agenda dwarfs agendums
B. Use the same word as different part of speech
Eg: cheap is always used in the place of cheaply. Pat wanted to buy a cheap car. Peggy sold it cheaply to get rid of it. Cathy got it cheap.
5. Rule elaboration or addition
1. The advent of new things
(1) Rapid development of science and technology
bullet train、fax、laser printer、hi-tech、 laptop computer、if grammar occurs, so does elaboration or complication. If a particular grammatical feature is lost, some feature may be added in another component of the grammar.
2. Theory of least effort
(1) Sound assimilation
A. assimilation through haplology（重复音略读）
The Old English word “Engla-land” (the land of Angles) came to be pronounced
as “England” through assimilation of “la-la” sounds.
B. assimilation of places of articulation Physiologically, vowels tend to be nasalized before nasal consonants becaus
邓美琦、沈卓尔
1. The advent of new things
2. Theory of least effort
3. Language contact
4. Children’s approximation towards the adult’s grammar
Language contact is the borrowing of words from foreign languages. “loan word”: English has borrowed a very large number of words from many different languages throughout its history. (Latin/Greek/Scandinavian/Dutch/French/Spanish/Italian/ German/…)
Old English words “ciese”, “cinn”, and “cild” to their modern counterparts
“ cheese”、“chin”、“child”.
(2) Simplification of grammar
a. Analogy
Reducing word forms by likening different forms of the word to the root.
(2) Social and political changes
A. shuttle diplomacy、mini-summit、Euro、 Scientific Outlook on Development B. chairman foreman fireman chairperson supervisor fire fighter
e it is difficult to time the lowering of the velum to produce nasality with the
consonant articulation./a/ in /an/ ----/ a~/
C. assimilation of manners of articulation
Kindergarten, bildungsroman, femme fatale, déjà vu, … alibi, tsunami, haiku, feng shui, mahjong, …
Children’s early simple grammars become more and more complex until they approximate the grammar used by adults. However, the grammars in never exactly like that of the adult community, because children’s input is from various dialects and many different individual styles.
Simplification (loss of some features)
Elaboration (addition of new components)
foe/foes dog/dogs cow/kine dwarves cows agendum/agenda dwarfs agendums
B. Use the same word as different part of speech
Eg: cheap is always used in the place of cheaply. Pat wanted to buy a cheap car. Peggy sold it cheaply to get rid of it. Cathy got it cheap.
5. Rule elaboration or addition
1. The advent of new things
(1) Rapid development of science and technology
bullet train、fax、laser printer、hi-tech、 laptop computer、if grammar occurs, so does elaboration or complication. If a particular grammatical feature is lost, some feature may be added in another component of the grammar.
2. Theory of least effort
(1) Sound assimilation
A. assimilation through haplology（重复音略读）
The Old English word “Engla-land” (the land of Angles) came to be pronounced
as “England” through assimilation of “la-la” sounds.
B. assimilation of places of articulation Physiologically, vowels tend to be nasalized before nasal consonants becaus