Typology,Genetic, Areal, and Historical Linguistics
Elly van Gelderen
Spring 2011
IN PREPARATION
Origins and typology• Language Origins
• Archeology• Genetics• Linguistics
• Earliest records
• IE > Gmc and reconstruction• Sounds Grimm’s Law• Grammar
• Typology
Archeology and Migration:
For instance:
Anghilak Cave, Uzbekistan. (Photo M. Glantz, http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/glantz/glantz.html)
Genetics and Migrations
More MtDNA
http://www.acadian-home.org/Haplogroups.html
http://schema-root.org/people/indigenous/
Y-DNA migrations
Can typology help?
Dryer’s map on Case
VO and OV
Possible `Super’ Family
Nostratic
Nostratic *gadi ‘kid, young goat’
Indo European *ghaid. Latin has haedus
Explain how the Latin haedus corresponds to Old Norse geit and eventually Modern English goat.
So:
Proto-Language
Nostratic
Indo-European Afro-Asiatic etc
Germanic Romance Celtic etc
English German Swedish etc
Some hypotheses on Proto-Language• Newmeyer suggests that proto-languages may have been inflectional
(2000: 385, n 4)
• Bickerton 1990fossils of proto-lg (aphasia/pidgin): no morphology; no PS
• Jackendoff 2002
• Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch 2002FLB (CI-SM-Mechanisms for Recursion) – FLN (Recursion)
• Chomsky 2005Merge "`Great Leap Forward' in the evolution of humans"
Earliest Writings: 3 types
• Vinca: 6,000
• Harappan:5,500
• Egyptian: 5,300 (p. 33)
• Mesopotamian: 5,100
• Chinese: 3,500
• Mayan: 2,500
Vinca: Southeastern Europe
Indo European
Grimm’s Law
Sanskrit: p t k b d g bh dh ghCorresponds to:
Germanic: f θ h p t k b d g
Sanskrit bh/dh/gh
Latin f/f/h Corresponds to: Gmc b/d/g
Greek ph/th/ch
Grimm/First Consonant Shift
bhrater frater brotherdhwer foris doorghordho hortus yard (< Old English
geard)pitr pater fathertu tu thoukrnga cornu hornkanab cannabis hemp (< OE henep)Danta dentis toothjna gnoscere know/ken
Match:
Sanskrit: Old English:
bhar þu
pitar þrie
pada beran
trayas fæder
tvam fot
Match:
Latin: Modern English:
noctis tooth
gelu night
cannabis kin
dentis glacial
gens hemp
Second Consonant Shiftpijp, pipe [p] > Pfeife [pf] slapen, sleep [p] > schlafen [f] speer, spear [p] > Speer [p]
twee, two [t] > zwei [ts] Eten, eat [t] > essen [s] Steen, stone [t] > Stein [t]
boek, book [k] > Buch [X] sk.. > sk..
Reconstruction methods, e.g. Comparative Method
Sanskrit Avestan Greek Latin Gothic Englishpita pater pater fadar father padam poda pedem fotu foot bhratar phrater frater brothar brother bharami barami phero fero baira bear jivah jivo wiwos qius quick
('living') sanah hano henee senex sinista senile virah viro wir wair were(wolf)
tris tres thri three deka decem taihun ten
satem he-katon centum hund(rath) hundred
Proto Romance?
French cent [sã];
Italian cento [t∫εnto]
Spanish ciento [siεnto]
Latin centum [kεntum]
More CM
How to reconstruct Grammar?
• Look at what happens in change you have evidence for.
• Sanskrit nouns have endings representing eight different cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, ablative, locative, and vocative. (1) Ayodhya-yam vasa-ti
Ayodhya-LOC lives-3S'He lives in Ayodhya'.
Adam Smith, 1767
Sanskrit > Hindi/Urdu
(1) nagarat vanam gacchati
city-ABL forest-ACC goes-3S
'He goes from the city to the forest'.
(2) Wo šehr se jngl ko jata hẽ
he city from forest to go-M be-3S
'He goes from the city to the forest'.
Politics
Aryan Myth
Harappa??
East Asia
Back to typology
• Links between type and family?