1. Historical linguistics LING 200 Spring 2006

2. Overview of unit Some basic concepts in historical linguistics Examples of language families Types of language change Linguistic reconstruction Reconstruction and prehistory

3. Synchronic linguistics –What is language (at a particular point in time)? Diachronic linguistics (a.k.a. historical linguistics) –How does language change over time? How do words change over time (etymology)? –What aspects of language can be reconstructed? –What does a reconstructed language reveal about the culture and/or location of its speakers? What is historical linguistics?

4. Overview Similarities between languages Language families Language change Reconstruction and comparative method Reconstruction and prehistory

5. Observations 'water'thethe c  i:š thothothuthu 'rope' t  ’e  tkni t  'o  t  'u  '3't h oq m  ta:tt h aq'  yt h at  t'e 'run' l-q  c ‘sg./du. run’ wáj  ti- l-qeç 'sg./du. run' -t  'e 'sg./du. run'  -n-  -yet ‘pl. run’ l-  es 'pl. run' -  z 'pl. run' ‘jump’ l-t  h  -t  upl-t  h  -t  h ah ‘go fast’ Deg Xinag Sahaptin Witsuwit'en Sekani

6. Similarities between languages May be due to: –borrowing –coincidence –inheritance from common ancestor

7. Language families ancestor language daughter daughter daughter Deg Xinag, Witsuwit’en, Sekani are daughters or descendants of Proto-Athabaskan Trees as a model of divergence over time

8. ……

9. Proto-Anglo-Frisian Old English Old Frisian Middle English Modern English Modern Frisian

10. Proto-Romance (  Latin) Spanish Portuguese Italian French Rumanian...

11. Some terminology Deg Xinag [t h e] ‘water’, Witsuwit’en [t h o] ‘water’ and Sekani [t h u] ‘water’ are cognate words (or cognates) Deg Xinag [t h e] ‘water’, Witsuwit’en [t h o] ‘water’ and Sekani [t h u] ‘water’ are reflexes of Proto-Athabaskan *t h u: ‘water’

12. Ancestor languages Actually attested: Latin Hypothetical, reconstructed: Proto-Anglo-Frisian, Proto-Romance

13. Indo- European languages

14. Indo-European language family

15. Family time-depth How long ago was the ancestor language spoken? –Proto-Indo-European: 5000-6000 –Proto-Germanic: 2500-3500 Family of remote time-depth –phylum, stock

16. More language families each dot = 1 language family

17. Africa

18. Niger- Congo languages

19. China, Taiwan Kam-Tai a.k.a. Tai, Tai-Kadai Miao-Yao a.k.a Hmong-Mien (Most western linguists don’t believe Kam-Tai and Miao-Yao are Sino- Tibetan.)

20. Proto-Chinese Mandarin Wú Gàn Xiāng Southern group N. NW SW E. Kejia Yue Min Peking Shānxi, Sìchuān, Shàngha  i E. Hunan Chéngbù Hakka Cantonese Xiāmen, (Be  ijing) Xian Kunming Taiwanese

21. Athabaskan (Athapaskan, Athabascan) family Estimated time- depth: 2500 years

22. Na-Dene Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak Eyak Proto-Athabaskan CAY S. AK Tset CBC PCA NW Can Sar Apache Deg Xinag Witsuwit’en Sekani CAY = Central Alaska-Yukon; S. AK = S. Alaska; Tset = Tsetsaut, CBC = Central BC, PCA = Pacific Coast Athabaskan; NW Can = NW Canada; Sar = Sarcee

23. Penutian Proto-Sahaptian Sahaptin Nez Perce

24. Language isolate No known related languages –Zuni –Haida –Basque –Sumerian

25. Haida Zuni

26. Language change How languages change/types of language change –phonetic, phonological change –morphological change –semantic change

27. Phonetic change: change in pronunciation of phonemes Phonological change: change in phoneme inventory. May result from: –phoneme merger or split –several phonetic changes –borrowing of words with new sound Phonetic vs. phonological change

28. Phonetic change Babine-Witsuwit’en language (western B.C.) Takla, Babine dialects Witsuwit'en, François L. dialects Affrication isogloss

29. Witsuwit'enBabine [c  s][c  s] 'hook' [c h  s][c  h  s] 'down feathers' [tinc’  j][tinc  ’  j] '4' [ts’ac] 'plate' Babine/Takla dialects: added an allophonic rule of Affrication /c c h c’/ --> [c  c  h c  ’] / syllable [____ [c] = voiceless palatal stop; [c  ] = voiceless palato-alveolar affricate

30. Consonant inventory All Babine-Witsuwit’en dialects labalvpal lab-vel uvuglot stopspt t h t’c c h c’k w k wh k w ’q q h q’  affts ts h ts’ aff-lat t th t’t th t’ frics zçxwxw  h fric-lat  nasalsmn apxyw  apx-latl

31. Phonological change Change affecting phoneme inventory Merger –e.g. *t, *d > /t/ Cf. synchronic neutralization –e.g. /d/  [t] / ___ # (not phonetically distinct from /t/ word finally)

32. Examples of phonological change 1.Development of Proto-Athabaskan consonant inventory in Tsek’ene 2.Development of Proto-Athabaskan vowel inventory in Tsek’ene

33. Proto-Ath consonant inventory labialalveolarretroflexpalato- alveolar palataluvularlabio- uvular glottal t t h t' c c h c'q q h q'q w q wh q w '  ts ts h ts' t  t  h t  ’ č č h č’ t  t  h t  ' s z  š ž w ww w h  l mn  w j

34. Reflexes of retroflex, palato- alveolars in Tsek’ene *ts’, t  ’, č’ > ts’ Proto-AthabaskanSekani *ts’a:t  ’ ‘diaper, cradle’ts’at  ‘swamp moss’ *t  ’  ’t  ’ ‘kidney’-n  sts’  ze * č ’  n ‘wing, side’-ts’  nè  ‘bone, side’

35. Reflexes of retroflex, palato- alveolars in Tsek’ene alveolar sibilant, retroflex sibilant, palato- alveolar sibilant > alveolar place merger only –stops > stops –fricatives > fricatives –voiceless aspirated stops remained voiceless, etc.

36. Tsek’ene consonant inventory labialalveolarpalato- alveolar palatalvelarlabio- velar  pt t h t' k k h k'k w k wh k w '  ts ts h ts' č č h č’ t  t  h t  ' s zš ž  x  xwxw h  l mn j w

37. Morphological change Morphemes are added French >Witsuwit'en 'table'la table l  tap 'devil'le diable l  yap French >Sekani ‘angel’les angeslìzãslìzãs

38. Morphemes disappear Proto- Athabaskan Witsuwit'enSekani ‘forehead'*-t h a:q'-nt h aq-- (-ts’  è  ) ‘daughter’ *-t h  me  -- (-yez ‘woman’s child’ -t h uè  ‘man’s daughter’ *ts h e  -ts h  --

39. Morphemes change lexical category Proto-AthabaskanWitsuwit'en *q  (e  ) 'fork, cleft' (noun) -iq  z 'between' (postposition) *-ze:q' 'inside of mouth' (noun) *-ze:q', *-z  q' 'burp' (verb) -zeq 'inside of mouth' (noun) (-k w 'aq 'burp') Proto-AthabaskanSekani *q  š ‘dirt, grime’ (noun) -kã  š ‘be dark’ (verb)

40. Reanalysis of two(+) morphemes as one Proto-AthabaskanWitsuwit'en *q h  -n  -e:-ç 'speak'h  n  c, -q h  n  c 'word, language'

41. Analogy (paradigm leveling) Proto-Athabaskan Central BC Proto-Babine-Carrier Carrier Babine-Witsuwit’en

42. Proto-Babine- Carrier Witsuwit'en progressivefutureprogressivefuture 1sS*i-s-*t h -i-s-is-t h as- 2sS*a-n-*t h -a-n-in-t h an- 3sS*i-*t h -i-i-t h a- Future vowel > uniformly [a] Progressive vowel > uniformly [i]

43. Semantic change Narrowing (hyponym formation)

44. Narrowing Proto-AthabaskanSekani *-  m ‘snore, growl’-h-xõ  h ‘snore’ Proto-AthabaskanWitsuwit’en *n-ta':c ‘dance’n-tec ‘(white people) dance’ *t  'blood't  l ‘blood clot, “gunshot meat”’ *-t   a':n' ‘defecate’ -ts h an ‘(insect) lays eggs’

45. Broadening Hypernym formation

46. Broadening Proto-AthabaskanSekani *ci’:ce: ‘blueberry’čìče ‘berry’ Proto-AthabaskanWitsuwit’en *-  a:t' ‘fish meat’ -yet ‘flesh, weight’ (*-wa:n'-  ‘edge’ -yepen’ ‘strip of fish meat’)

47. Semantic shift or

48. Semantic shift Proto-AthabaskanWitsuwit’en *yu  ‘beads, clothes’ yu ‘medicine’ *t h e':  ‘mat’t h e  ‘basket’ Proto-AthabaskanSekani *ts’a:t  ’ ‘diaper, cradle’ts’at  ‘swamp moss’ *l  -t  ’a: ‘trot, go in herd’-t  ’a ‘sg./du. run’ *ts’  ’-we: ‘spruce’ts’  pe ‘swamp’ ts’  pe  lè  ‘black spruce’

49. Conservative vs. innovative Languages are a mixture of conservative and innovative characteristics cf. 'old’: All the (modern) daughters of a proto-language are of equal time- depth

50. Conservative vs. innovative Proto- Athabaskan Witsuwit’enSekani *q   ‘rabbit’qq kah *-c h  t ‘take, grab’ -c h  t-c  h  t *-ts h i  ‘head’-ts h e-c h  n ‘neck’ (head- base) -ts h ì  *ya:-  -t h  c ‘speak’ ye-  -t  cya-  -t h ic  ‘(dog) barks’

51. Language change summary Language change over time is normal Languages may change on various levels –phonetic –phonological –morphological –semantic –syntactic Languages are a mixture of conservative and innovative features

52. Reconstruction The comparative method –assemble cognate sets –infer: representation of the proto-language set of rules which can predict attested forms

53. Navajo

54. Reconstructing the Proto- Athabaskan consonant inventory TsetsautDeg Xinag NavajoSekaniWit. ‘plate’ ts'a  t  'octs'à:  ts'à  ts'ac 'stick' -čhe-čhe -čhn-čhn -ts h ìn-čhin-čhin -c h  n 'ear' -tse:  -tse  e-čà:  -ts  e-ts  q ‘lower leg' -pfa -to-to -čá:t-tsate-tset 'rabbit'kax q  kàhkah qq

55. Consonant correspondences TsetsautDeg Xinag NavajoSekaniWit. ts tt čč(/c)tsčc č pf tt čts kqkkq PA *ts *c *č*č *t  *q

56. Na-Dene family Na-Dene Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak Eyak Proto-Athabaskan

57. Consonant correspondences PAEyakProto-Athabaskan-Eyak *tsts*ts *č*čč*č*č *t  c*c w *cc *qq

58. Reconstruction of morphemes *ts'a:c''plate' *-c h  n 'stick' *-č  'ear' *-t  a:(te  ) ‘lower leg' *q   'rabbit'

59. Sound changes, Proto-Athabaskan to daughter languages Tsetsaut (root initial sound changes) –*c > c  –*č > ts –*t  > pf –*q > k *ts'a:c' ts'a  'plate' *-c h  n-čhe-čhe 'stick' *-č  -tse:  'ear' *-t  a:(te  ) -pfa‘lower leg' *q   kax'rabbit'

60. Deg Xinag –*ts > t  –*c > c, č (unconditioned split) –*č > ts *ts'a:c' t  'oc 'plate' *-c h  n ‘stick’tčhntčhn ‘coffin' *-č  -tse  e 'ear' *-t  a:(te  )-t  o ‘lower leg' *q   q  'rabbit'

61. PA *c > DX c, č *-  -c  t--čt--čt ‘be rotten’ *-c h  ’tl’e:-č h  dl ‘younger brother’ *ci:'ce:cec, cac‘berry’ *c  t  cc ‘mittens’ *-c  m  '  -c  ‘tickle’

62. Navajo –*c > ts –*t  > č –*q > k *ts'a:c' ts'à:  'plate' *-c h  n -ts h ìn'stick' *-č  -čà:  'ear' *-t  a:(te  ) -čá:t‘lower leg' *q   kàh'rabbit'

63. Sekani –*c > č –*č > ts –*t  > ts –*q > k *ts'a:c' ts'à  'plate' *-c h  n -čhin-čhin'stick' *-č  -ts  e 'ear' *-t  a:(te  ) -tsate‘lower leg' *q   kah'rabbit'

64. Witsuwit’en –*č > ts –*t  > ts *ts'a:c'ts'ac'plate' *-c h  n-c h  n 'stick' *-č  -ts  q 'ear' *-t  a:(te  ) -tset‘lower leg' *q   qq 'rabbit'

65. Sound changes, Proto- Athabaskan-Eyak to daughter languages Eyak –*c w, *c > c Proto-Athabaskan –*c w > *t 

66. Reconstruction and prehistory Where was Proto- Athabaskan spoken?

67. Michael Krauss (University of Alaska): the PA homeland (Urheimat) "was in eastern Alaska, interior, perhaps extending into Canada already".

68. Considerations 1. Areas where languages are deeply differentiated suggest long occupation of territory. Areas where languages are closely related suggest recent spread into territory.  Languages of Alaska and western B.C. show most differentiation within the family (as opposed to Mackenzie R. drainage languages, Apachean and Pacific Coast languages, which form subgroupings).

69. NW Canada Tsetsaut Central Alaska-Yukon S. Alaska Central B.C. Apachean Sarcee 8 daughters of Proto- Athabaskan

70. 2. Languages which are genetically related are usually spoken in nearby geographical areas.  Eyak is spoken at mouth of Copper R. (Alaska); Tlingit is spoken along Alaska panhandle.

71. Eyak Tlingit

72. 3. The reconstructed lexicon of a proto- language may also provide information about the Urheimat.  Reconstructed lexicon of PA suggests northern origin.

73. (Some) reconstructed lexical items Mountains and snow –*Âu: ‘ice, icicle, glacier’ –*qe:t ‘ice flat’ –*  a:ç ‘snowshoe’ –*ts  Â ‘mountain’

74. Water –*-q h e: ‘go by boat’ –*t  'i:ç ‘canoe’ –*-t h  s ‘portage’ –*te:  ‘river, sandbar’ –*ha  n(  )e: ‘river’ –*w  n ‘lake’

75. Fish –*qe:s ‘king salmon (Chinook)’ –*si:ye: ‘dog salmon (chum)’ –*  u:q’e: ‘fish, salmon’ –Jim Kari, University of Alaska Fairanks: no reconstructable term for ‘sockeye salmon’ (more restricted distribution; not found in Yukon R.)

76. Continental divide king salmon sockeye

77. Plants –*  a:q ‘fern’ –*t  n  ç ‘arctostaphylos, bearberry’ –*ci':ce: ‘blueberry’

78. Birds –*ta:-č  e: ‘loon’ –*t  h  s(-Â) ‘merganser’ –*    ‘Canada goose’ –*te:Â ‘crane’

79. Mammals –*w  č  ç ‘caribou’ –*ç...ts' ‘grizzly bear’ –*ç  š~*ç  ‘black bear’ –*t  -we: ‘mountain sheep’ –*n  -Â-t  h i  /:s ‘wolverine’

80. Not reconstructable ‘cactus’ ‘sagebrush’ ‘dry river’

81. Semantic changes in plains languages *-q h e: ‘go by boat’ > ‘glide’ (Navajo) –Navajo [pi  sits'án  k h  ] 'I have been sleepless' (lit. ‘sleep glided away from me’) –Navajo [c  h ahalxe:l ji  ná:k h é:  í] 'owl (sacred name)' (lit. ‘the one who comes gliding back with darkness’) –Sarcee 'go to trade, go by foot or horseback in order to shop; travel by canoe (archaic)' –Chiricahua Apache 'several run, trot'

82. PA *y  s 'snow lying on ground' > Navajo –zas, yas 'snow' –sisas 'the seed lies' –na:sas 'I scatter seed, I let mass of fine particles spill, I sprinkle'

83. Historical linguistics summary All languages change over time Change occurs at all levels of grammar Earlier stages of the language can often be reconstructed Trees model historical divergence of languages from common ancestor

84. For further learning LING 454: Methods in comparative linguistics LING 404: Indo-European