Announcements and reminder

Final quiz Second linguistic diary

Date: 22 April (Tuesday) 2:00 – 4:00 pm Due date: 11:59 pm, 18 April
Location: ARC G03
Please arrive at 1:45pm
Content:
Covers material from Lecture 1 to Lecture 12
Format:
Same as the Mid-term quiz

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2024-25 Term 2
LING1000/UGED1924 Invitation to Linguistics

Lecture 10
Language Change語言演變
Instructor: Dr Jiangling Zhou

Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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Previously in Lecture 9
❑ Key concepts and terms
◦ First vs. second language
◦ Dominant vs. weaker language
◦ Majority vs. minority language, Heritage language
◦ Developmental stages
◦ Developmental sequences, morpheme orders, U-shaped
development
◦ Additive vs. Subtractive Bilingualism
◦ Cross-linguistic influence: forward or backward, positive or
negative

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 Time Travel
穿越時空

Imagine that you’ve suddenly been

transported back to ancient China thanks to
some magical power or time-travel machine.

Can you communicate effectively with the

people around you back then?

試想一下，如果有神奇力量或時光穿梭機將
你送回古代，你能與當時的人有效溝通嗎？

Photos from [Link] 4

 漢語歷代語音演變demonstration

春秋 00：40
三國 02：01
盛唐 03：07
明初 04：18

[Link] 5
Evolution of English through history
Old English: before 11th century
Middle English: 11th to 15th century
Modern English: from 15th century onwards.
[Link]

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Outline
• What is Language Change?
• How do languages change?
◦ Sound Change 語音演變
◦ Reconstruction 重構
◦ The Great vowel shift 主要元音轉移
• Language change in Cantonese
◦ Lexical Change 詞彙演變
◦ Morphological change 形態演變
◦ Syntactic Change 句法演變

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What is Language Change?

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 9

What is Language Change?

• All languages change through time (except those that do not have any native
speakers left!!!)
• Two major approaches to study languages:

The study of development of language Synchronic Analysis 共時分析

through time

The study of the linguistic properties of a Diachronic Analysis 歷時分析

language at one point in time, usually (historical linguistics)
present

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 What is Language Change?

If all these languages indeed had the same

origin, then how did they end up being so
different?

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What is Language Change?
• One major cause for languages becoming dissimilar is geographical division 地
域上的分離.
• Groups of people spread out through Europe → lost communication → the
language of each group went on its way →underwent changes → contacted
with other languages in geographical proximity (i.e. borrowing) → entirely
different
• Changes can be seen in all aspects of language: sound, meaning, morphology,
syntax, etc.

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How do languages change: Sound
Change 語音演變

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Sound Change
Most widely studied aspect of language change
◦ Long tradition in historical linguistics
◦ Sound change can be considered as a pre-requisite 先決條件 of understanding
changes in other aspects of language, because it also affects morphology,
syntax and semantics.
◦ Studying sound changes provides a good tool for reconstructing language-
relatedness

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 6:18-7:55

[Link] 14
Sound Change
What is sound change?
• a permanent alteration 永久性轉變 in the phonetics of a sound across all
communication contexts 所有溝通環境 (formal vs informal, fast vs slow) as a
result of a phonological process 音位程序 which is new to the language.
How are the following English words pronounced? What is present in the
spelling but missing in the pronunciation? ([Link]/)
Soften Castle
Listen Bustle
Fasten Whistle

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Sound Change
What is sound change?
• a permanent alteration 永久性轉變 in the phonetics of a sound across all
communication contexts 所有溝通環境 (formal vs informal, fast vs slow) as a
result of a phonological process 音位程序 which is new to the language.
How are the following English words pronounced? What is present in the
spelling but missing in the pronunciation? ([Link]/)
Soften /’sȯ-fən/ Castle /’ka-səl/
Listen /’li-sən/ Bustle /’bə-səl/
Fasten /’fa-sən/ Whistle /’wi-səl/

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Types of sound changes
• Sound changes can be conditioned or unconditioned.

• A sound change is conditioned 有條件性 if it only applies when a sound

appears in a particular environment 只在特定環境出現.

• A sound change is unconditioned 無條件性 if it applies wherever the sound

occurs 在所有環境下出現.

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 18
Look at the following [f] and [v] alternation between Old English and Modern
English. What pattern of sound change can you see?

Old English Modern English

ofer over
wulfas wolves
lifes lives
wifes wives

[f]: voiceless labio-dental fricative 清雙唇齒擦音

[v]: voiced labio-dental fricative 濁雙唇齒擦音
[f]→ [v], if between two voiced sounds.
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 19
Types of sound changes

➢ [f] becomes [v] → sounds more like the neighbouring voiced

sound.

➢ Assimilation 同化現象: refers to a situation in which one sound

becomes more like another.

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Types of sound changes
• The pronunciation of ‘sixth’ is originally /siksθ/
• /s/ and /θ/ are both voiceless fricatives
• In some varieties of English, however, [θ] has undergone sound change
• [θ] is replaced by [t] → [sikst]
• Similar pattern in ‘fifth’
• [fifθ] [fiftθ] [fift]
• Dissimilation 異化現象: refers to a situation in which two similar
sounds become less like one another.

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Types of sound changes
• Have you ever wondered why ‘name’, ‘nose’ are spelled in this way in English?
• Middle English pronunciation of ‘name’ [namə]
• At the end of the Middle English period unstressed 非重音 word-final [ə] was
deleted.
• Deletion: it occurs when a sound is no longer pronounced.
• A conditioned sound change because only word-final [ə] is affected.

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Types of sound changes
Listen to the two pronunciations of ‘athlete’. Which one is correct?
◦ [æθlit]
◦ [æθəlit]
In a number of Modern English varieties, a vowel is inserted 插入 in the word
‘athlete’
Why?
◦ → consonant cluster 輔音組合 is difficult to produce.
Insertion is the opposite of deletion.
▪ Occurs when a sound is added to the pronunciation of a word.
▪ Conditioned change: only between [θ] and [l]

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Types of sound changes
Listen to the two different pronunciations of ‘calvary’:
[‘kæl.və.ri]
[‘kæ.və[Link]]
Metathesis: a change in the order of sounds.
Other examples:
▪ Old English: hros, frist, bridd
▪ Modern English: horse, first, bird.

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Reconstruction 重構

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 Comparative reconstruction 對比重構
For languages that are related and have a common parent language,
comparative method is used to reconstruct the protolanguage.
Parent language: Latin [k] or [ʃ]?
French Italian Spanish Portuguese Gloss Correspondence set
cher [ʃ] caro [k] caro [k] caro [k] “dear” ʃ-k-k-k
champ [ʃ] campo [k] campo [k] campo [k] “field” ʃ-k-k-k
chandelle [ʃ] candela [k] candela [k] candeia [k] “candle” ʃ-k-k-k
Latin
A B
Latin [k] [ʃ]
[k]→ [ʃ]
[ʃ]→ [k]

French Italian Spanish Portuguese French Italian Spanish Portuguese

[ʃ] [k] [k] [k] [ʃ] [k] [k] 25 [k]
 Comparative reconstruction 對比重構
For languages that are related and have a common parent language,
comparative method is used to reconstruct the protolanguage.
Parent language: Latin [k] or [ʃ]?
French Italian Spanish Portuguese Gloss Correspondence set
cher [ʃ] caro [k] caro [k] caro [k] “dear” ʃ-k-k-k
champ [ʃ] campo [k] campo [k] campo [k] “field” ʃ-k-k-k
chandelle [ʃ] candela [k] candela [k] candeia [k] “candle” ʃ-k-k-k
Latin
A B
Latin [k] [ʃ]
[k]→ [ʃ]
[ʃ]→ [k]

French Italian Spanish Portuguese French Italian Spanish Portuguese

[ʃ] [k] [k] [k] [ʃ] [k] [k] 26 [k]
Comparative reconstruction 對比重構
For languages that are related and have a common parent language,
comparative method is used to reconstruct the protolanguage.
Parent language: Latin *k
French Italian Spanish Portuguese Gloss Correspondence set
cher [ʃ] caro [k] caro [k] caro [k] “dear” ʃ-k-k-k
champ [ʃ] campo [k] campo [k] campo [k] “field” ʃ-k-k-k
chandelle [ʃ] candela [k] candela [k] candeia [k] “candel” ʃ-k-k-k

➢ The “majority rule” principle: the sound that appears most frequently in the correspondence is
the one of parent language.
➢ Other considerations may outweigh the majority rule principle.

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Comparative reconstruction 對比重構
Language A Language B Language C Language D Correspondence set (Consonant)
hono hono fono vono h-h-f-v
hari hari fari veli h-h-f-v
hor hor for vol h-h-f-v
rahima rahima rafima levima r-r-r-l

➢ The “majority rule” principle: *h → v/f

➢ Other historical studies: f/v→ h
➢ The “naturalness” principle: changes that occur historically in many other languages and have
an acoustic explanation. This can outweigh the majority principle.

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Comparative reconstruction 對比重構
Language A Language B Language C Language D Correspondence set (Vowel)
hono hono fono vono o-o-o-o
hari hari fari veli a-a-a-e
hor hor for vol o-o-o-o
rahima rahima rafima levima a-a-a-e

➢ The “majority rule” principle: (vowel) *o, *a, *o, *a

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Comparative reconstruction 對比重構
Language A Language B Language C Language D Correspondence set (Consonant)
hono hono fono vono n-n-n-n
hari hari fari veli r-r-r-l
hor hor for vol r-r-r-l
rahima rahima rafima levima h-h-f-v

➢ The “majority rule” principle: (vowel) *o, *a, *o, *a

➢ The “majority rule” principle: (Consonant) *n, *r, *r
➢ The “naturalness” principle: *f for h-h-f-v

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Comparative reconstruction 對比重構
Language A Language B Language C Language D Latin
hono hono fono vono *fono
hari hari fari veli *fari
hor hor for vol *for
rahima rahima rafima levima *rafima

➢ The naturalness principle: (Consonant 1) *f→ h/v

➢ The “majority rule” principle: (vowel) *o, *a, *o, *a
➢ The “majority rule” principle: (Consonant2) *n, *r, *r
➢ The naturalness principle: *f for h-h-f-v

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The Great vowel shift 主要元音轉移

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Great Vowel Shift
• The Great Vowel Shift was a massive sound change affecting the long vowels
of English during the 15th to 18th centuries, particularly in Southern English
dialects.

• Basically, the long vowels shifted upwards (上移):

• A vowel that used to be pronounced in one position in the mouth began to
be pronounced higher in the mouth.

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 Great Vowel Shift
• An important consequence of the Great Vowel Shift is the many spelling
inconsistencies in English today.
• The English spelling system largely reflects the pronunciations of words before
the Great Vowel Shift.
• As the pronunciation of long vowels changed, the spelling remained fixed,
resulting in a mismatch between how words are spelled and how they are
pronounced.

([Link] 34
8 steps of Great Vowel Shift
Step 1: i and u drop and become əɪ and əu.
Step 2: e and o move up, becoming i and u.
Step 3: a moves forward to æ
Step 4: ɛ becomes e, ɔ becomes o.
Step 5: æ moves up to ɛ
Step 6: e moves up to i
(a new e was created in Step 4; that e moves
up to i)
Step 7: ɛ moves up to e
(the new ɛ created in Step 5 now moves up).
Step 8: əɪ and əu drop to aɪ and au.

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8 steps of Great Vowel Shift
Step 1: i and u drop and become əɪ and əu.
Step 2: e and o move up, becoming i and u.
Step 3: a moves forward to æ
Step 4: ɛ becomes e, ɔ becomes o.
Step 5: æ moves up to ɛ
Step 6: e moves up to i
(a new e was created in Step 4; that e moves
up to i)
Step 7: ɛ moves up to e
(the new ɛ created in Step 5 now moves up).
Step 8: əɪ and əu drop to aɪ and au.

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8 steps of Great Vowel Shift
These changes did not happen overnight → a long process
At any given time, words may be pronounced differently depending on the
speakers’ age and geographical region, but the trends were clear.
Demonstration of Great Vowel Shift
[Link]
[Link]

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 Great Vowel Shift
主要元音轉移  Middle English  1550 to 1650

Cole: Is that thy child?

Alice: Yea, her name is Ann.
Cole: A good and holy name.
Alice: Soon she will be three years
of age.
Cole: Will she speak to me?
Alice: Yea, she speaks wonder loud.

Step 2:
[e] became [i]
[o] became [u]
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 English Sound Change – an end?
• Are there any more sound changes going on nowadays?
Yes.

Northern City Vowel Shift

William Labov

Photo from [Link] 39

[Link] 40
 Language Change in Cantonese

Other changes:
Lexical 詞彙 Change
Morphological 形態 Change
Syntactic 句法 Change

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Are you puzzled by the Romanization System of Cantonese in Hong
Kong as seen in the following place names?

八仙嶺 Pat Sin Range 馬鞍山 Ma On Shan

西貢 Sai Kung 沙田 Shatin

青衣 Tsing Yi 長州 Cheung Chau

將軍澳 Tseng Kwan O

樟樹灘 Cheung Shue Tan

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Are you puzzled by the Romanization System of Cantonese in Hong
Kong as seen in the following place names?

八仙嶺 Pat Sin Range 馬鞍山 Ma On Shan

[s] [ʃ]
西貢 Sai Kung 沙田 Shatin
These distinctions between alveolar
[s] [ʃ ]
and postalveolar sibilant were once
青衣 Tsing Yi 長州 Cheung Chau present in HK Cantonese before the
[ts] [tʃ] 1920s, but they disappeared later.

將軍澳 Tseung Kwan O [ts]

樟樹灘 Cheung Shue Tan [tʃ]

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 i 2:41-2:52
詩 3:22-3:46

[Link] 44
Williams (1856):
“The initials ch and ts are
constantly confounded, and
some persons are absolutely
unable to detect the
difference...”

張洪年教授講座「從一幅地圖談起：如何認識十九世紀香港的語言」
新亞書院第二十九屆錢賓四先生學術文化講座 (2016年4月2 日) →
more examples of sound changes in Cantonese
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 An interesting example from 張洪年教授

點 解 佢 想 請 我 嘅 女 朋 友 郭 愛 初 去 香 港 大 會 堂
dim2 gaai2 keoi5 soeng2 cing2 ngo5 ge3 neoi5 pang4 jau5 gwok3 ngoi3 co1 heoi3 hoeng1 gong2 daai6 wui2 tong4
din2 gaai2 heoi5 soeng2 cing2 ngo5 ge3 leoi5 pang4 jau5 gwok3 ngoi3 ʃo1 heoi3 hoeng1 gong2 daai6 wui2 tong4

聽 中 國 音 樂 會 呢？
ting3 zung1 gwok3 jam1 lok6 wui2 ne1？
ting3 tʃung1 gwok3 jam1 lok6 wui2 le1？

《21世紀的香港粵語：一個新語音系統的形成》 46
Semantic Change in Cantonese
What is the little child doing here? What verb in Cantonese do you use in Cantonese?
(Wang 1999)

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Semantic Change in Cantonese

Wang 1999:
聞 used to mean ‘to hear’ （新聞，聞所未聞，不聞不問）
Now: ‘to smell’ → meaning shift from one sensory organ to
another.

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Morphological + Semantic change in Cantonese

What does ‘老’(lou5) mean in written Chinese?

• Prefixed to nouns to indicate ‘oldness’, e.g. 老公公，老太婆 (old man and
woman)
• Other meanings such as ‘experienced’, e.g. 老師 (teacher)； many years, e.g.
老朋友(old friend)
• Can be used as an adverb: all the time e.g. 老開玩笑 (always make
jokes)(probably not in Cantonese)

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Morphological + Semantic change in Cantonese
• A slight change in meaning in modern colloquial Cantonese.
• How would you say the following concepts in colloquial Cantonese?
老 is used as an emotional intensifier (Wong 2005)

▪ Pirated software ▪ 老翻 （翻版）

▪ Take something for granted ▪ 老奉 （奉旨）
▪ Not nervous at all ▪ 老定 （鎮定）
▪ Make something up ▪ 老作 （虛構／作大）
▪ Lose one’s temper ▪ 發老脾 （發脾氣）
▪ Brat about something ▪ 老吹 （自吹自擂）

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Syntactic Change in Cantonese
In contemporary Cantonese, yes-no questions may be formed by placing a
negator preverbally with an existential verb jau5 (have 有):
▪佢 去 行街
▪ S/he go shopping (statement)
▪ 佢有冇去行街？
▪ S/he have not go shopping (question)
▪ What about 60 years ago? 《契爺艷史》1952
(data from Prof. Andy Chin of Education University)

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水：咦～噉呢個男仔唔錯噃！喂，你千祁
唔好捨棄呀！好難搵㗎！喂！係呢，
___________________？
紅：我……你估我唔精呀？
水：又係……
紅：你教我咖嘛！我認係女學生！

雲：搵你做咩呀？
水：重有第二樣吖？！你爸爸使泉叔……
寒：坐……_______________________？

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水：咦～噉呢個男仔唔錯噃！喂，你千祁唔好捨棄呀！好難搵㗎！喂！
係呢，你有認畀佢聽你做女工嘅冇呀？
紅：我……你估我唔精呀？
水：又係……
紅：你教我咖嘛！我認係女學生！

雲：搵你做咩呀？
水：重有第二樣吖？！你爸爸使泉叔……
寒：坐……你位千金有讀書冇呀？

Negator was placed before sentence-final particle in a yes-no question 70

years ago!!

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Lexical Change – Cantonese
How do you usually name the following objects/concepts in Hong Kong Cantonese?
New words in Cantonese through ‘borrowing’ → loan words (localized loan words)

公車／巴士 計程車／的士 辦館／士多

電梯／車立 烘麵包／多士 不合格／肥佬

Which word of each pair is more prevalent in spoken Cantonese? Where did they come from?
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What about the following objects? How do you name them in colloquial Cantonese?
Semi-localized loan words, with a rising tone at the final syllable!!

XL, L,M,S

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Summary
• What is language change
o Diachronic analysis vs. Synchronic analysis
• Sound change
o Conditioned vs. unconditioned
o Assimilation, dissimilation, deletion, insertion, metathesis
o Reconstruction
▪ The “majority rule” principle, the “naturalness” principle
o Great Vowel Shift in English
• Other language change
o Semantic, morphological and syntactic

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References
Wang, S-Y William. 1999. Language emergence and transmission. In Alain
Peyraube & Sun Chaofen (eds.) In Honor of Mei Tsu-Lin: Studies on Chinese
Historical Syntax and Morphology. pp.247-257.
Williams, S. 1856. A Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Canton
Dialect.
Wong, Ying-wai. 2005. A study on the properties of the particle lou5 in
Cantonese. Paper presented at the Workshop on Development of Cantonese
Grammar: An interaction between diachronic and synchronic grammar.

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Course Teaching Evaluation (CTE)
- Search OCTE in your emails
- Choose LING1000/UGED1924

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