Why languages
change ?
by Jurayeva Nozima
Introduction
• Language change is the phenomenon by which permanent alterations
are made in the features and the use of a language over time.
• All natural languages change, and language change affects all areas of
language use. Levels of language change include sound
changes, lexical changes, semantic changes, and syntactic changes.
• It is studied by both historical linguists and sociolinguists.
Diachronic Change – (Historical Linguists) the change in languages
over time.
e.g. Old English > Middle English > Modern English
Synchronic Change – (Sociolinguists) the origins or the causes of
language changes how language changes with society or in particular
period.
e.g. Punjabi in Pakistan and Punjabi in India
Types of changes
1. Incremental Change Is the creation of new vocabulary used to
designate some physical invention, new social motivation or new
items of knowledge.
e.g. “Selfie”, “emoji” etc. added in dictionaries
2. Decremental Change words that are not used anymore since the
object is not longer used.
e.g. Cassette, floppy disk etc.
Language Change Overview
Jean Aitchison is one of the biggest contributors to this area through her book “Language Change:
Progress or Decay?” (1991). Within this she posits that there are 2 ways of viewing the
phenomenon of language change:
1. Decay (Could be both Conscious and Unconscious)
e.g. Loss of Rhotic ‘r’ car – Unconscious
Speakers didn't intend to "lose" the /r/ sound; it changed naturally over time
Colour → Color, Defence → Defense
[Driven by conscious efforts (e.g. Noah Webster’s reforms)
2. Progress (Could be Natural or Social)
Loss of /b/ in "thumb" and "lamb"[ natural}
Originally pronounced with /b/ (e.g. thum-b), the /b/ became silent over time.
A natural sound change—simplifies pronunciation and increases fluency.
Social Progress Example:
Gender-neutral language usage
E.g. fireman → firefighter, they as a singular pronoun.
Driven by social awareness and inclusion; a conscious move toward equality in language.
OLD
NEW
Levels of language change
Changes occur on the following levels of language.
[Link] (sounds)
[Link] (structure)
[Link] (meaning)
1-Phonological (sounds) change
• Over time, the sounds of languages tend to change.
• An understanding of sound change is truly important for historical
linguistics in general, and this needs to be stressed - it plays an
extremely important role in the comparative method and hence also in
linguistic reconstruction, in internal reconstruction, in detecting
loanwords, and in determining whether languages are related to one
another.
• Sound change is the most thoroughly studied area of historical
linguistics.
Terms for changes in pronunciation
In historical linguistics, a number of traditional terms designate types of phonetic change, either
by nature or result. Some of them are as follows;
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which one sound becomes more like a
nearby sound. This can occur either within a word or between words. It occurs in normal speech,
and it becomes more common in more rapid speech. In rapid speech, for example, "handbag" is
often pronounced /ˈhæmbæɡ/. The pronunciations /ˈhænbæɡ/ or /ˈhændbæɡ/ are, however,
common in normal speech, whereas the word "cupboard", for example, is always
pronounced /ˈkʌbərd/, never /ˈkʌpbɔːrd/, even in slow, highly articulated speech.
Dissimilation is a phenomenon whereby similar consonants or vowels in a word become less
similar. For example, when a /r/ sound occurs before another in the middle of a word in rhotic
dialects of English, the first tends to drop out, as in "suprise" for surprise, "paticular" for particular,
and "govenor" for governor.
Metathesis Two sounds switch places. Example: Old English thridda became Middle
English third. The process has shaped many English words historically. Bird and horse came
from Old English bridd and hros.
2- Syntactic (structure) Change
It occurs in the grammatical notions that govern languages, it is a low process and
in need for further investigation.
Word order
• Old English: SOV and SVO language
• Modern English: An SVO language
Double negation – no longer part of English
• i dont know nothing✅ In Old English and some dialects, double negatives were
normal and added emphasis.
• ❌ In Standard Modern English, they are seen as incorrect.
Contracted negatives – Old English
• knew not – didn’t know
Comparatives – Old English
• most shamefullest, more happier
3-Semantic (meaning) Change
Semantic changes in word meanings - semantic shift. There are four
common types of change are broadening, narrowing, amelioration, and
pejoration.
Broadening: (generalization or extension) Broadening is the process
by which a word's meaning becomes more inclusive than an earlier
meaning.
• In Old English dog referred to just one particular breed, and thing
meant a public assembly. In Contemporary English - dog can refer to
any hairy, barking, four-legged creature.
Narrowing: (specialization or restriction) The opposite of broadening
is narrowing in which a word's meaning becomes less inclusive.
• For example, in Middle English, deer could refer to any animal, and
girl could mean a young person of either sex.
Amelioration: refers to the upgrading or rise in status of a word's
meaning.
• Knight once meant “servant,” but now means a person of honor.
Pejoration: More common than amelioration is the downgrading or
depreciation of a word's meaning.
• For example, the adjective silly, for instance, once meant "blessed"
or "innocent," Villain once meant “farm worker,” but now means a
“bad person.”