Topic 1

Historical and Comparative Linguistics

Introduction
Historical and Comparative Linguistics is a branch of Linguistics which studies how language
change over time. It compares historical relatedness of languages over time. It includes
reconstruction of unattested forms of the earlier stages of a language. In Linguistics attested forms
are those forms of a language whether dead or living that have been documented and for which
evidence survive (attestation) to the present day. Evidence may be in form of recordings,
transcriptions, literature or inscriptions. In contrast, unattested forms of a language may be forms
of a language for which no direct evidence exists, forms for which all evidence has been lost or
hypothetical linguistic reconstruction. Historical and comparative Linguistics is also called
Philology. Other terms related to Historical and Comparative Linguistics, are Diachronic and
Synchronic Linguistics as discussed below. We shall also discuss the theories that are related to
language change. These are: The wave model and family tree theory.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

i. Define various terms related to Historical Linguistics
ii. Discuss reasons for studying Origin and Development of English.
iii. Identify various theories related to language change.

Diachronic and Synchronic Linguistics

Synchronic Linguistics is the study of language at any given point in time while diachronic
Linguistics is the study of language through different periods of history. Diachronic Linguistics is
also called Historical Linguistics.
The wave theory

The wave theory is a model of language change in which a new language feature spreads from its
region of origin, affecting a gradually expanding cluster of dialects.

Family tree theory

Family tree theory assumes that languages change in regular recognisable ways (the Regularity
Hypothesis) and because of this, similarities of languages are due to genetic relationship among
those languages ( The Relatedness Hypothesis).

Activity 1.1
Define the term Historical and Comparative Linguistics.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

The significance of studying Historical and Comparative Linguistics

It helps linguists to understand factors that contribute to language change. For example,
migration, war, diseases, technology, etc.

It offers explanations of existence of old form of a language in a modern language. For example,
words like thine, thee, brethren, and apothecary can still be found in today’s literature. They can
be traced in Old English Period. It also explains why we have irregular plural in modern English
as in deer, children, etc. This is due to historical reasons.

Historical and comparative Linguistics offer an explanation why some languages die. For
example, Anatolian, Tocharian, etc. are dead. Latin is also extinct. It also explains why some
languages become popular at a certain period and lose popularity at other time.
Philology is important in language classification. By studying the history of languages with
common origin (Genealogical classification), linguists can classify into language family. For
example, Indo-European languages have common origin.

Through historical linguistics, we can formulate theories that explain language change. For
example, the wave theory and family tree theory. Such theories will explain Grimm’s Law and
the Great Vowel Shift which are part of the history of English that we are going to study later in
this unit.

Activity 1.2
Why is it important to study the History of English?
_____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

➢ Historical and Comparative Linguistics is a branch of Linguistics which studies

how language change over time.
➢ Synchronic Linguistics is the study of language at any given point in time

while diachronic Linguistics is the study of language through different periods

of history.
➢ Family tree theory(similarity) and wave theory(how a feature spreads) capture
history of a language.
Now take a break and reflect on some of the issues we have discussed today. After your break,
answer the following questions:

1. Differentiate Synchronic Linguistics from Diachronic Linguistics.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Discuss the importance of studying the history of English.
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. Using other references, make additional notes on history of English.

______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

1) Yule, G. (1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2) Algeo, J.(2005) Origin and the development of the English Language. Boston.
Topic 2
Indo-European Family

Introduction
Languages can be classified based on three criteria.These are: Genealogical classification,
Typological classification and Areal classification. We shall discuss these classifications before
looking at the Indo-European family.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

i. Explain how languages are classified.
ii. Discuss Indo-European Family of languages.
iii. Identify various members of the Indo-European Family.

1. Genealogical classification of languages

This classification is based on common origin (Common ancestry). For example Bantu
languages have a common ancestry.

2. Typological classification

Here languages are grouped according to their structural characteristics. Thus under this
classification languages can be grouped into:

a) Analytic languages: In these languages each word consists of a single morph. For
example, Chinese and Vietnamese. English can also be analytic in that a sentence may
consist of words which do not have suffixes or prefixes attached to them.
b) Synthetic languages: They can be divided further into: Fusional, agglutinative and
Polysynthetic.
Fusional languages use one morpheme to simultaneously encode several meanings (They
use a single inflectional morpheme to denote multiple grammatical, syntactic, and
semantic features. Such languages include Latin. For example in the Latin word bonus
(good) –us ending denotes masculine gender, nominative case(subjective), and singular
number. If this is changed to bonum, the ending denotes masculine accusative (objective)
singular number.

Some languages are agglutinating where a single word captures several grammatical

categories. For example a Kiswahili word alininunulia captures number (a-), tense (-li-)
and do for someone ( - li-) .Turkish is also an agglutinating language.

Polysynthetic languages like Eskimo have multiple stems in a single word.

Activity 2.1
Explain genealogical classification of languages.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

3. Areal classification.
This classification is based on regional location of languages. Languages are classified
on a feature shared in a geographical area particularly when such features do not descend
from a common ancestor. They share structural features from contact not inheritance.
For example, Caucasian languages, Baltic Linguistic union, etc. (Although the members
of each group are not closely genetically related, they share common features for being
in contact for a long time).
 Activity 2.2
Define areal classification of language.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

Indo-European Language Family

Looking at the word foot in Greek (Pous, podo-os), in Latin (ped-is), and in Sanskrit (padam)
shows that these languages have a common origin. The members of Indo- European family are:

1) Indo-Iranean

-Indo-Aryan: Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, etc.

-Iranian: Avestan, ancient Persian, Kurdish, etc.

-Nuristani: Small languages spoken in Pakistan and Afghastan

2) Armenian

Old Armenean, Eastern Armenian, Western Armenean.

3) Balto-Slavic:

-Slavic: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, etc,)

West Slavic: Sorbian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, etc.

South Slavic: Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian, Serbian, Macedonian, etc.

- Baltic: Eastern Baltic: Lithunian, etc.

 Western Baltic: Old Prussian, etc.

4) Celtic

- Continental Celtic (extinct)

- Insular Celtic: British Languages (Welsh, Cornish, Breton), Irish, etc.

5) Germanic

-East Germanic: (extinct)

-West Germanic: English, Scots, Frisian, Dutch, etc.

-North Germanic: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, etc.

6) Romance (Italics)

-Latino-Faliscan: Latin (extinct), Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian,

-Osco-Umbrian( extinct)

7) Greek

8) Albanian

9) Tocharian ( Spoken in China now extinct). About 5,000 documents survive.

10) Anatolian ( Extinct)

It should be noted that a language family is a group of genetically related languages. They all
originate from a common proto- language. This is established via generally accepted method.
 Activity 1.3
What do you understand by Indo-European language family?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

➢ Languages can be classified based on three criteria.These are: Genealogical

classification, Typological classification and Areal classification.
➢ It should be noted that a language family is a group of genetically related
languages. They all originate from a common proto- language.

Now take a break and reflect on some of the issues we have discussed today. After your break,
answer the following questions:

1. Using other reliable sources, draw a family tree for Indo-European languages

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Explain the criteria of classifying languages.
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. Using other references, make additional notes on classification of languages.

______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

1) Yule, G. (1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2) Algeo, J.(2005) Origin and the development of the English Language. Boston.

Topic 3
Grimm’s Law

Introduction
Grimm’s law was formulated by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Grammatic(1819-37) translated as
Germanic Grammar. He pointed out prominent correspondence between Germanic and other Indo-
European languages of Europe. It was supported by patterns recognised as early as 1814 by
Danish philologist Rasmus Kristian Rask. It is important for historical linguistics because it
demonstrates the principle that sound change is a regular phenomenon and not a random process.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

iv. Define Grimm’s Law.
v. Discuss sound change.
vi. Identify various sound correspondence in Indo-European languages.

He pointed out that the Germanic languages frequently had:

an “f” where other Indo-European languages like Latin and Greek had a “p”

a “p” where others had a “b”

a “th” sound where others had a “t”

a “t” sound where others had a “ d”

a “b” sound where others had “f”, “ph”, “bh” ( “h” means that the sound is aspirated or
produced with a puff of air)

a “d” where other languages had “t”, “th”, “dh” ( “h” means that the sound is aspirated or
produced with a puff of air)

For example the English word will have the following correspondence:

:Gothic(Germanic language) “fotus”, Latin, “pedis”, Greek, “podós”, Sanskrit, “padas”

 Activity 3.1
Define Grimm’s law.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

He explains that there was a sound shift in Germanic prehistory where the original Indo
European aspirates (bh, dh, and ɡh) became unaspirated ( b, d, and ɡ) in Germanic languages.
The original Indo-European voiced consonants ( b, d, and ɡ) became voiceless (p, t and k). The
original Indo-European voiceless (p, t and k) became ( f, Ɵ, and h) in Germanic languages. For
example the word “fater” in Gothic which is a Germanic language corresponds with Latin
“pater” which means “father”. Where f=p.

Activity 3.2
What do you understand by sound change?.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
 ➢ Grimm’s law was formulated by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche
Grammatic(1819-37) translated as Germanic Grammar. He pointed out
prominent correspondence between Germanic and other Indo-European
languages of Europe.

Now take a break and reflect on some of the issues we have discussed today. After your break,
answer the following questions:

4. Discuss Indo-European aspirates.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
5. Explain the significance of Grimm’ s Law to language change.
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

6. Using other references, make additional notes on Grimm’s Law.

______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

3) Yule, G. (1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 4) Algeo, J.(2005) Origin and the development of the English Language. Boston.

Topic 4
Classification of other world languages

Introduction
We have already discussed the members of the Indo- European family. In this topic we shall
classify other language families of the world.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

vii. Classify world languages.
viii. Identify geographical locations for various world languages.
ix. Explain the criterion of classifying world languages.

Afro-Asiatic Family

Members of this family are:

-Semitic ( Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic)

-Berber (Tuareg)

-Egyptian ( extinct)

-Cushitic (Somali, Oromo, etc.)

-Chadic (Hausa, etc.)

Nilo-Saharan Family
This family comprises about 200 African languages.

For example, Nubian, Fur, etc.

Niger- Congo Family

This family comprises Bantu languages. For example, Swahili, Rwanda, Zulu, Yoruba, etc.

Khoisan Languages

These are languages of the bushmen in South Africa.

They use click sounds which are typically uncommon.

Activity 4.1
Based on the above classification, where does your native language fall?
_____________________________________________________
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Uralic Family
Members in this group comprise:

Finno-Ugric sub family: Hungarian, Estonian, Sami, etc.

Samoyedic subfamily: Spoken in Northern Eurasia.

Altaic Family

Here, members include:

-Turkish

-Mongolic

-Tungisic ( Found in Northern China and East Siberia)

-Korean.

-Japanese

Dravidian Family

Members of this family are Telegu, Tamil, etc. These languages are spoken mainly in Southern
India and Sri Lanka.

Sino-Tibetan Family

Members in this family include:

-Sinitic (Chinese Languages)

-Tibeto- Burman: These are spoken in Nepal, parts of China, India and Pakistan

Austro-Asiatic Family
An example in this group is Vietnamese. They are spoken in South-East Asia and Northern
India.

Austronesian Family

Here, members include: Taiwanese Languages, Bahasa Indonesian, etc.

Tai-Kadai Languages

Members in this family are: Thai, Isan, Lao

Paleo-American Languages

Examples in this category are:

-Eskimo- Aleut

-Na- Dene

-Amerindian (Found in the rest of North- America and South America.)

Activity 4.2
Who are the members of Sino-Tibetan Family?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________________

➢ The language families of the world are: Indo –European, Afro-Asiatic,

Nilo-Saharan, Niger- Congo, Khoisan, Uralic, Altaic, Dravidian, Sino-
Tibetan, Austro- Asiatic, Austranesian, Tai-Kadai, and Paleo-American
languages.

Now take a break and reflect on some of the issues we have discussed today. After your break,
answer the following questions:

7. Identify other members of Niger-Congo Family.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
8. Discuss Altaic Family.
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
 9. Using other references, make additional notes on language families of the world.
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

5) Yule, G. (1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

6) Algeo, J.(2005) Origin and the development of the English Language. Boston.
 Topic 5
Major periods in the history English: Old English Period
Introduction
English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European Family of languages. The
closest living relatives of English are Scots and Frisian. Frisian is a language spoken by
approximately half a million people in nearby areas of Germany.
The history English has traditionally been divided into three main periods:
1. Old English (450-1100 AD)
2. Middle English (1100-1500 AD)
3. Modern English ( Since 1500 AD)

Over the centuries , English has been influenced by a number of other languages. The study of
how languge has evolved over time ( We compare language in various periods) is called
Diachronic Linguistics. On the other hand, the study of a language the way it is in a particular
period without making comparison to other period is called Synchronic Linguistics. For example
studying English the way it is in modern period.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

x. Identify the major English periods.
xi. Explain characteristics of Old English.
xii. Explain the term Diachronic Linguistics.
The Old English Period (450-1100 AD)

During the 5th Century AD, three Germanic tribes namely the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes,
came to the British Isles from various parts of North-West Germany as well as Denmark.

These tribes were war-like and pushed out most of original Celtic –speaking inhabitants from
England into Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall. One group migrated to the Brittany Coast where
their descendants still speak Celtic of Breton today.

Through the years, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes mixed their different Germanic dialects. This
group of dialects forms what linguists refer to as Old English or Anglo-Saxon. The word
English was in Old English “Englisc”.It comes from the name of the Angles. The Angles were
named from Engle, their land of origin.

Before the Saxons the language spoken in what is now England was a mixture of Latin and
various Celtic Languages which were spoken before the Romans came to Britain (54-5 BC). The
Romans brought Latin to Britain, which was part of the Roman Empire for over 400 years. Many
of the words passed on from this era are those that were coined by the Roman merchants and
soldiers. These include: win ( wine), candel ( candle), belt (belt) weall (wall)

Dialects of Old English

Four principal dialects were spoken in Anglo-Saxon England:

1. Kentish- The speech of the Jutes who settled in Kent.

2. West Saxon- This was spoken in the south of the Thames.
3. Mercian- It was spoken from Thames to the Humber.
4. Northumbrian-It was spoken in the North of Humber.

Mercian and Northumbrian have common characteristics that distinguish them from West
Saxon and Kentish. They are sometimes grouped together as Anglian. Those who spoke
these dialects were predominantly Angles.
 Most of extant (existing) Old English Manuscripts are written in the West Saxon dialect.

Beowulf is the longest epic poem in Old English, reflecting the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon
England before the Norman Conquest. It tells the story of a struggle between the hero, Beowulf,
and a bloodthirsty monster called Grendel. Poems of this kind would often have been recited
from memory by a court ministrel to the accompaniment of a harp.

The influence of Celtic upon Old English was slight. In fact, very few Celtic words have lived on
in the English. But many of the place and river names have Celtic origins: Kent, York, Dover,
Cumberland, Thames, Avon, Trent, and Severn.

The arrival of St. Augustine in 597 and the introduction of Christianity into Saxon England
brought more Latin words into English. They were mostly concerned with naming church
dignitaries, ceremonies, etc. Some words came into English from Greek indirectly through Latin.
For example, bishop, baptism, monk, eucharist, etc.

Around 878 AD Danes and Norsemen also called Vikings, invaded the country and English got
many Norse words. The Vikings, being Scandinavian, spoke Old Norse which was as Germanic
as Old Norse. Words derived from Old Norse include: Sky, egg, cake, skin, leg, window,
husband, fellow, skill, anger, flat, odd, ugly, get, give, take, raise, call, die, they, their, and them.

Several written works have survived from Old English period. The most famous is heroic epic
poem called, “Beowulf”. It is the oldest known English poem. It is notable for its length-183
lines. Experts say it was written in Britain a thousand years ago.

Pronunciation and Spelling

Our knowledge of the pronunciation of Old English is just an approximation because there was
no sound recordings. It differed in a striking way from Modern English.
One striking difference is that of vowel length. Corresponding long and short vowels probably
also differed in quality. The spelling of Old English long vowels is marked using a macron and
leaves short vowels unmarked. For example,

gōd (good) versus god (god)

In Phonetic transcription, vowel length would be indicated using a colon. For example,

[go:d] versus [gɒd]

The vowel letters in Old English were: ɑ, ᴂ ,e, i, o, u and y. Letter ᴂ represents current
phonetic transcription [ᴂ]. Letter y indicted a rounded front vowel. The sound was made with the
tongue position of [i] but with lips rounded.

Examples

ɑ as in habban (have)

ᴂ as in Þᴂt (that)

e as in settan( set)

i as in sittan (sit)

o as in moððe (moth)

y as in fyllan (fill)

ē as in fēdan ( feed)

ū as in mūs (mouse)

ǣ as in dǣl (deal)

ȳ as in mȳs (mice)

ō as in f ōda (food)

ᾱ as in hᾱm (home)

ī as in rīdan (ride)
Old English consonant letters

These were: b, c, d, f, g, h, k, l,,m, n, p, r, s,t, ð or Þ,w,x and z

When c occurred before another consonant c was always k, as in cnawan( to know) and crat(
cart)
The old English digraphs cg and sc were later replaced by dg and sh respectively . For example
ecg( edge), scacan( to shake), and fisc( fish)

Activity5.1
Explain Old English sounds.
_____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

Old English Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Old English is almost purely Germanic.

A larger part of this has disappeared from the language. Those that survive are the basic elements
of our vocabulary. They express fundamental concepts. For example,

wīf (wife)

hūs (house)

mann (man)

etan (eat)
drincan (drink)

weall (wall)

candel (Latin)

mete (meat, food)

fugol (fowl, bird)

The fact remains that a considerable part of the vocabulary of Old English is unfamiliar to the
modern reader.

Old English Grammar

Gender

Gender is defined as a classes of nouns reflected in the behavour associated with words. Native
speakers must know the gender of nouns to produce correct sentences.

Case

The nouns and adjectives are inflected for four cases as shown below. It should be noted that Old
English is synthetic while modern English is analytic. We discussed these terms in topic one.

Case masculine

sing. plural

Nominative stān stānas

Accusative stān stānas

Genetive (possessive) stānes stāna

Dative stāne stānum

The adjectives

An important feature of the Germanic languages is the development of a twofold declension of

the adjectives:

1. Strong declension: It is used with nouns when they are not accompanied by a definite
article or similar words like demonstratives, possessives, etc. For example, gōd mann (
good man)

2. Weak declension: This is used when the noun is preceded by a definite article or similar
words like demonstratives, possessives, etc. For example, sē gōda mann ( the good man)

In Linguistics, declension is the changing of the form of a word generally to express its syntactic
function in the sentence by way of some inflection.

Semantic change

There has been semantic shifts. Old English fᴂger meant fit or suitable, now it means fair or
average.

Nice from Latin nescius meant not knowing or foolish .In Modern English it means agreeable.

Silly spelt in Old English Sēlig meant happy. This developed to mean ignorant and later foolish.

Meat meant food in general while in modern English it means animal flesh.

Fowl meant flying animal while in Modern English it means poultry.

Activity 5.2
Explain case in Old English.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

➢ English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European

Family of languages.
➢ The history English has traditionally been divided into three main
periods:
Old English (450-1100 AD)
Middle English (1100-1500 AD)
Modern English ( Since 1500 AD)

➢ The study of how languge has evolved over time ( We compare

language in various periods) is called Diachronic Linguistics. On the
other hand, the study of a language the way it is in a particular period
without making comparison to other period is called Synchronic
Linguistics.
➢ The vocabulary of Old English is almost purely Germanic.
➢ The vowel letters in Old English were: ɑ, ᴂ, e, i, o, u and y.
➢ The nouns and adjectives are inflected for four cases in Old English. It
should be noted that Old English is synthetic while modern English is
analytic.
 ➢ An important feature of the Germanic languages is the development of
a twofold declension of the adjectives: Strong and weak declension.
➢

Now take a break and reflect on some of the issues we have discussed today. After your break,
answer the following questions:

10. Explain the history of Old English.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Discuss the characteristics of Old English.
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

11. Why do we say that Old English laid a foundation for other periods of English?
______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

7) Yule, G. (1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

8) Algeo, J.(2005) Origin and the development of the English Language. Boston.