Diachronic (Historical) Linguistics

the study of change in language

“How did language get that way?

“How does language change?

• the study of language across time
  
  
• the study of language change using formal methods that compare shifts over time and across space in formal aspects of language such as phonetics, grammar, and semantics
  
  
• meanings change*
  
  
  • narrowing -- the meaning of a form becomes more restricted in scope
    • meat from Old English mete (food)
    • deer from Old English dëor (beast)
    • garage from a French word denoting any storage place
      
      
  • widening -- the meaning is enlarged
    • barn from Old English bern (a storage place for barley)
    • brand names
      • victrola
      • frigidaire
      • xerox
        
        
  • degeneration -- a form takes an unfavorable meaning, or one which is improper or obscene
    • knave from Old English cnafa ("boy, servant")
    • madam (keeper of brothel) from honorific madam
      
      
  • elevation -- the meaning of a form rises in the social scale, losing an earlier significance
    • knight from Old English cniht (servant, young disciple")
    • marshal from an older French word meaning "a caretaker of horses (mares)"
      
      
  • metaphor -- an earlier metaphorical or marginal meaning becomes nuclear
    • pen from Latin penna (feather)
      
      
• factors making for semantic change are largely undetermined

linguistics index page

*After E.A. Hoebel, Anthroplogy: The Study of Man, 4th ed. (NY: McGraw-Hill, 1972.)