Synchrony and diachrony in language history

SEMINAR 1

Study Lectures 1, 2 and Self-study 1.

Self-study 1

Some theoretical aspects of language history

The evolution or historical development of language is made up of diverse facts and processes. In the first place, it includes the internal or structural development of the language system, its various subsystems and component parts. The description of internal linguistic history is usually presented in accordance with the division of language into linguistic levels. The main, commonly accepted levels are the phonetic and phonological levels, the morphological level, the syntactic level, and the lexical level. Accordingly, the history of the language can be subdivided into historical phonetics (phonology), historical morphology, historical syntax and historical lexicology.

The evolution of language includes also many facts which pertain to the functioning of language in the speech community. These functional aspects constitute what is known as the ‘external’ history of the language and embrace a large number of diverse matters: the spread of the language in geographical and social space, the differentiation of language into functional varieties (geographical variants, dialects, standard and sub-standard forms, etc.), contacts with other languages. Most of these features are connected with the history of the speech community, e.g. with the structure of society, the migration of tribes, economic and political events, the growth of culture and literature.

Synchrony and diachrony in language history

It goes without saying that language does not change rapidly: there are certain properties in any language that are preserved at any period of its development: the division into vowels and consonants, the distinction between main parts of speech and parts of the sentence. As for English, for instance, some parts of its vocabulary have come down to us, as well as most of the pronouns, many forms of words and words indicating basic concepts of life. Many ways of word-formation have remained historically stable, and some grammatical categories (number in nouns, degrees of comparison in adjectives) have undergone little change, while other categories, such as case and gender, have changed considerably. The fact is that the proportion of statics and dynamics in language varies at different historical periods and at different linguistic levels. But still we can always find statics and dynamics both in synchrony and diachrony. Of course, to trace the changes taking place in a language, we are to consider them diachronically. And here we are faced with such a notion as linguistic change.

Linguistic changes can be classified in accordance with linguistic levels, such as phonetic and phonological changes, spelling changes, grammatical changes, including morphology and syntax, lexical and stylistic changes. At these levels further subdivisions are possible: phonetic changes include vowel and consonant changes, qualitative and quantitative changes, positional and independent changes and so on. But every separate change enters a larger frame and forms a part of the development of a certain system. In other words, the alternation of one element is part of the alternation of the entire system as it reveals a re-arrangement of its structure, a change in the relationships of its components. For example, in the late 16^th – early 17^th century in certain phonetic conditions the sonorant [ r ] changed into [ a ] giving rise to diphthongs: bear, beer, poor, etc.; the new set of diphthongs with a central glide [ ia ], [ ea ], [ ua ] introduced new distinctive features into the system of vowel phonemes.

Linguistic changes are usually slow and gradual. They proceed in minor imperceptible steps unnoticed by the speakers. The rate of linguistic change is restricted by the communicative function of language, for a rapid change would have disturbed or hindered communication between speakers of different generations.

As was said above, at some historical periods linguistic changes are more intensive and more rapid than at others. For example, changes in vocabulary are more pronounced than, say, changes in grammar or phonetics as they are easier to observe as new words or groups of words spring into being before our eyes. But new words, unless they are borrowings or loan words, are built in conformity with the existing ways of word-formation which are very slow to change. That is they make use of available elements: roots, affixes and follow the productive word-building patterns already existing in the language. For example, hotel – motel, alcoholic – workaholic, manuscript – tapescrip t, and so on. If the number of words is very large, it takes them several hundred years to be adopted and assimilated. For example, French borrowings of the Middle Ages.

As far as the system of phonemes is concerned, it cannot be subjected to sudden or rapid changes either, since it must preserve the opposition between the phonemes required for the distinction of morphemes. Sometimes phonetic changes affect a whole set of phonemes – a group of vowels or a group of consonants – but, as a rule, they do not impair the differentiation of phonemes, and consequently, communication.

Likewise, the grammatical system is very slow to change. Being the most abstract of linguistic levels, it must provide stable formal devices for arranging words into classes and for connecting them into phrases and sentences.

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