Historical Phonology & Morphology

How Sound Systems and Word Structures Change over Time

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Linguistic Structures

We have seen that languages are made up of structured systems

These systems exist at different levels

Languages havePhonology: sound structuresMorphology: word structuresSyntax: sentence structures

Historical Linguistics

When languages change over time, the changes can occur in any of these structured systems

We therefore speak ofHistorical phonologyHistorical morphologyHistorical syntax

Historical Phonology

We’ve looked at different types of sound change that can happen over time

We can now ask how individual sound changes affect the phonology of a language; that is, how they effect the number and relations of phonemes

Phonological Change

A sound change mightHave no effect on the phonological systemChange the allophones of a phonemeDecrease the number of phonemesIncrease the number of phonemes

If the number of phonemes changes, it will affect minimal pairs

No Change in # of Phonemes

Example 1: Chinese[a] > [] / j_nE.g. ‘sky’ [thjan55] > [thjn55]The number of phonemes did not changeBut the allophones of /a/ did change:/a/ [] / j_n

[a] elsewhere

No Change in # of Phonemes

Example 2: English hypotheticalSuppose that we started to pronounce /g/

as [©] (weakening).E.g. ‘bigger’ [bÈgß%] > [bÈ©ß%]The number of phonemes does not changeBigger and bicker are still a minimal pair/g/ [©] (same phoneme, new allophone)This change is happening in the Northwest

No Change in # of Phonemes

Example 3: Japanese hypotheticalJapanese has five vowel phonemes

/a e i o ɯ/Suppose [ɯ] > [u] (unconditioned change)The number of phonemes does not changeThere are still five vowel phonemes:

/a e i o u/

Phonemic Merger

Example: Cockney EnglishTwo unconditioned changes:

[ƒ] > [f] and [Ï] > [v]Four phonemes have been reduced to twoThat and vat were once minimal pairs; now

homophones [væt]Thin and fin were once minimal pairs; now

homophones [fÈn]

Phonemic Split

Example 1: Modern English /p/Peak [phik] /p/ complementarySpeak [spik] /p/ distributionBeak [bik] /b/

Suppose there is deletion of /s/:Peak [phik] /ph/ new minimalSpeak [pik] /p/ pairBeak [bik] /b/

Phonemic Split

Example 2: Japanese ongoingJapanese /d/ has allophones [dʒ] (before

/i/) and [d] (elsewhere).But some new English loans have [di], e.g.

disɯko ‘disco’, contrasting with native words with [dʒi].

This is creating the potential for minimal pairs and thus the introduction of a new phoneme /dʒ/.

Other phonological changes

The phonology of a language can change in more drastic ways than just the addition or subtraction of phonemes

Syllable structure can changeChinese and Vietnamese were

once non-tonal languages; they developed tones about 1500-2000 years ago

Regularity of Sound Change

A fundamental principle of historical phonology

Sound change is regularIf sound A changes to sound B in a

particular environment in some words, then sound A changes to sound B in all words with that environment.

Regularity of Sound Change

Example: Southern American English[] > [È] / _ [n] (vowel raising)Pen and ten are [phÈn] and [thÈn], homo

phonous with pin and tin.This sound change is regularIt affects [] in all words with this enviro

nment: when, tennis, Ben, men, glen, etc.

Regularity of Sound Change

Regularity of sound change is a very important principle

It will allow us to reconstruct the pronunciation of languages in the distant past, even when we have no written records

We will see how when we do historical reconstruction

Historical Morphology

Over time, the morphology of a language changes

The set of morphemes in the language changes

The function and meaning of morphemes changes

Inflectional paradigms changeDerivational rules change

Historical Morphology

In extreme cases, languages that were once isolating can develop inflectional morphology

Likewise, languages can lose inflectional morphology and become isolating

In the last 1500 years, English has lost much of its inflectional morphology

Historical Processes

Some common types of morphological change are:

Grammaticalization (Grammaticization)AnalogyReanalysisFolk EtymologyBack Formation

Historical Processes

Remember: The building blocks of morphology are morphemes, not words

The historical processes described here involve changes to morphemes

GrammaticalizationOver time, a free morpheme (i.e. a

word) acquires grammatical (i.e. morphological or syntactic) function

Often this process is accompanied byPhonological reduction (gets shorter)Fusion (becomes bound)Semantic bleaching (loses original

meaning)

GrammaticalizationExample 1: English be going to > be gonnaOriginal meaning: motion through spaceNew Function: future tense marker (“I’m gonna

take linguistics next quarter.”)Phonological reduction: 3 syllables > 2 syllabl

es, vowels become schwa*I’m gonna the store to buy some soap.

Semantic bleaching: sense of motion is lostI’m gonna stay right here.

GrammaticalizationExample 2: English haveOriginal meaning: possessionFunction: auxiliary verb (“I’ve eaten lunch alrea

dy”) indicating completed actionPhonological reduction: have can be pronounc

ed /v/ only when grammaticalized:*Do you’ve any money on you?

Semantic bleaching: possession meaning is lost

GrammaticalizationExample 3: Chinese 了 /ljaw214/ > /l˙/Original meaning: verb ‘to finish’Function: completed action marker (/wø21 tsw

ø51 l˙/ “I have done it.”)Phonological reduction: monophthongization, v

owel reduction, loss of toneSemantic bleaching: no longer used as a verb

meaning ‘to finish’

GrammaticalizationExample 4: Japanese /ageru/Original meaning: verb ‘to give’Grammaticalized function: indicates that an ac

tion is done on someone’s behalfExample: “Yamada taught Brown kanji.”

Yamada-san ga Brown-san ni kanji o osiete agemasita

Yamada SUBJ Brown IO kanji DO teach-gaveSemantic bleaching: no gift changes hands

Analogy

A powerful force in morphological changeA morphological rule is extended, or generaliz

ed, to forms by analogy with other forms that already fit the rule

Q: Why can we make sentences or derive words that we have never heard before?

A: We have learned the morphological and syntactic rules and can apply them

But rules also have exceptions

Analogy

Example: English past tense {-ed}Children growing up hear present and past ten

se forms of verbs, and induce an inflectional rule based on them:walk walked + /t/learn learned + /d/fade faded + /˙d/

Rule: Add an allomorph of {-ed} to verb stem to make past tense

Analogy

Having learned the rule, the child might make an analogy:Walk : walked :: go : ______Learn: learned :: teach : ______

By analogy, the child applies the rule and says “Yesterday we goed to the park” or “Bill teached me how to tie my shoes” or “I taked some cookies”

Analogy

Eventually the child may learn the exceptions to the rule. But sometimes analogical formations stay in the language, and the exceptions are regularized.

In some English dialects today, people say teached and throwed.

Similar changes have happened to many verbs in English, and continue to happen.

What’s the past tense of strive? cleave? dive?

Analogy

Analogy often has the effect of reducing the overall number of allomorphs

Example 2: Old English {old} had two allomorphs, /old/ and /‰ld/:Old - elder - eldest

Today these are obsolete. By analogy withRed - redder - reddest (no change to stem)

We now have only one allomorph:Old - older - oldest

Reanalysis

Speakers of a language reinterpret the location of morpheme boundaries

This may create new morphemes, or change the forms of existing morphemes

Example 1: English a napron > an apronExample 2: English an ewt > a newtListeners put the morpheme boundary in a ne

w location, and changed the form of the words napron and ewt.

Reanalysis

Example 3: Creation of a new morphemeHistorical morpheme boundary: alcohol-icAlcohol: noun; -ic: adjective-forming suffixAlcoholic: adj (“an alcoholic beverage”)“An alcoholic person” > alcoholic: noun (“a per

son addicted to alcohol)New morpheme boundary: alc-oholic-oholic/-aholic: derivational suffix: work-aholic,

choc-oholic

Reanalysis

Example 4: LollapaloozaSlang: “Something outstanding or amazing”After the big Lollapalooza music tours, palooz

a was reanalyzed as a derivational suffix meaning “an event that’s big and exciting”

Country-palooza, Polka-palooza, Metal-palooza, Soap-a-palooza, Polar-palooza, …

Reanalysis

Example 5: Sanskrit > PaliSanskrit developed into Pali in the first millen

nium BC in Northern and Central IndiaSanskrit root krı > ‘to buy’

kre-tum ‘to buy’ (infinitive)kr -ı > ta ‘bought’ (past participle)

stem+past participle suffixkr -ı > an -ti ‘he/she buys’

stem+present tense suffix+3rd-person sg. suffix

Reanalysis

In Pali, the morpheme boundary in the present tense form was reanalyzed as:krı >n-ati ‘he/she buys’

stem+3rd person sg. suffix Part of the present tense suffix was reanalyzed as par

t of the verb stem, yielding a new stem kin The result was these new forms in Pali:

kin-itum ‘to buy’ (compare Skt.kre-tum)kin-ita ‘bought’ (compare Skt. kr -taı > )kina-ti ‘he/she buys’ (compare Skt. kr - a-tiı > n )

Folk Etymology

A specific type of re-analysis in which people misunderstand the historical origin of a word (etymology refers to word origins)

Example 1: In some dialects of English, asparagus is now called sparrow-grass.

Example 2: Hamburger derives from the German city Hamburg plus suffix -er.

Speakers assume the word is a compound with first morpheme ham, so conclude that burger is a morpheme too, meaning a type of food patty.

Back Formation

A specific type of reanalysis and/or analogy that creates new stems from derived or inflected forms

Happens when language speakers misidentify a word as being composed of a stem and affix, then remove the affix to get back to what they think is the original stem

Child (pointing to plate of cheese): “What’s that?” Parent: “Cheese” Child (hearing /z/ and assuming it is a plural suffix):

“Can I have a chee?”

Back Formation

Consider these verb-noun pairs compensate compensation denigrate denigration operate operation procrastinate procrastination delegate delegation _________ orientation

By analogy, speakers assume the verb stem is orientate (historically it is orient). Orientate is a back-formation.

Back Formation

In Old English, the word for pea was pise (singular), pisan (plural)

In Middle English, singular pease was reanalyzed as having a plural {-s} suffix.

A new singular form pea was created by back-formation, and peas was reanalyzed as a plural.

The singular pease is still preserved in the old nursery rhyme: “Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot nine days old.”

Next Time

Historical Syntax: How sentence and phrase structure changes over time

Historical Reconstruction: How we can look at modern languages and determine what they used to sound like—even without written documents

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