Questions tagged [historical-linguistics]
The diachronic study of language and its evolution.
513
questions
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Is there a specific name for the area of linguistics studying external constructs as encoded/embedded in languages?
I've recently become curious about this area of language/linguistics. I'm thinking about how mental, environmental and societal constructs are encoded within languages. Also about what a language ...
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1answer
76 views
+50
How to find the first use of a word?
I already know how to use the Ngram to check the frequency,
And how to use the use the date ranges with Google books to find old usage of a word in medieval books.
But how to check the first use of ...
2
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1answer
54 views
When was Proto-Austronesian spoken?
I read on Wikipedia that the language that Hawaiian comes from, distantly, is called Proto-Austronesian. It says that it had more sounds/phonemes was spoken around Taiwan and Southern China. However, ...
3
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1answer
126 views
How might one swear in Proto-Indo-European?
Proto-Indo-European is an interesting topic. I'm fascinated by how it spread. But, I wonder how to use curse words. These words, like others, will probably be reconstructed from other languages: Latin,...
2
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0answers
62 views
Which factors influence the linguistic conservatism of a language, and to what extent?
Presumably the number of speakers is a factor, as a language cannot change if nobody speaks it (is this even true in absolute?)1, but it does not necessarily follow that more speakers results in ...
2
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1answer
51 views
Why are PIE C+glide clusters so rare?
I noticed that *Cj/*Cy (depending on if one uses IPA or IEist notation) and *Cw sequences are rare in PIE (with most being the result of schwebeablaut or regular ablaut). Among sequences that aren't ...
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2answers
64 views
Open ت and tied ة does both ت indicates at the end of the word that the word is feminine in arabic linguistics? [closed]
If a word ends with open ت or tied ة does both ت indicates at the end of the word that the word is feminine in arabic linguistics like ٱللَّتَ feminine form of word Allah in Quran 53:19?
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0answers
65 views
Are there any unattested, reconstructed Middle English words?
Are there any unattested Middle English words that were attested in Early Modern English? I'm asking this because, on Wiktionary, I saw that there are only 2 words: the F word and halibut that have ...
4
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1answer
199 views
Etymology of Persian سبز (sabz), meaning “green”
Where does سبز come from? (Wiktionary has no etymological information.) Urdu and Hindhi have the word "sabzi", which is derived from it, but is there a PIE root from which this derives, or is Old ...
3
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1answer
84 views
How to read and understand linguistics articles?
I was wondering if there is a good way to read and understand Quantitative linguistics articles that has graphs in it?
For example,
For a class, I am currently reading: "Recognition of spoken ...
3
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1answer
609 views
Is Uralic Possibly a Branch of the Indo-European Branch?
I've heard that there is a "family" of languages called the Uralic family. I looked up the association between the two languages. I found that there are possible cognates on Wikipedia.
I am floating ...
2
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1answer
130 views
Purists and attempt to Purify Languages [closed]
Greek has been notorious for trying to Purify the Language.
People tried to conserve the Attic Dialect( which evolved to Katharevousa, named blatantly as an attempt to conserve and purify) and ...
3
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0answers
52 views
Which are the social differences which lead to the variance in the way to address a person?
My question is: Which are the social differences which lead to the variance in the way to address a person?
An example of the difference is T-V distinction some languages abolished it while others ...
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2answers
133 views
Is Rigveda the oldest religious recorded text (grandha)in the world? [closed]
Rigveda is considered to be the oldest recorded religious writings(grandha) book may be by the Indians.I do not know Whether it is a fact or not.Even the Wikipedia says so.
Is Rigveda the oldest ...
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3answers
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Why do adjectives come before nouns in English?
Why does the attributive adjective come before a noun in English? In most languages, the adjective comes always after a noun. For example, white car is written as the equivalent of car white in Latin ...
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2answers
136 views
why can't we have two main verbs in a sentence in syntax
Would you please exlain to me why can't we have two main verbs in a sentence in syntax?
Thank you so much
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0answers
83 views
How and why do languages evolve to use different types of quotation marks?
For example, English uses "...", but French uses «...».
Also, which of these is more common? What did the first written languages use?
2
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0answers
47 views
(proto-)Germanic evidence for Late Latin vowel length
I would like to find a list of borrowings illustrating the reflexes in (proto-)Germanic of Latin long and short vowels. In particular I would like to find substantiation to the standard claim that it ...
4
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0answers
75 views
What language/script did Japan during the Yamato period and earlier have?
The Yamato period (300 - 710) had an organized ruler, civilozation, etc. However, only in Nara period (710 - 794), which existed along with the Tang dynasty of China, a Japanese script and language ...
22
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3answers
9k views
Is Sanskrit really the mother of all languages?
Hindus believe that "Sanskrit is the mother of all Languages".
It is a fact that Sanskrit has enriched most Indian Languages including the Dravidian Languages such as Telugu, as Latin enriched some ...
17
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7answers
5k views
Are language and thought the same?
I want to know whether language and thought are the same.
I think language enriches one's thought and thought helps one to use language better. Without language how could man think? Did they ...
8
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2answers
132 views
Can computational techniques solve historical problems that couldn't otherwise be solved?
Recently I've read that machine learning has been used to apply the Comparative Method (example with references here). Also, there are other mathematical approaches that have been applied to the ...
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1answer
148 views
“ft” -> “cht” shift
Could you please give me a link to the information about Germanic "ft" -> "cht" shift. When it was? Do we hear "f" on the end of "enough" because of it?
English German
shaft Schacht
German "...
5
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2answers
267 views
Why do “house” and “mouse” have “s” on the end?
I know, that English "t" and German "s" may be a cognate
it -> es
out -> aus
what -> was
that -> das?
Why do "house" and "mouse" have "s" on the end?
3
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1answer
220 views
What are the “cardinal sins” in historical linguistics? [closed]
Are there any explicit examples of poor methodology or application of the historical comparative method that most, if not all, can agree on?
2
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1answer
98 views
Reference Request: connection between PIE \*leg- and \*les
There's an obvious similarity between the Proto-Indo-European reconstructed roots *leg- and *les-, both "to collect, gather", reflected in logos, Latin lego and German lesen respectively. I have not ...
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1answer
121 views
Unfounded sound changes
For example can a voiced pharyngeal fricative [ʕ] develop into the Voiceless bilabial fricative ⟨ɸ⟩? Are there places of articulation that don't directly develop into different places of articulation?...
4
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1answer
346 views
Proto-Polynesian reconstruction and ambiguities in Hawaiian, Maori, Samoan and Tongan
given that:
Hawaiian (H)
Maori (M)
Samoan (S)
Tongan (T)
/l/ in H S T = /r/ in M
/t/ in M S T = /k/ in H
why do we find words with /l/ /r/ /n/ alternations instead of the common attested /l/ /r/ ...
5
votes
2answers
151 views
The Cyrillic script among the Slavic people
Today the Cyrillic script is used by the East Slavs, such as the Russians and the Bulgarians, but the West Slavs (e.g. the Czechs, the Poles) and some South Slavs (e.g. the Croats, the Slovenes) use ...
0
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1answer
132 views
Is it accurate to say that the Spanish language has no connection whatsoever with the Greek language?
Is it accurate to say that the Spanish language has no connection whatsoever with the Greek language? If not, and if possible, about how much can we safely say there is?
3
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1answer
70 views
Do we have ablaut in the Bengali verb system?
Do we have ablaut in the Bengali verb system?Is it why we have vowel alternation?
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0answers
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Bengali analogical and phonetic changes. Vowel alternations in verbs
How do we get verbs as “lekhe” and “nebe” in Bengali, instead of “likhe” and “nibe”? If we apply sound changes that have occurred from Pre-Bengali to Bengali, those should be the correct forms.
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1answer
117 views
Are there traces of Old Turkish in ancient Germanic languages?
The question is quite clear and understandable as in the title. Are there traces of Old Turkish in ancient Germanic languages? Or traces of Germanic in Old Turkish?
3
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0answers
50 views
Sound Changes From Proto Bengali to Bengali
What are the sound changes that occur from Proto Bengali to Bengali? In which order did they occur historically?
Ex.
PB Būdhā became B Buro
PB Karisi became B koriš
PB dahī became B doi
4
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1answer
112 views
How did vowel a in L. maneō “to remain” come from PIE *mn-eh₁- “to remain” < PIE *men- “to stay, stand still”?
AHD-IER (Watkins, 2011) P97 gives PIE *man-e- for L. maneō:
Variant suffixed (stative) form
*man-e-. MANOR, MANSE, MANSION, MENAGE; IMMANENT, PERMANENT, REMAIN, from Latin manere, to remain.
...
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3answers
162 views
Why is the word “idiot” so similar between multiple languages?
Weird question, granted, but I was just looking around on Google Translate and I noticed that the word "idiot" is basically the same across quite a few languages, here are a few examples:
Italian: ...
9
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1answer
115 views
Are there languages that can speak of continous things without discretizing them?
All languages I know of discretize qualities when trying to describe them. For example, languages generally sample a few words for describing a range of continous things like feelings ('terrible', '...
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2answers
220 views
If *h1 were a glottal stop, and virtually all German word initial vowels have an implicit glottal stop
If *h1 were a glottal stop, and virtually all German word initial vowels have implicit glottal stop then would the claim about regular laryngeal loss have to be revised?
There's a rather recent ...
4
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0answers
90 views
Relation between keltoi and galatai?
The ancient Greeks used both words and appeared to have originated both. The first form appears first in 517BC by Hecateus of Milietus. The word is still known in the 12th century AD where it's used ...
3
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1answer
99 views
Do Old Indian words with voiceless aspirated stops have cognates in other branches of Indogermanic?
Inspired by this answer by Arnaud Fournet I have this question: Do Old Indic (Vedic, Sankrit) words beginning with a voiceless aspirated stop (like ph, th, or kh) have cognates in other branches of ...
3
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0answers
49 views
Resources on Middle Eastern Common Greek in the First Century?
QUESTION:
I would like to ask if anyone knows any decent resources on how native middle easterners, particularly in Judea, might have pronounced greek koine in the first century.
GOAL:
My primary ...
5
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1answer
194 views
When did the contraction “Allah” originate?
The Arabic word Allāh "God" is notable for a few different features. For one, it contains the sound [ɫ] not found in any other Arabic word; it's also an irregular contraction of the article al- and ...
4
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1answer
436 views
What language was spoken in East Asia before Proto-Turkic?
From Wikipedia we have:
The Proto-Turkic language is the linguistic reconstruction of the
common ancestor of the Turkic languages that was spoken by the
Proto-Turks before their divergence ...
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2answers
53 views
What natural symbolic representations could be used for Mathematical constants?
We know mathematics is a language by itself.
But to evoke any constants or any arbitrary values as such to solve anything, prior knowledge of a particular symbol and its usage must be understood.
...
2
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0answers
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Is there a connection between the Sumerian En and the Semite El?
En means lord in Sumerian and El god or deity in Semitic.
Semitic peoples use the word lord as a synonym of god, it seems that the same happens with Sumerian and its gods like Enlil, Enki, Enzu etc.
...
3
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2answers
169 views
What can we say about Classical Nahuatl <z>?
Nahuatl has two sibilant fricatives, now pronounced something like [s] and [ʃ]. The standard orthography was developed by Spanish colonizers, who wrote /ʃ/ as x, and /s/ as c before a front vowel, z ...
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4answers
134 views
Which languages to learn for historical linguistics?
Which languages should one be familiar with if they wanted to get into historical linguistics? Specifically, Indo-European linguistics, reconstructing Proto-Indo-European etc. Which ones would be most ...
6
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1answer
209 views
Did the removal of Chinese characters have an impact on Korean and Vietnamese?
Korean and Vietnamese used to have Chinese characters but no longer do; there has been talk (e.g. here) of doing the same in Japanese. Has there been an impact on the language? for instance
changed ...
1
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4answers
153 views
Is there a link between the words red and bread?
While this might sound random at first, I noticed that it
works in multiple languages:
Danish: brød (bread) = b + rød
German: Brot = b + rot
English: bread (spoken language) = b + red
Is this a ...
1
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1answer
276 views
Is there any relationship between the Hungarian long s sound and the long s in some European languages?
This History SE question (with some references), which enquires about when the f (actually an ſ) became an s and why in English specifically, prompted me to wonder if there was any relationship with ...
