Language History: An introduction
This classroom-tested volume aspires to be a brief but technically and factually accurate exposition of linguistic description and history. Whether studied as prime subject or as background information, it should help students understand the assumptions and reasoning that underlie the contents of their handbooks and etymological dictionaries.
This book should be a useful guide for anyone unfamiliar with (historical) linguistics who is studying the history of a language, and also for those who are enrolled in courses devoted to reading texts in old languages. |
Contents
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INTRODUCTION
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1 |
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CHANGES IN PRONUNCIATION
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18 |
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SOUND LAWS
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42 |
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ANALOGY
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73 |
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SEMANTIC CHANGE
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94 |
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RECONSTRUCTION
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135 |
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EXTERNAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE CHANGE
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165 |
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WRITTEN RECORDS
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186 |
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PHONETICS
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209 |
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GLOSSARY
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238 |
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GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMSIN GERMAN
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282 |
| 287 | |
| 293 | |
| 297 | |
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A NOTE ON THE TYPE
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299 |
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Common terms and phrases
ablaut accent affixes affricates alternations analogical articulatory articulatory phonetics assimilation attested borrowing calque cognate common commonly consonant consonantal contrast defined definition diachronic dialect difficult diphthongs dissimilation dorsal etymology evidence example fact figurative final find first five folk etymology form of speech French fricative front vowels function Germanic languages Gothic Greek guage Indo-European languages influence innovations internal reconstruction intervocalic Latin less letter lexical lexicon meaning merger metaphor metonymy Modern English morpheme morphological nasal noun obstruent Old English originally palatalized PGmc phonetic features phonological plural point of articulation prefix present-day pronounced Proto-Germanic Proto-Indo-European proto-language reason reflects reflexes regular result rhotacism Romance languages root seen segment semantic change sense short vowels sibilant significance similar sound laws speakers specific spelling spirantization standard stem stops structure suffix syllable symbols synonym tense term tion tongue tonic usually velum verb vocal folds voiced voiceless word