Questions tagged [language-change]
The phenomenon whereby a language's grammar and lexicon change over time.
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How can a word for 'the act of Xing', semantically shift to mean 'the thing Xed'?
I don't grasp this Reddit comment.
An example of (3) might be this (from a 15th-century will):
I now the seid John Smyth, for diu[er]se causez and consyderacyonys shevyd vnto me, will ...
2
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1answer
96 views
Absense of cases in Bulgarian
Nowadays, Bulgarian and Macedonian are the only Slavic languages where the system of cases isn't developed. Bulgarian and Macedonian are very close to each other, but are considered to be 2 ...
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0answers
93 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 ...
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3answers
136 views
From Old French -iss into English -ish
I have read this information on the word perish:
"mid-13c., from periss- present participle stem of Old French perir"
And this comment is below a question of mine on English Language & Usage ...
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3answers
200 views
Does a polyglot think in every language he speaks or only in the mother-tongue?
some teachers say if you want to speak English , think in English.Since language and thought are different as is evident from the answers to the question* Are language and thought the same?*how can ...
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1answer
963 views
Why can linguists decide which use of language is correct and which is not?
Often we are hearing that such-and-such spelling, phraseology, etc is incorrect. Person X made a grammar error, pronunciation error, orthography error, styling error, other sorts of language error.
I'...
2
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1answer
96 views
Does the study of linguistics help one to be a good speaker and good writer of languages?
Linguistics is the systematic study of languages.
Some people say "What chemistry is to medicine, linguistics is to language."
It is a fact that linguistics helps one to study languages ...
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3answers
513 views
Minimum population for language survival
What is the minimum population required to keep a language alive?
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4answers
2k views
How do accents of a whole town drift?
I've heard it said that accents of towns drift over time. I find this hard to comprehend as how could an accent of a whole town change?
I think it is established that we mainly pick up our accent ...
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3answers
188 views
On an apparent “ masstermization” phenomenon in contemporary informal French: “ il y a de la jolie nana par ici”
I have noticed a tendency to " masstermize" nouns in contemporary informal French, I mean to use nouns as mass terms ( uncountable), though they cannot be strictly used in this way.
What I call " ...
4
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2answers
102 views
Why do words like thence fall out of use?
It happens sometimes that rather useful words disappear. A word like
thence, for example, is very useful, and has to be replaced if it is
taken out of the language by something less concise (and less ...
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0answers
186 views
Is linguistic change pushed by humor?
Through "meme culture," young people are inventing all sorts of new linguistic constructions purely because they think they sound funny. The interesting thing is that these jokes don't end at a ...
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2answers
101 views
Do grammatically close languages tend to begin to use literal translations of some words in other senses in that other language?
Let's have an English phrase "let's have" and the Czech equivalent "mějme". Perhaps, at some point in the past, someone was translating a math textbook and didn't know how to translate "let's have" in ...
4
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3answers
176 views
Plural form as respect form - based on what?
Many languages use the plural as respected mood for a singular (even English use "you" which is basically a plural form of thu).
Now my question is: based on what those who started to speak in ...
7
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1answer
120 views
How did the complexities of Arabic cardinals arise?
Generally the grammar related to the numbers in Arabic is considered to be the most complicated thing about the language. In fact, it is considered so complicated that many teachers argue that not ...
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2answers
152 views
How do you call a languages tendency to adopt foreign words rather than translate them to their language?
One difference between Mandarin Chinese and Japanese is that the former likes to translate foreign terms, while Japanese prefers to transcribe them to Japanese.
E.g. Basketball:
Mandarin Chinese: 篮球 (...
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3answers
500 views
Are there established linguistic theories which incorporate the concept of “lazy speech”?
Motivation
So on EL&U, I pretty often encounter the claim, under a question of some usage or other, that certain usages are the consequence of "lazy speakers", who "would otherwise" use some (...
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186 views
In “internet Linguistics” theory, does David Crystal include sociolinguistic patterns as affecting language changes?
I'm going to discuss language changes among social sites. I'm using internet linguistics as a theoretical framework, but one of my questions related to social aspect-gender... internet linguistics ...
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1answer
177 views
Differences among Chinese, Tibetan, and Burmese
Is there any research or explanation for the (grammatical, typological) differences among Chinese, Tibetan, and Burmese?
I am thinking of the fact that Chinese is classed as an Analytic, SVO language,...
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1answer
99 views
Are names of dishes more prone to name change due to power / language shift?
I am wondering whether names of dishes are generally more prone to change when a power or language shift occurs in a society?
Particularly, I am thinking of the Egyptian cuisine and the current ...
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3answers
1k views
Why did the pronunciation of the rhotic phoneme /r/ change after the 2ndWW in public speech?
For example why did radio presenters roll the r on the BBC before the war and not after? Why did Brecht roll the r extensively? Why did Hitler roll the r extensively? My perspective is from the ...
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4answers
215 views
Which languages have absorbed the most vocabulary from Russian, and which languages have influenced its vocabulary?
I'm a student of formal linguistics and Russian language, my question has been surprisingly hard to google -- I've studied a little Ukrainian, and I've read that its structurally similar to Russian ...
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2answers
1k views
Julius Caesar original name spelling?
Was Julius Caesar originally spelled with and I before "J" was invented? Or was it spelled some other way? If so, how?
I'm curious.
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2answers
63 views
Is there a formal term for when a word begins to be used in a broader sense than the original sense?
For example: "aggressive recruitment", "aggressive cleaning" or "more aggressive guidelines".
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0answers
79 views
Impact of European languages on AmE modality and grammatical moods
American English Use subjunctive more than British English and also they heavily use modal verb "would". Grammatical moods like subjunctive in many European languages like German and Spanish are ...
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2answers
148 views
Are modern chuch Latin and classical Latin different languages?
From a (probably now-deleted comment) elsewhere on SE:
[Church Latin and Classical Latin] are more or less the same languages. Some new words were added and the pronunciation changed over the years,...
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1answer
253 views
What's the oldest living language out there? [closed]
This is going to require some explanation first. I've found that this question is frequently asked but rarely answered to a satisfying degree, with those who ask it often settling for answers like "uh,...
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0answers
92 views
Are languages converging in the modern era?
I know this question sounds vague, and there may not be much evidence yet, but I suspect it is falsifiable. The question is, in the modern era (post European imperialism, in particular post-mass-media ...
13
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4answers
513 views
Have we observed classes changing from open to closed, or vice versa?
Classes of words in languages tend to be either "open" (accepting new members readily) or "closed" (rejecting new members). This distinction is fairly easy to see: compare how readily English accepted ...
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0answers
59 views
Can learning a new language help with speech impairment?
I'm not a linguist, but i can see the connection between speech impairment and language learning.
I'm only asking because I have a slight speech impairment myself (unable to pronounce guttural sounds ...
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0answers
31 views
Terminology for a phrase that changes meaning over time within a closed community
I am looking for the linguistic terminology for the phenomenon of semantic change in a discourse within a closed community. This closed community could be a couple, a company etc.
For example, ...
4
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1answer
276 views
How are proto-languages dated?
This is something I've been thinking about lately. You look up any reconstructed proto-language, you'll probably find an estimate as to when it was spoken. But how can this number be determined?
From ...
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1answer
576 views
Feminisation of men's language?
I was wondering whether there has been (generally) a feminisation of "men's language". Lakoff's claims in "women's and men's language" are almost half a century old and there have been contradictory ...
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1answer
364 views
Listing the historical change between two languages (phonology)
I have been asked to list the historical change from one language to another, using a list comparing words between the languages. I need to order the rules in chronological order, and knowledge of ...
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0answers
80 views
Is this what English/Mandarin Chinese or other 21st century dominant langauges would eventually do too? (details below)(yup that's opinion based) [closed]
Umbrians, for example, continued to make inscriptions in their language for centuries after Roman annexation. But eventually the power and status of Latin prevailed, particularly after all residents ...
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2answers
45 views
Metrics for word stability?
I'm trying to create a static list of words that can be used for encoding large numbers. The words are selected on a variety of factors and I would like to include a measure of the word's stability ...
8
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1answer
101 views
What is it called when a word is used based on an extant definition which no longer actually applies? e.g. “dial” with phones
It was difficult to phrase what I mean in an accurate and precise way here.
This is similar to a fossil word, but fossil words are words which have fallen out of general use except where they are ...
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2answers
2k views
Morphology vs Etymology
Morphology is the component of grammar that builds words out of units of meaning(morphemes) where a morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language.
Etymology is the study of the origin of words ...
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1answer
176 views
Do children's mispronunciations influence the development of a language?
Having read this question about how alternative names develop for a given name (Bill for William, Peggy for Margaret etc.) It seemed reasonable to me to assume that at least some of these develop due ...
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1answer
135 views
Have modern languages slowed down or even stopped from language change?
The question points in the future and so I see the problem of having evidence but an educated guess or quotations of linguists would do, I guess.
It is no secret any longer, though some nationalist ...
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1answer
231 views
How do contronyms (aka auto-antonyms) arise?
Contronyms are words that are their own antonyms.
For example:
Sanction can mean to penalize for or approve of.
Off can mean activated(the alarm went off) or deactivated.
(Additional examples)
...
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0answers
83 views
Is there a name for the process of triviliazation of a word's meaning?
What is the name for the process by which a word's meaning is trivialized or diminished in importance from its original meaning? For example, the standard English word throne means a toilet in English ...
3
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1answer
143 views
Difference between languages related a long time ago and unrelated ones
Would there be a theoretical way to distinguish between two related languages which diverged a long time ago, like tens of thousands years, and two totally unrelated languages, say, created ...
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4answers
181 views
Interesting exemplary cases where natural/political boundaries have led to language divergence
I'm looking for nice examples of the influence of natural or political boundaries to dialect divergence for introductory purposes. Generally through some limitations on the ability of people to ...
3
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2answers
189 views
Is the English “because (noun)” an instance of grammaticalization?
This structure is often used recently (I think since mid-2012) in a sarcastic or humorous way, or to indicate that the reasoning is not sound.
a) “Ok, I really want to hang with her because ...
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2answers
194 views
How are Automatic Alternations the synchronic, not diachronic, consequence of phonetically-motivated diachronic sound changes?
Haspelmath, Sims. Understanding Morphology (2010 2 ed). p 214 Bottom - 215 Top.
Automatic alternations are the [1.] synchronic [End of 1.] consequence of phonetically-motivated
diachronic ...
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2answers
131 views
Have words for numbers changed since the introduction of public schools?
Obviously language changes, which is the reason why numbers have many different names in languages. Comparing the German "einundzwanzig" (one-and-twenty) with the English "twenty one" shows what I ...
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1answer
385 views
Do languages ever get new cases?
In my education, I've learned about a lot of languages whose case systems have atrophied, especially from PIE.
Wikipedia had a reference to The Evolution of Case Systems for Marking Event Structure, ...
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0answers
95 views
Question about Michael Silverstein and Linguistics Ideology
I'm trying to understand Silverstein approach to ideological change. To my understanding he claims speakers are aware of the social and power relations reflected in the language usage and structure, ...
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4answers
377 views
Has English caused any Languages to undergo Sound Change or Grammar Change?
French historically has caused the presence of several unique sounds in English that would not have been present otherwise. For example the "dʒ" sound in "garage". Similarly, I believe I've read ...
