W HAT D O L INGUISTS H AVE T O S AY A BOUT
E VOLUTION
OF
THE
L ANGUAGE ?
Bernard Comrie
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and
University of California, Santa Barbara
[email protected]
A. Comparative method
1. Imperfect tense of ‘to bear, carry’ in Indo-European
SG
1
2
3
DU
2
3
PL
2
3
Sanskrit
Anc. Greek
Common ancestor
a-bhar-a-ḥ
e-pher-e-s
*e-bher-e-s
a-bhar-a-m
a-bhar-a-t
a-bhar-a-tam
a-bhar-a-tām
a-bhar-a-ta
a-bhar-a-n
e-pher-o-n
e-pher-e
e-pher-e-ton
e-pher-e-tēn
e-pher-e-te
e-pher-o-n
*e-bher-o-m
*e-bher-e-t
*e-bher-e-tom
*e-bher-e-tām
*e-bher-e-te
*e-bher-o-n
Structure: Augment (*e-) – Root – Theme (e/o) – Person/Number
Regular sound changes
Ancient Greek
bh > ph
m>n
word-finally
ā>ē
after a consonant (other than r)
t>Ø
word-finally
Sanskrit
e, o > a
s>ḥ
word-finally
2. Reconstructed consonant system of Proto-Indo-European
Stops
p
b
bʰ
kʸ
gʸ
gʸʰ
t
k
Fricatives
Liquids
Nasals
Semivowels
kʷ
s
d
g
gʷ
h₁ [h]
h₂ [χ]
m
n
l
w
r
y
dʰ
gʰ
gʷʰ
h₃ [ɣʷ]
B. Explaining complexity
How complex structures could have evolved
from simpler structures
on the basis of parallels with attested changes
including plausible variations on these
Uniformitarian hypothesis
Structural complexity
Does not exclude the possibility of simplification,
which is also a historically observable kind of change
Assume
a species (homo sapiens sapiens)
that is biologically adapted to linguistic complexity
(“language-ready”)
but has not yet put into practice
substantial parts of this complexity
C. Phonetic complexity
3. Simple vowel system
i
u
a
i
u
a
high
front
unrounded
low
unrounded
high
back
rounded
4.
i
u
e
<a → i>
o <a → u>
a
high
mid
low
5.
Latin
aurum
Spanish
oro
‘gold’
6. “Umlauted” (front rounded) vowels
ü
IPA [y]
<u → i>
ö
IPA [ø]
<o → i>
front
rounded
7.
Old High German jung
[jʊŋɡ]
Modern German
[jʊŋ]
‘young’
jungiro [jʊŋɡɪrɔ] ‘younger (COMPARATIVE)’
jung
jünger
[jʏŋər]
8. Back unrounded vowels
ɯ
<i → u>
ɤ
<e → o>
back
unrounded
9. Voicing in obstruents and sonorants
labial dental velar
p
t
m
n
s
l
k
voiceless
stop
voiced
nasal
voiceless
voiced
fricative
liquid
labial dental velar
p
t
m
n
s
l
k
voiceless
obstruent
voiced
sonorant
Voiced obstruents
b
<p → voiced>
Latin
sapere
‘to know’
Brazilian Portuguese
saber [sa'bex]
voiced stop
Voiceless sonorants
ɬ
<l → voiceless>
Welsh
llan
[ɬan]
‘church’ (especially in place names)
10. Other unusual consonants
Pharyngeals
[ħ]
unusual place of articulation
Labial-velars
[k͡p]
co-articulation
Clicks
[ʘ]
non-pulmonic, ingressive
11. Dispersion
i
u
i
u
e
a
o
a
i
u
e
o
ɛ
ɔ
a
D. Internal reconstruction
12.
Old High German jung
[jʊŋɡ]
Intermediate
jung
[jʊŋɡ]
Modern German
jung
[jʊŋ]
‘young’
jungiro [jʊŋɡɪrɔ] ‘younger’
jungiro [jʏŋɡɪrɔ] [ʊ] and [ʏ] are allophones
jünger
[jʏŋər]
[ʊ] and [ʏ] are phonemes
Morphophonological alternations,
i.e. different forms of the same morpheme
in different environments ([jʊŋ] ~ [jʏŋ] + [ər]),
which introduce complexity,
often arise historically
from regularly conditioned sound changes
(e.g. vowels are fronted before [i]-like vowels)
followed by loss of the conditioning environment
(e.g. unstressed [ɪ] is weakened to [ə])
“Internal reconstruction”
reverse-engineers this,
postulating for morphophonological alternations
an earlier stage with a regular phonetic environment
Evolving complexity
Stage I
no morphophonological alternations
Stage II
morphophonological alternations
E. Complex morphology
13. Latin
‘master’
NOM
VOC
ACC
GEN
DAT
ABL
‘table’
SG
PL
SG
PL
dominus
domine
dominum
dominī
dominō
dominō
dominī
dominī
dominōs
dominōrum
dominīs
dominīs
mēnsa
mēnsa
mēnsam
mēnsae
mēnsae
mēnsā
mēnsae
mēnsae
mēnsās
mēnsārum
mēnsīs
mēnsīs
14.
‘boy’
‘with [the] boy’
Finnish (standard)
poika
pojan kanssa
(poja-n ‘boy-GENITIVE’)
Finnish (dialectal)
poika
(isä ‘father’
pojankā
isänkǟ) (Vowel harmony)
Estonian
poeg
pojaga
(poja-ga ‘boy-COMITATIVE’)
15. Origin of personal suffixes in Buryat
a) minii axa
I.GEN younger_brother
b) minii axa-mni
I.GEN younger_brother-1SG
c) axa-mni
younger_brother-1SG
d) bi mede-ne-b
I
know-PRS-1SG
e) mede-ne-b
know-PRS-1SG
f) *bi mede-ne
1SG
2SG
1PL
2PL
Pronoun (NOM)
bi
ši
bide
ta
Verb suffix (SBJ)
-b
-š
-bdi
-t
1SG
2SG
1PL
2PL
Pronoun (GEN)
minii
šinii
manai
tanai
Noun suffix (POSS)
-(m)ni
-š(ni)
-(m)nai
-tnai
Problem:
Genitives precede their head noun
and subjects precede their verb
Possessive affixes follow their head noun
and subject affixes follow their verb
Khalkha
g) bi med-ne
I
know-PRS
h) med-ne
know-PRS
bi
I
F. Complexity and society
16. Latin (Horace, Odes, 1.5)
Quis
what
multā gracilis tē puer in
many slender you boy in
perfūsus
sprinkled
liquidīs
liquid
urget
woos
odōribus
scents
grātō,
Pyrrha, sub antrō?
pleasant Pyrrha in grotto
rosā
roses
‘What slender boy, sprinkled with liquid scents, woos you,
Pyrrha, in many roses in a pleasant grotto?’
Quis
what
multā gracilis tē puer in
many slender you boy in
perfūsus
sprinkled
liquidīs
liquid
urget
woos
odōribus
scents
grātō,
Pyrrha, sub antrō?
pleasant Pyrrha in grotto
NOMINATIVE SINGULAR MASCULINE
rosā
roses
Quis
what
multā gracilis tē puer in
many slender you boy in
perfūsus
sprinkled
liquidīs
liquid
urget
woos
odōribus
scents
grātō,
Pyrrha, sub antrō?
pleasant Pyrrha in grotto
ABLATIVE SINGULAR FEMININE
rosā
roses
Quis
what
multā gracilis tē puer in
many slender you boy in
perfūsus
sprinkled
liquidīs
liquid
urget
woos
odōribus
scents
grātō,
Pyrrha, sub antrō?
pleasant Pyrrha in grotto
ABLATIVE PLURAL
rosā
roses
Quis
what
multā gracilis tē puer in
many slender you boy in
perfūsus
sprinkled
liquidīs
liquid
urget
woos
odōribus
scents
grātō,
Pyrrha, sub antrō?
pleasant Pyrrha in grotto
ABLATIVE SINGULAR NEUTER
rosā
roses
17. Guugu Yimidhirr (Northeast Queensland, Australia)
Yarragaagamun
boy
gudaa gunday
dog
hit
biibangun.
father
Yarraga-aga-mu-n
gudaa
gunday biiba-ngun.
boy-GENITIVE-mu-ERG dog.ABS hit
father-ERG
‘The boy’s father hit the dog.’
ERG(ATIVE)
ABS(OLUTIVE)
case for the subject/agent of a transitive verb
case for the object/patient of a transitive verb
and for the subject of an intransitive verb
Yarraga-aga-mu-n
gudaa
gunday biiba-ngun.
boy-GENITIVE-mu-ERG dog.ABS hit
father-ERG
i.e. ‘boy’ is “possessor” of ‘father’ (‘the boy’s father’)
Yarraga-aga-mu-n
gudaa
gunday biiba-ngun.
boy-GENITIVE-mu-ERG dog.ABS hit
father-ERG
i.e. ‘boy’ and ‘father’ belong together
G. Development of explicitness
in written (or rather: non-face-to-face) communication
Seychelles Creole
18. (1974 translation of Gospel according to Mark)
Lever, prend ou natte, marcher.
‘Rise, take your bed, walk.’
19. (1987 translation of same passage)
Lever, ranmas ou nat e marse.
‘Rise, pick_up your bed and walk.’
20. Son konteni pou fer parti tes dray imedyatman
‘Its contents will form part of drivers’ tests immediately
e konsekanman bann bon drayver i a war la endispansab.
and consequently potential drivers will find it indispensable.’
21. I osi regretab ki
‘It is also regrettable that
kanmenm en sirkiler pour kresolizasyon lo nivo nasyonal in sorti,
although a circular for creolization at the national level has been
issued,
i ankor annan bann batiman piblik
there are still public buildings
ki pa ankor koriz fot lortograf lo zot lansenny.
which have not yet corrected spelling mistakes in their signs.’
W HAT D O L INGUISTS H AVE T O S AY A BOUT
E VOLUTION
OF
THE
L ANGUAGE ?
Bernard Comrie
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and
University of California, Santa Barbara
[email protected]