Trask's Historical Linguistics

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Table of Contents......Page 6
List of illustrations......Page 10
To the reader......Page 13
To the teacher......Page 15
Acknowledgements......Page 17
Abbreviations......Page 19
 1.1 Chilled......Page 22
 1.2 English then and now......Page 23
 1.3 Attitudes to language change......Page 27
 1.4 The inevitability of change......Page 31
 Case study: bonk!......Page 32
 Further reading......Page 34
 Exercises......Page 35
 2.1 Borrowing......Page 37
 2.2 Phonological treatment of loans......Page 42
 2.3 Morphological treatment of loans......Page 45
 2.4 Formation of new words......Page 47
 2.5 Change in word-meaning......Page 53
 Case study: nice......Page 62
 Exercises......Page 65
 3.1 The phonetic basis of phonological change......Page 69
 3.2 Assimilation and dissimilation......Page 70
 3.3 Lenition and fortition......Page 72
 3.4 Addition and removal of phonetic features......Page 76
 3.5 Vowels and syllable structure......Page 78
 3.6 Whole-segment processes......Page 81
 3.7 The regularity issue: a first look......Page 83
 Case study: Germanic */xw/ in the present-day dialects......Page 84
 Further reading......Page 87
 Exercises......Page 88
 4.1 Conditioning and rephonologization......Page 92
 4.2 Phonological space......Page 96
 4.3 Chain shifts......Page 99
 4.4 Phonological change as rule change......Page 104
 Case study: the Germanic consonant system: ‘Grimm’s Law’ and‘ Verner’s Law’......Page 108
 4.5 Summary......Page 111
 Exercises......Page 112
 5.1 Reanalysis......Page 117
 5.2 Analogy and levelling......Page 120
 5.3 Universal principles of analogy......Page 125
 5.4 Morphologization......Page 128
 5.5 Morphologization of phonological rules......Page 130
 5.6 Change in morphological type......Page 136
 Case study: the development of the definite article from the demonstrative paradigm in English......Page 139
 Exercises......Page 143
 6.1 Reanalysis of surface structure......Page 147
 6.2 Shift of markedness......Page 152
 6.3 Grammaticalization......Page 155
 6.4 Typological harmony......Page 158
 6.5 Syntactic change as restructuring of grammars......Page 161
 Case study: the rise of ergativity......Page 164
 Further reading......Page 169
 Exercises......Page 7
 7.1 The origin of dialects......Page 175
 7.2 Dialect geography......Page 179
 7.3 Genetic relationships......Page 185
 7.4 Tree model and wave model......Page 190
 7.5 The language families of the world......Page 195
 Case study: a Martian’s eye view on the Germanic language family......Page 201
 Further reading......Page 205
 Exercises......Page 206
 8.1 Systematic correspondences......Page 212
 8.2 Comparative reconstruction......Page 216
 8.3 Pitfalls and limitations......Page 224
 8.4 The Neogrammarian Hypothesis......Page 230
 8.5 Semantic reconstruction......Page 231
 8.6 The use of typology and universals......Page 234
 8.7 Reconstructing grammar......Page 238
 8.8 The reality of proto-languages......Page 240
 Case study: a reconstruction too far?......Page 241
 Further reading......Page 248
 Exercises......Page 249
 9.1 A first look at the internal method......Page 255
 9.2 Alternations and internal reconstruction......Page 259
 9.3 Internal reconstruction of grammar and lexicon......Page 261
 Case study: the laryngeal theory of PIE......Page 264
 Further reading......Page 267
 Exercises......Page 268
 10.1 The Saussurean paradox......Page 271
 10.2 Variation and social stratifi cation......Page 272
 10.3 Variation as the vehicle of change......Page 278
 10.4 Lexical diffusion......Page 292
 10.5 Near-mergers......Page 296
 Case study: historical sociolinguistics......Page 299
 10.6 A closing note......Page 303
 Further reading......Page 305
 Exercises......Page 306
 11.1 Linguistic contact......Page 312
 11.2 Linguistic areas......Page 324
 11.3 Language birth: pidgins and creoles......Page 325
 11.4 Language planning......Page 332
 11.5 Language death......Page 340
 Case study: the genesis and development of American and New Zealand English......Page 347
 Further reading......Page 356
 Exercises......Page 357
 12.2 Linguistic palaeontology......Page 364
 12.3 Links with archaeology......Page 366
 12.4 Statistical methods......Page 371
 Case study: Greenberg’s mass comparison......Page 380
 Exercises......Page 386
Appendix: the Swadesh 200-word list......Page 391
Bibliography......Page 393
Index......Page 407