Introduction: How Language Changes (and a
little bit of Why)
Joel C. Wallenberg
[email protected]
July 22, 2013
EILIN Winter School, UNICAMP
Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Outline
1
Language Change
Generalisations
2
Syntactic Change
3
How does this kind of change happen?
4
Another Type of Change: Peppered Moth
5
Mutation in Language: Language Acquisition
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Sea-shore (adapted from Richard P. Feynman’s Lectures
on Physics)
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Rules of Nature (adapted from Richard P. Feynman’s
Lectures on Physics)
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What does it mean for language to change?
How does a language exist over a long period of time?
How does a language exist over 1000 years?
Answer: it does not, really.
Bits of linguistic information (language structures)
reproduce themselves in every generation through child
language acquisition.
Chomsky’s statement: there are no languages.
This is the same concept as saying that there are no species
(at least, they are a derivative notion).
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Why is “species” a derivative concept?
Organisms have individual genomes made up of many
individual genes.
All of these organisms are different from each other in the
details of their genomes.
But some of them are similar enough to mate with each
other.
Some are on the border, e.g. donkeys and horses.
Physical characteristics of a gene or cluster of genes are
called a “phenotype”.
When organisms reproduce, many of their genes are
transmitted to the next generation, but not all; there are
many small differences.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Why is “language” a derivative concept?
Individual speakers have an “I(internal)-language” in
their brain which is made up of many linguistic features, or
parameters.
All of these speakers are different from each other in the
details of their I-language.
But some of them are similar enough to understand each
other .
Some are on the border, e.g. Amsterdam-Dutch and Cape
Town-Afrikaans, or Glasgow-Scots and London-English.
Language that people physically say and hear is called
“E(external)-language”.
If E-language is a footprint, I-language is the foot.
When children learn language from their parents, many of
the parents’ linguistic features are transmitted to the next
generation, but not all; there are many small differences.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
A grammar is re-created, reproduced in every
generation.
Adults’ I-Language
−→
Adults’ E-Language
Children’s I-Language
−→
Children’s E-Language
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
What happens when the language of a speech
community changes
1
During language acquisition, a change has to be innovated
(in an individual’s I-language).
Since this occurs in the brain of an individual, it can be
nearly instantaneous.
2
A change has to spread through a population.
Since this depends on the communication of a change from
one person to another, and over generations, it must be
gradual.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Some Reasons Why Transmission Is Not Perfect
Acquisition Errors: children try out many hypotheses
when they are trying to match their I-language to their
parents’ E-language. Sometimes the wrong ones survive.
Reanalysis: Children mistake some pattern in the adults’
E-language to represent a different I-language structure,
leading to a new linguistic variant (new parameter setting)
in the population.
Example “A nadder” → ”An adder”
Analogy: Children overgeneralise a common rule to new
cases.
Example: “brethren” → ”brothers”
Language Contact: imperfect bilingualism affects the
adults’ E-language, leading to a new linguistic variant (new
parameter setting) in the population when the children try
to form an I-language from the adult E-language.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Examples of Acquisition Errors
Reanalysis: Children mistake some pattern in the adults’
E-language to represent a different I-language structure,
leading to a new linguistic variant (new parameter setting)
in the population.
Lenition, a type of reanalysis: children hear an
articulatory mistake that their parents make, and assume it
is a rule. (Example from Ringe and Eska (2009); draw on
board)
Latin
>
Spanish
lacum ‘lake’
latus ‘side’
lupum ‘wolf’
>
>
>
lago
lado
lobo
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Basis for the Lenition Reanalysis
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Basis for the Lenition Reanalysis
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Other Phonological Reanalysis
taylorlifescience.pbworks.com/f/1266511904/hamster2.jpg
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Examples of Acquisition Errors
Spontaneous errors that are not obviously reanalysis, but
have to do with how children form hypotheses about the
adult I-language they are trying to learn.
This is the linguistic analog to spontaneous mutation in
genetics.
Some syntactic changes probably fall into this category, as
I will show later.
Example: an erroneous vowel merger. (Ringe & Eska 2009:
Chapter 2)
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Examples of Acquisition Errors
A child of one of the above authors reached the age of 6
with a vowel merger that does not occur in her parents.
The syllable nuclei /or/ and /Ir/ of standard American
English were both pronounced [or].
Therefore, words like bird and board were homophonous.
Although she began to cover this merger up by age 9,
further utterances at age 10 (version with [or]) show that
she kept this merger into adulthood.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Language Contact
Language contact can only occur if languages are in contact
in somebody’s brain. (i.e. some form of bilingualism)
When adults learn a second language, they do not learn it
perfectly.
Adult L2 varieties will show interference from their first
language (Weinreich, 1953).
Children do not have access to the adults’ I-language, so
they must work with the E-language, even if this is an L2
variety.
Children frequently learn features of the L2 as rules in
their own I-language.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Language Contact
Subjunctive in modern North American English:
(1)
If I were a rich man, I would be happy. (my native
form)
(2)
If I was a rich man, I would be happy. (language
internal innovation)
(3)
If I would be a rich man, I would be happy.
(innovation from language contact)
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Language Contact
Subjunctive in modern North American English:
(4)
Wenn ich ein reicher Mann sein
If
I a rich
man be
würde ... (German)
would
(5)
Oyb ikh volt zayn a raykher mensh ... (Yiddish)
If
I would be a rich
man
(6)
If I would be a rich man, I would be happy.
This form is found in North American English, particularly
in areas which historically have large German-speaking
populations (e.g. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) or large
Yiddish-speaking populations (e.g. parts of New York, New
Jersey, Philadelphia).
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Parameter: VP Structure
In English, all verbs precede objects (and various other
things):
(7)
Mary handed the book to John.
In Japanese, all verbs follow the other elements of the
sentence or clause:
(8)
Mary-ga John-ni sono hon-o watasita
Mary
John-to that book handed.
English is a VO, or left-headed VP language. Japanese is
an OV, or right-headed VP language.
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Parameter: Structure of the VP
Verb > Object Structure
(e.g. English):
IP
Object > Verb Structure
(e.g. Japanese, Korean):
IP
DP
John
DP
John
I’
I
[past]
I’
VP
V
bought
VP
DP
DP
a book
a book
I
[past]
V
bought
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
OV/VO Parameter
As the sentences get longer, English still puts all the verbs
before the objects...
(9)
Bill said that Mary will hand the book to John.
And Japanese still puts the objects before all the verbs:
(10)
Bill-ga Mary-ga John-ni sono hon-o watasita to
Bill
Mary
John-to that book handed that
itta
said
Some other languages like English:
French, Zulu, Mandarin Chinese, Swedish.
Some other languages like Japanese:
Hittite, Korean, Latin, Hindi, and to an extent, German.
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English vs. German
English:
(11)
Mary has read a book.
Due to finite verb movement to the left (to C in German,
to I in Old English), you need to look at nonfinite verbs to
see OV/VO:
(12)
Mary hat ein Buch gelesen
Mary has a book read.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Object > Verb (OV) English
(13)
hie wolden hit admodeliche þolien.
they would it humbly
suffer
“They would humbly suffer it.”
(Trinity Homilies, Southeast Midlands, date: before
1225)
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Object > Verb (OV) English
(14)
sua sal ye yure sinnes les.
so shal you your sins
lose
“In this way, you will let go of your sins.”
(Rule of St. Benet, Yorkshire, date: 1425)
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Object > Verb (OV) English
(15)
tu mihht ec gastlike laf Onn oþerr wise Zarrkenn
you might also spiritual loaf in another way prepare
“In this way, you will let go of your sins.”
(Ormulum, Lincoln, date: 1200)
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
How does this kind of change happen?
Theory of Language Change: Was it fast or slow?
Did it happen all at once? Did people wake up speaking
differently one morning?
Did VO appear randomly, or was there a pattern?
What sort of pattern, specifically, i.e. mathematically?
Do syntactic variants spread within speakers as well as
across speakers?
Historical Question: What caused it?
Language contact due to Norman Conquest in 1066?
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1.0
OV to VO in English, clauses with auxiliaries
(Pintzuk and Taylor, 2006)
0.0
0.2
0.4
Frequency
0.6
0.8
English Nominal Objects
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Intraspeaker Variation (i.e. “Competing Grammars”)
(16)
sua sal ye yure sinnes les.
so shal you your sins
lose
“In this way, you will let go of your sins.”
(Rule of St. Benet, Yorkshire, date: 1425)
(17)
sal quaintelike drahe hir to hir
þabbes
the-abbess shall wisely
draw her to herself
(Rule of St. Benet, Yorkshire, date: 1425)
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Intraspeaker Variation (i.e. “Competing Grammars”)
(18)
tu mihht ec gastlike laf Onn oþerr wise Zarrkenn
you might also spiritual loaf in another way prepare
“In this way, you will let go of your sins.”
(Ormulum, Lincoln, date: 1200)
(19)
Ne maZZ he nohht rihht cnawenn me
neg may he not right know
me
“He may not rightly know me”
(Ormulum, Lincoln, date: 1200)
Goal: reduce the complicated problem of intraspeaker
variation to independently understood processes, i.e.
VP-headedness and bilingualism.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
And now for something completely different ...
The Peppered Moth
A moth that can be white in color, or black in color. This
happens through random mutation.
Native to England and a few other places.
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White Peppered Moth
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Black Peppered Moth
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
A moth’s holiday: there and back again.
Before the 19th century, they were almost all white.
During the 19th century, they were almost all black. Lots
of soot from coal burning after the industrial revolution.
During the 20th century, they switched back to white
again, and are now mostly white.
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
White Peppered Moth
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Black Peppered Moth
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Predator for Peppered Moth
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Language Change Syntactic Change How does this kind of change happen? Another Type of Change: Peppe
Survival/Selection Depends on Ability to Hide
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Peppered Moth
Because of mutation, both black and white moths always
appear in any moth population.
There is inherent variation in the moth population,
originally caused by mutation.
The frequency of each type depends on selection, which can
be influenced by external factors (like coal dust).
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Decline of Black in 20th Century (Cook, 2003)
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Peppered Moth and Language?
Could language change stem from inherent variation like
this?
What would cause the selection in the language case? (It’s
nothing as obvious as our bird friend.)
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Mutation in Language: Language Acquisition
Adult German:
(20)
wenn das sich dreht, was tut ’s dann
if
it itself turns what does it then
“if it turns itself around, then what happens?”
Child German (from Benny, 3 years old):
(21)
wenn des dreht sich was tut ’s dann
if
it turns itself what does it then
“if it turns itself around, then what happens?”
(Benny, 3 years, 2 months, and 26 days old,
Gawlitzek-Maiwald, 1997, 137)
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Concluding Remarks
Languages can change radically over time.
The initial change occurs in the brain of a child (or
children), and may happen instantaneously.
But the change only spreads through a population of
speakers very, very slowly, over many generations.
Language change looks a lot like biological changes, which
makes some sense since language is also reproduced
(learned).
Even though the changes are very slow, they can be
relentless.
Central Mystery of Language Change: How do
children born in the year 1300 know to keep pushing a
change forward that was started by children born in the
year 800?
Eventually we need to look for the bird and the coal dust.
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References I
Cook, Laurence M. 2003. The Rise and Fall of the Carbonaria
Form of the Peppered Moth. Quarterly Review of Biology
78:399–417.
Gawlitzek-Maiwald, Ira. 1997. Der monolinguale und bilinguale
erwerb von infinitivkonstruktionen: Ein vergleich von deutsch
und englisch. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
Pintzuk, Susan, and Ann Taylor. 2006. The loss of OV order in
the history of English. In Blackwell handbook of the history of
English, ed. A. van Kemenade and B. Los. Blackwell.
Ringe, Donald, and Joseph Eska. 2009. Introduction to language
change (DRAFT). Draft manuscript edition.
Weinreich, Uriel. 1953. Languages in contact, findings and
problems. 1. Linguistic Circle of New York Publications.
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