Questions tagged [historical-linguistics]
The diachronic study of language and its evolution.
526
questions
2
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3answers
96 views
Learning linguistics from scratch
I am a student of mathematics and physics but have been inspired to learn more about linguistics after having learned a new language this year. I found the subject deeply fascinating. As of now I am a ...
0
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0answers
7 views
How to pronounce 'Il est bel et bon' (Passereau) [migrated]
My choir is singing a jolly french song: 'Il est bel et bon', by Pierre Passereau. It was published in 1534 in Paris.
The words are:
Il est bel et bon commère mon mary
Il estoient deux femmes toutes ...
-4
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0answers
44 views
Did names are translate in different languages according to the meaning? Please tell me asap [closed]
Did names are translate in different languages according to the meaning of name?
9
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2answers
2k views
How well do Semitic languages preserve consonants over time?
I'm not too familiar with the details of Semitic languages, but as far as I can tell it seems the tri-consonantal roots of words are relatively important. If the consonants change over time, did they ...
1
vote
1answer
90 views
How consistent are the Egyptian Hieroglyph carvings orthographically?
We design the snake to look like this, and the bird to look like that, and the human figure to look like this other. Does it have to be exactly like that, or can we have some freedom when designing a ...
4
votes
0answers
48 views
What is the historical-linguistic origin of the high variety of the Burmese language?
In Myanmar (Burma), a state of diglossia exists.
How did the high (formal) variety originate historically? Did it use to have native speakers at some point in the historical development of the ...
1
vote
1answer
70 views
Resemblance Between Turkish Ablative and Locative, Ancient Greek Ablative, Allative
I was studying some Ancient Greek, and found out that the declination of some irregular nouns are very similar.
I started wondering if there is actually a language that is mother of Altaic languages ...
-1
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3answers
178 views
Etymological Fallacy
What is actually wrong with using Etymology to infer a word's meaning?
I mean other than semantics( or more subtle meaning, nuance) of what other use could studying etymology be.
I cannot see the ...
1
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1answer
66 views
Are there any existing attested records or any manuscripts from Eastern Hungarian languages?
As a native Hungarian speaker, I've always been fascinated by the history of my native tongue. As we all know, Friar Julianus found Hungarian speaking people in the Ural mountains in the 13th century. ...
1
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1answer
128 views
Why is Latin considered a dead language, but Old High German simply a precursor to modern German?
Or, to put it another way: If the Church hadn't preserved Latin, would it even be considered a different language from Italian as opposed to simply an older form in the development of the Italian ...
33
votes
4answers
10k views
Were ancient languages as sophisticated as modern languages?
Reading some dialogues from Socrates, it struck me how eloquently the people seemed to speak from those times thousands of years ago. (Although this might be a result of the translation.)
And yet ...
1
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0answers
89 views
How could Proto-Indo-European not get dissolved into creoles during the Indo-European expansion?
First of all, I must say that I realise that this is not exactly a linguistics question so much as it is an anthropological, sociological, or historical question, but I suspect this might be the best ...
-1
votes
3answers
180 views
why is syntax interesting? [closed]
I hear a lot the argument that "language is just a way of communication, therefore it is not "really" interesting to waste the time on studying aspects such as syntax, rather the truly interesting ...
1
vote
5answers
225 views
Could Proto-Indo-Uralic be reconstructed?
I am interested in linguistics and how words spread from place to place. I have seen that there are two language families, and that there are signs that they might be related. Proto-Indo-Uralic is the ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
Problems with the adoption of the Latin script in English?
How did the Middle English adapted itself to the Latin script?
As I read it, Latin script didn't really suit the sounds in this language.
Was the adaptation authoritative, ruled by a central ...
3
votes
2answers
87 views
What happened to “accented velars” in Anatolian?
One of the oldest splits within Indo-European was between the Centum and Satem languages; they differ in what they did to the "accented velar" phonemes (like *ḱ and *ǵ).
However, if I understand ...
-1
votes
1answer
91 views
Some scholars says that you cannot make the plural and feminine form of word Allah from arabic linguistic perspective [closed]
Is it possible from arabic linguistic perspective to make the plural and feminine form of word الله? for example اللهون plural form of word الله and اللت feminine form of word الله because in Arabic, ...
0
votes
3answers
59 views
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 ...
0
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1answer
105 views
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
votes
1answer
72 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, ...
4
votes
1answer
227 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
votes
0answers
97 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
votes
1answer
93 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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votes
2answers
118 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?
0
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0answers
74 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
votes
1answer
262 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
votes
1answer
87 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
votes
1answer
681 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
votes
1answer
146 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
votes
0answers
54 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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votes
2answers
145 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 ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
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 ...
1
vote
2answers
151 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
3
votes
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
votes
0answers
48 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
votes
0answers
83 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
votes
3answers
10k 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
votes
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
votes
2answers
139 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 ...
3
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1answer
226 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
votes
1answer
104 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 ...
1
vote
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
votes
1answer
384 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
188 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
votes
1answer
147 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
77 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?
0
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0answers
23 views
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.
1
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1answer
157 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
votes
0answers
51 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
votes
1answer
113 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.
...
