Whyarelanguagessodifferent?

EveSweetserDepartmentofLinguis5cs

andPrograminCogni5veScience

OLLI,Oct.302018

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Whyisrelatedtohow

Relatedques5ons,therefore:Whyandhowdolanguageschange?

(becomingdifferentfromearlierstages)Whydotheychangeinpar5culardirec5ons?Howisthisrelatedtolanguagevaria-on?

(cross-languageandwithin-language)

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Whatdoes‘Universal’mean?

Whatcoulditmeantohaveauniversallanguage?Therehasn’tbeenmuchsystema5cstudyofdialectsofEsperanto–butinterna5onallanguageslikeLa5n(orEnglishorSpanish)showclearevidenceofdevelopingvariedformsastheyspread.Hencewenowtalkabout“WorldEnglishes”ratherthanpretendingEnglishisinvariantorevenhasoneinvariantstandardversion.Somehow,varia5onisthenorm–how?

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Sidenoteonvisuallanguages

Thisisjustastrueofsignedlanguagesasspokenlanguages.ASLisdescendedfromFrenchSignLanguage,butitisnotiden5caltoit.Signedlanguagesaretypologicallylessdiverse(itseems)thanspokenones,buts5ll(1)variedand(2)changing!

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Standards,change,dialects

Sowhydon’twespeakShakespeareanEnglish,orAngo-Saxon,orIndo-European?Andif(despitenotbeingiden5caltoearlierforms)ourpresent“Standard”isacceptable(“right”),thenhowcanwesaythatothernon-standardvariantsare“wrong”?E.g.completelossofthee/thou;increasinglossofpronominalinflec5on…IsAAVEjustaheadofthecurveinfurtherreducingverbalinflec5on?

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Lects

So–withinourdialect,doweallspeakthesameway?NO.(Justaskanybeginninglinguis5csclassforgramma5caljudgments.)PLUS,individualpeopleusedifferingformsindifferingcircumstances,forthesamemeanings.E.g.ProfessorSlobin/DanOrwrieenDoyouwanttogooutforsushi?Spoken:Wannagooutforsushi?

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THUS…Varia5oniseverywhere;weeachhavemul5plegrammars,somemoreac5veandsomemorepassive.(MostAmericanEnglishspeakershavelieletroubleunderstandingotherAmericanEnglishdialectspeakers.)Languagechange–thatis,anewrangeofvaria5onfromtheearlierone–doesnotmeansuddenreplacementofoneformbyanother,butcoexistenceofdifferentforms(varia5on),andthenpossibleeventualpreferenceforoneratherthantheother.

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Whataretheop;ons?

AsDanpointedout:Noteverypossiblelanguagestructureispossible,andevenamongpossibleonessomearefarmorecommonthanothers–seeminglypreferred.Constraintsonprocessingarereal.Forexample,wordordervaria5onisextremeBUTifyouhaveareallyfreewordorder,youneedsomewayotherthanordertodecidehowthewordsarerelated–likemorphologicalmarking(moreonthis).

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Varia;onincontextualinterpreta;onYousayand“hear”onething,I“hear”another.La5nintervocalicssvss–s5llaliveinItalianFrenchsvsz(missionvs.musique)Intervocalicvoicing!Anapron<anapronAnorange<borrowedSpanishnaranja

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Gramma;calreanalysisLa5nsalv-o“Isave”

salv-am“Iwillsave”salv-erehabeo“Ihavetosave”

SermentsdeStrasbourg(842)salvar-ai“Iwillsave”prindr-ai“Iwilltake”(ModernFrenchsauver-ai,prendr-ai,&ai)

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Cyclesofgramma;calchange?

Oneofthemanytypologicaldifferencesinlanguage:clinefrom“agglu5na5on”to“isola5on.”Chinese–highlyisola5ng:noinflec5ons,onewordisoneortwomorphemes.English–lowlevelofinflec5onsTurkish-highlevelofinflec5onsAtsugewi–onemul5-morphemewordisasentence.

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BUTEnglish,whichnowsayshe(wi)llgotoBerkeley,isadescendentofIndo-European,whichlookedalotmorelikeLa5n,andthereforewouldhavehadaninflectedverbformlikeLa5nvadet“go-3sg-fut”,withnoseparatesubjectnounorauxiliaryverb.Howdoesthishappen?LookattheFrenchdata.

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Gramma;calcompe;;onPhrasalprenderehabeowonoverinflectedprehend-aminlateLa5n.Andbyphonologicalreduc5onandreanalysis,itbecametheinflectedfutureprendr-ai.Nowthatformhascompe55onfromaFrenchphrasalGO-future,asEnglishIwilltakehascompe55onfromI’mgoingtotake.JevaisprendrevsJeprendrai.Footnote:whataboutthoseFrenchsubjectpronouns?(Fleischman1982,Lambrecht1981)

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CycleSalv-am“Iwillsave”SalverehabeoSalvarai>sauveraiJevaissauverOrevenMoij’vaissauverLossofaffixes,replacementbylexicalauxiliaryorlexicalpronoun,reduc5onofthatauxiliaryorpronountoanaffix-andstartover.

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So–differenceis?Closelyrelatedlanguagescouldbeatdifferentpointsinthiscycle–andthuslookdifferentinwhatkindofmorphologytheyhave.COOLTHING:Thereareveryorthogonalwaystobedifferent,asthereareorthogonalwaystochange.Yourlanguagecouldbeextremelyisola5ngorveryagglu5na5ve–andthatdoesn’ttellmethingslikewhetherit’saclassifierlanguage,orhasacomplexcolortermsystem,or…

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Sociolinguis;cs

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Mul;lingualism

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Mul;lingualism

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ASL/Englishbilingualism

ASLgramma5caltopicmarking–raisedeyebrows.

AmericanEnglishspeakers-~80%ofthe5me.CODAS–100%ofthe5meinEnglishaswellas

inASL.(Vs.ASLques5ons…)(JennyPyersBerkeleydiss,PyersandEmmorey2008.))

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Wordordercompe;;onandchange

Breton:LennaraeMonaallevr.Readpart.do-imp3sgMonathebook.Monaalenneallevr.Monapartread-imp3sgthebook.AllevralenneMona.

French:Monalisaitlelivre.Monaread-imp.3sgthebook

“Monawasreadingthebook.”20

Sociolinguis;cs,cont.

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Howdowordschangemeaning:MOREvaria;onincontextual

interpreta;onChangingLEVELSofcategory

girlusedtomean“youngperson”dogusedtomeanaspecifickindofdogand,well,houndusedtomean“dog” (cf.GermanHund)

Well,whenthesameDOGcouldbecalledthedogortheGermanshepherdorevendescribedasamammalorananimal.

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Moreaboutcommondirec;ons?

“Basiclevel”ofcategoriza5on(MervisandRosch1982)–historicallyfirst,acquiredfirst,usedmost…(Dog,mammal,retriever)Fromthere,“broadening”and“narrowing”tosuperordinateandsubordinatelevels.OAK,COTTONWOOD>TREEDEER(vs.“coeondeer”)>“ungulate”>SHEEP

(vs.“forestdeer”)(Mayan,Berlinetal.1973)

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Howelsedowordschangemeaning?

Borrowing–whichisnotquiteborrowing…Frenchporcmeans“pig(animal)”and“pigmeat”Porkonlymeansthemeat.(cf.Beef,veal)Altomeansapar5cularmusicalvoicerange.Italianaltoalsomeans“high(pitchorheightorprice),tall,loud,deep,upper,northern”

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Whenthingschange,wordschange?

Carcomesul5matelyfromLa5ncarrus“chariot,cart”viaOldFrench.Ithasstuckwithitsmeaningof“wheeledvehicle”butasthevehicleschanged,sodidthewordmeaning–nowitcannotrefertoacartoracarriage,onlytoanautomobile.PencomesfromLa5npinna“feather”sincethat’swhatink-wri5ngpensweremadefrom.Itnevermeant“feather”inEnglishandI’dnowhavetosay“quillpen”tomeanafeatherpen. 25

AddingnewvocabularyWhenalanguageneedstocoversomethingintheworldwhichisnewtotherelevantculture,owenitborrows(orcoinsasemi-borrowing)–some5mesitcalques.Englishoxygen,FrenchoxygèneGermanSauerstoffEnglishkimono,shofar,whisky,orange…GermanApfelsine“Chinaapple”=“orange”

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ColortermsTerryRegierwilltellyoumoreaboutthis.Butnolanguagehasasinglesimple“basic”colortermforPINKorPURPLEorGRAYifitdoesnotalsohavetermsforRED,YELLOW,BLUE,GREEN,BLACKandWHITE.(BerlinandKay1969,HardinandMaffi1997,Regier)Onceadded,basiccolortermsarerarelylost.Andpossibledriversofincreasingcolortermsystemcomplexityareculturalcontact(e.g.turquoise,orange)andtechnology(e.g.purple).

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Howarenewsensesmo5vated?Framemetonymy.Wordmeaningsextendthiswayallthe5me.Some5mesthenewextensionsoutlivetheoriginalmeanings.Suitmeaning“businessperson,”breas-emeaning“(fellow)breastcancerpa5ent”TheCadillacislookingforparking.Thecheeseburgerwantsanothersoda.(Fauconnier1997,DancygierandSweetser2014)

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Metonymypart2CrowninBri5shEnglishnowlegallymeanstheins5tu5onofthemonarchy(notthepersonofthemonarch).(CrownvsXinlegalcases.)Its5llmeanstheroyalheadgearaswell.Paperdoesrefertothematerial–butalsocanmeanadocument,evenadigitalone;aconferencepresenta5on,…Bookcomesfromtherootmeaning“beechtree”whosebarkwasusedforcarvinginscrip5onsinNorthernEurope.Nowmeans“book”–seealsov.book(5cket,police)andbythe(rule)book.

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Metaphor

Allover,inalllanguages(Lakoff&Johnson1980,1999).Englishseemeans“know/understand”aswellas“see.”Wit,wisdomandwitnesscomefromtheIndo-Europeanroot*weid-meaning“see”(samerootasLa5nvisio“vision”).Butwitandwisdomonlyrefertointellectualability,whilewitnessrefersspecificallytoavisualevent.(Sweetser1990)

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Whymetaphorandmetonymy?

Frames–we’realwaysusingsomepar5cularaspectofaframetorefertoothers(e.g.foodorderedfordiner,substanceforobjectasinpaper).PrimaryScenes–correla5onsbetweenframes.VISIONandKNOWLEDGE(Grady1997,Johnson1997)

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Pragma;c“subjec;fica;on”

FormsmovefrommeaningsrelatedtoCONTENTtoonesrelatedtoSpeaker’sepistemicstatestotheSpeaker-Addresseeinterac5on.E.g.THIS/THAT>definitear5cleWANT>future(will)ABILITY>POSSIBILITY,PERMISSION(Problema5c:PERF>simplepast)(Traugoe1989)

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IconicityOnomatopoeia,soundsymbolismMeow,bow-wow,purr,cockadoodle-do“tame”vs.“wild”iconicityLanguagechangemovestowardstamingiconicstructureandmovingitintotheestablishedunitsofthelinguis5csystem.Signedlanguages–newersignedlanguagesaremoreregularlyiconicthanestablishedones;theyloseiconicity,movetowards“arbitrariness”oratleasttowardssystema5c“phonology.”(Taub2001)

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Arbitrarinessandsoundchange

It’seasiertolearn“mo5vated”forms.Onekindofmo5va5onmightjustbebythelinguis5csystem.e.g.,pastorthird-personformofanewverbgleep.Yetirregularverbspersist,especiallyifcommon!AndniceregularverbendingswerelostbythesoundsystemsofLa5nandofEnglish,justbysoundreduc5onofunstressedfinalsyllables.

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Arbitrarinessandsoundchange

Samewithsignedlanguages.Aformmaybeoriginallymime5callymo5vatedandrela5velyclear–buttradeoffbetweeneaseforaddresseeandeaseforspeaker/signer!Highlyiconicformstendtogetreducedover5metolessiconicbutalsolesselaboratelyar5culatedforms.(Emmorey,McNeill)

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Andso?Basically,there’snosingleprincipleforhowlanguagechangehappens.Thisisbecauselanguageissuchacomplexnetworkofcogni5veandsocialinterac5onalstructures.IthastouseFORMSwhichcanbereinterpretedincontext,toexpressMEANINGSwhichcanbereinterpretedincontext.Andsinceit’salsoaniden5tymarker,mul5plesystemsinourdailyinterac5onsareallimportantindifferentaspectsofiden5tyexpression-onesystemisn’tenough.

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Andso?

Basically,there’snosingleprincipleforhowlanguagechangehappens.AllthewaysthatREINTERPRETATIONcanhappenarerelevant,andallthewaysthatourmindscanlinkmeaningsasRELATEDarerelevant,andallthewaysCOMPETINGsystemscanaffectourlinguis5csystemarerelevant.Ifitcanaffectthoughtandcontextandcommunica5on,itcanaffectlanguageandcausechange.

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