Aitchison on Inherent Causes of Language Change
Anglistisches Seminar
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Pro-Seminar II: History of English Language and Language Change
Instructor: Annette Mantlik
Wintersemester 2013/14
Doing what comes naturally – inherent causes of language change
Human language is affected both by the mind and the vocal apparatus. Causes for changes in language are mostly due to social triggers but also have a deeper, inherent level.
A certain tendency to ease the effort in pronounciation is built into language because of anatomical, physiological and psychological make-up of human beings.
Dropping of consonants
e.g. French n as in an (year) or bien (good) etc. → no voiced n but a nasalised preceding vowel
Phoneticians found out that the sound [an] is being pronounced as [ān] anyway, since the nasal cavity cannot be closed off totally during uttering the vowel [a] and hence the final [n] becomes redundant. [an] is then pronounced as [ā] (nasalised a).
This phenomenon is a so-called weak spot in language that is likely to change and has happened e.g. in French and Chinese.
Other weak spots:
Final plosives [p] [t] [k] → usually softened or replaced by glottal stops at the end of words or in the middle (Cockney dialect; “good night” = gud nai' / gud naid etc.)
in Chinese, all three voiceless stops were replaced by glottal stops and eventually the original consonants were lost completely the gradual loss of endings is to be discovered in many languages and still happens today
Linking sounds together
assimilation: becoming similar (warn Peter = [warm pitə]] omission: group of sounds get clustered together (He banged the drum = he bang(ed) the drum)
between words these links are mostly temporary but within words they are likely to have a longer-lasting effect, e.g. handkerchief = han(d)kerchief, whistle =whissel, etc.
We tend to avoid certain structures since it seems that v-c-v-sequence is the most natural form of vocal organs and hence languages
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Pro-Seminar II: History of English Language and Language Change
Instructor: Annette Mantlik
Wintersemester 2013/14
Doing what comes naturally – inherent causes of language change
Human language is affected both by the mind and the vocal apparatus. Causes for changes in language are mostly due to social triggers but also have a deeper, inherent level.
A certain tendency to ease the effort in pronounciation is built into language because of anatomical, physiological and psychological make-up of human beings.
Dropping of consonants
e.g. French n as in an (year) or bien (good) etc. → no voiced n but a nasalised preceding vowel
Phoneticians found out that the sound [an] is being pronounced as [ān] anyway, since the nasal cavity cannot be closed off totally during uttering the vowel [a] and hence the final [n] becomes redundant. [an] is then pronounced as [ā] (nasalised a).
This phenomenon is a so-called weak spot in language that is likely to change and has happened e.g. in French and Chinese.
Other weak spots:
Final plosives [p] [t] [k] → usually softened or replaced by glottal stops at the end of words or in the middle (Cockney dialect; “good night” = gud nai' / gud naid etc.)
in Chinese, all three voiceless stops were replaced by glottal stops and eventually the original consonants were lost completely the gradual loss of endings is to be discovered in many languages and still happens today
Linking sounds together
assimilation: becoming similar (warn Peter = [warm pitə]] omission: group of sounds get clustered together (He banged the drum = he bang(ed) the drum)
between words these links are mostly temporary but within words they are likely to have a longer-lasting effect, e.g. handkerchief = han(d)kerchief, whistle =whissel, etc.
We tend to avoid certain structures since it seems that v-c-v-sequence is the most natural form of vocal organs and hence languages