戴炜栋语言学第七讲.pptVIP

Lecture Seven Language Change Introduction Any language may change with time passing, but the change does not happen overnight. Examples: old English, middle English and modern English; ancient Chinese and modern Chinese The changes can be found in different aspects of the language. Change in pronunciation Examples of changes between old English and modern English Old English Modern English stan [sta:n] stone [st??] ham [ha:m] home [h??m] wrat [ra:t] wrote [r??t] rad [ra:d] rode [r??d] Examples of changes between middle English and modern English Middle English Modern English mice [m?:s] mice [mais] mouse [m?:s] mouse [maus] broke [br?:k] broke [br??k] Changes in pronunciation between the 16th and 17th century standard English and the modern English. (Difference in pronunciation between British English and American English, see Zhou, 1995, pp. 61-68) Morphological and syntactic change 1. Change in “agreement” rule Whan that Aprille with his shoures sooth … (When that April with his showers sweet …) 2. Change in negative rule I love thee not. He saw you not. 3. Process of simplification Changes reflected in case and gender. Old English Middle English Modern English ure / urum oure our 4. Loss of inflections Old English Modern English stan / slanas stone / stones gear / gear year / years IV. Vocabulary change 1. Addition of new words A. Compounding Example 1: butter + fly = butterfly! + = Example 2: Dog + House = Doghouse!  + = (http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/compoundwords.htm) More examples: newspaper, pigtail, sandstorm, ladybug, thumbnail, handbag B. Co