Linguistic Anthropology

How Languages Change

Why Languages Change

• Prestige– shifting to (r) in NY after WWII (Labov)

• Novelty– bits, bytes, e-mail, mp3, imho, ‘sup

• Identity– locals vs tourists - vowels in Cape Cod

• Contact– Need to communicate for trade

How Languages Change: Words

• Narrowing: ‘deer’ once meant any small animal• Expansion: box meant specific wood box• Metaphorical shift: ‘uptight’ ‘bad’ ‘sick’ ‘gay’• Shortening: dorm, exam, prof• Coining:– acronyms: laser, snafu, phat; bff– blending (portmanteau): slithy, brunch, smog, blog;

frenemy• Borrowing– tomato, potato, coyote, pajama, robot, safari, beisbol

How Languages Change: Spelling

• Symbol shift: – <Þ> [] and <đ> [ð] both replaced by <th>

• Spelling shift:– <colour> changed to <color>– <light> changing to <lite>

• Borrowed spellings:– <debt> borrowed from Latin• Old English spelling was <dette>.

Using Borrowed Words to Trace Contact History in a Language

• Chinese word for ‘foreign’:– Before 10th century: {hai-} (sea)

• {haitung} = crab apple• {haizao} = date palm

– 10th century thru 16th century: {fan-} (foreign country)• {fangie} = tomato• {fanshiliu} = pomegranate• {fansu} = sweet potato

– 17th century {yang-} (foreign country)• {yangchong} = onion• {yangjiang} = jerusalem artichoke.

Reconstructing Ancient Languages

• When languages split apart– related languages will be similar to one another• Irish ‘do’ Welsh ‘dau’ Greek ‘duo’ Latin ‘duo’• Italian ‘due’ Spanish ‘dos’ French ‘deux’ German ‘zwei’• Dutch ‘twee’ Swedish ‘tva’ Danish ‘to’ Old English ‘twa’• Polish ‘dwie’ Russian ‘dva’ Bengal ‘dvi’ Persian ‘do’

» how to find the original sound?

– by using the daughter languages– to reconstruct the mother language(s)….

Loanwords

• Borrowing begins with cultural contact– Borrowed words more exactly express ideas– Often involves a degree of bilinguality

• Word becomes used more often– Recognized as a foreign word

With increased use, the word becomes conventionalizedthe word has become a loanword

Latin Loanwords in English

• Ancor - 'anchor‘• Butere -'butter' (L < Gr. butyros)• Cycene - 'kitchen‘• Mil - 'mile' (milia [passuum] 'a thousand paces')• Piper -‘ pepper‘• Pund - 'pound' (pondo 'a weight')• Straet - 'street' ([via] strata 'straight way' or

stone-paved road)

These and subsequent: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words04/structure/borrowed.html

Old English Period (600-1100)

Latin• ceaster - 'city' (castra

'camp')• Circul - 'circle‘• Cometa - 'comet' (cometa <

Greek)• maegester - 'master'

(magister)• paper - 'paper' (papyrus,

from Gr.)• tigle - 'tile' (tegula)

Celtic• Brocc - 'badger‘• Cumb - 'combe, valley‘

• Plus place names, such as London, Dover, Thames, Avon…

Middle English Period (1100-1500)

Scandanavian• anger, blight, by-law, cake,

call, clumsy, doze, egg, fellow, gear, get, give, hale, hit, husband, kick, kill, kilt, kindle, law, low, lump, rag, raise, root, scathe, scorch, score, scowl, scrape, scrub, seat, skill, skin, skirt, sky, sly, take, they, them, their, thrall, thrust, ugly, want, window, wing

French• adventure, change, charge,

chart, courage, devout, dignity, enamor, feign, fruit, letter, literature, magic, male, female, mirror, pilgrimage, proud, question, regard, special

Also from French

• Law and government - attorney, bailiff, chancellor, chattel, country, court, crime, defendent, evidence, government, jail, judge, jury, larceny, noble, parliament, plaintiff, plea, prison, revenue, state, tax, verdict

• Church - abbot, chaplain, chapter, clergy, friar, prayer, preach, priest, religion, sacrament, saint, sermon

Also from French

• Military - army, artillery, battle, captain, company, corporal, defense, enemy, marine, navy, sergeant, soldier, volunteer

• Cooking - beef, boil, broil, butcher, dine, fry, mutton, pork, poultry, roast, salmon, stew, veal

• “Culture” and luxury goods - art, bracelet, claret, clarinet, dance, diamond, fashion, fur, jewel, oboe, painting, pendant, satin, ruby, sculpture

French Finesses English

• Nobility - baron, baroness; count, countess; duke, duchess; marquis, marquess; prince, princess; viscount, viscountess; noble, royal

• native English words - king, queen, earl, lord, lady, knight, kingly, queenly

Early Modern English Period (1500-1650)

• Latin - agile, abdomen, anatomy, area, capsule, compensate, dexterity, excavate, expensive, fictitious, gradual, habitual, insane, janitor, meditate, notorious, orbit, peninsula, physician, superintendent, ultimate, vindicate

• Greek - anonymous, atmosphere, autograph, catastrophe, climax, comedy, critic, data, ecstasy, history, ostracize, parasite, pneumonia, skeleton, tonic, tragedy

Early Modern English Period (1500-1650)

• A new source: Arabic• via Spanish - alcove, algebra, zenith,

algorithm, almanac, azimuth, alchemy, admiral

• via other Romance languages - amber, cipher, orange, saffron, sugar, zero, coffee

Modern English (1650-present)• French• High culture - ballet, bouillabaise, cabernet, cachet,

chaise longue, champagne, chic, cognac, corsage, faux pas, nom de plume, quiche, rouge, sachet, salon, saloon, sang froid, savoir faire

• War and Military - bastion, brigade, battalion, cavalry, grenade, infantry, pallisade, rebuff, bayonet

• Other - bigot, chassis, clique, denim, garage, grotesque, jean(s), niche, shock

• French Canadian - chowder • Louisiana French (Cajun) - jambalaya

Modern English (1650-present)

Spanish armada, adobe, alligator, alpaca, armadillo, barricade, bravado, cannibal, canyon, coyote, desperado, embargo, enchilada, guitar, marijuana, mesa, mosquito, mustang, ranch, taco, tornado, tortilla, vigilante

Modern English (1650-present)

Italianalto, arsenal, balcony, broccoli, cameo, casino, cupola, duo, fresco, fugue, gazette (via French), ghetto, gondola, grotto, macaroni, madrigal, motto, piano, opera, pantaloons, prima donna, regatta, sequin, soprano, opera, stanza, stucco, studio, tempo, torso, umbrella, viola, violin from Italian American immigrants - cappuccino, espresso, linguini, mafioso, pasta, pizza, ravioli, spaghetti, spumante, zabaglione, zucchini

Modern English (1650-present)

Dutch, FlemishShipping, naval terms - avast, boom, bow, bowsprit, buoy, commodore, cruise, dock, freight, keel, keelhaul, leak, pump, reef, scoop, scour, skipper, sloop, smuggle, splice, tackle, yawl, yacht Food and drink - booze, brandy(wine), coleslaw, cookie, cranberry, crullers, gin, hops, stockfish, waffle Other - bugger (orig. French), crap, curl, dollar, scum, split (orig. nautical term), uproar

Modern English (1650-present)• German• bum, dunk, feldspar, quartz, hex, lager,

knackwurst, liverwurst, loafer, noodle, poodle, dachshund, pretzel, pinochle, pumpernickel, sauerkraut, schnitzel, zwieback, (beer)stein, lederhosen, dirndl

• 20th century: blitzkrieg, zeppelin, strafe, U-boat, delicatessen, hamburger, frankfurter, wiener, hausfrau, kindergarten, Oktoberfest, schuss, wunderkind, bundt (cake), spritz (cookies), (apple) strudel

Modern English (1650-present)

• Yiddish• bagel, Chanukkah (Hanukkah), chutzpah,

dreidel, kibbitzer, kosher, lox, pastrami (orig. from Romanian), schlep, spiel, schlepp, schlemiel, schlimazel, gefilte fish, goy, klutz, knish, matzoh, oy vey, schmuck, schnook

• Scandanavian• fjord, maelstrom, ombudsman, ski, slalom,

smorgasbord

Modern English (1650-present)• Russian• apparatchik, borscht, czar/tsar, glasnost, icon,

perestroika, vodka • Sanskrit• avatar, karma, mahatma, swastika, yoga • Hindi• bandanna, bangle, bungalow, chintz, cot,

cummerbund, dungaree, juggernaut, jungle, loot, pajamas, punch (the drink), shampoo, thug, jamboree

Modern English (1650-present)

• Dravidian - curry, mango, teak, pariah• Persian (Farsi) - check, checkmate, chess• Arabic - bedouin, emir, jakir, gazelle, giraffe,

harem, hashish, lute, minaret, mosque, myrrh, salaam, sirocco, sultan, vizier, bazaar, caravan

• African languages - banana (via Portuguese), banjo, boogie-woogie, goober, gorilla, gumbo, jazz, jitterbug, jitters, juke(box), voodoo, yam, zebra, zombie

Modern English (1650-present)

• Chinese - chop suey, chow mein, dim sum, ketchup, tea, ginseng, kowtow, litchee

• Japanese - geisha, hara kiri, judo, jujitsu, kamikaze, karaoke, kimono, samurai, soy, sumo, sushi, tsunami

• Pacific Islands - bamboo, gingham, rattan, taboo, tattoo, ukulele, boondocks

Modern English (1650-present)

• American Indian languages - avocado, cacao, cannibal, canoe, chipmunk, chocolate, chili, hammock, hurricane, maize, moccasin, moose, pecan, possum, potato, skunk, squaw, succotash, squash, tamale (via Spanish), teepee, terrapin, tobacco, toboggan, tomahawk, tomato, wigwam, woodchuck

• Australian Aboriginal languages - boomerang, budgerigar, didgeridoo, kangaroo

We Can Say…

• English is a very “open” language that

• readily adopts words from a wide variety of sources

• and about a wide variety of topics,

• which can make it difficult for outsiders to learn…

On the Other Extreme…

Académie française

Académie française

"The primary function of the Académie will be to work, with all possible care and diligence, to give our language definite rules and to make it pure, eloquent, and capable of dealing with art and science." - Article 24

Cardinal Richelieu(1585–1642)

Académie française• Computer = ordinateur

• Computer screen = écran m  d'ordinateur

• Computer software = logiciels

• e-mail = courriel (a contraction of courrier électronique) - (émail is French for"enamel”)

• Video clip = vidéo clip

Pidgins• Develop in contact situations– trading/colonization

• Are incomplete languages– Simplified grammar– Reduced lexicon– Limited subject matter– Never used as a first language (mother tongue)

• Are hard to place on family trees– host’s grammar– intruder’s lexicon

• Rarely last beyond a generation or two.

Creoles• Develop from pidgins– Plantations, more stable speech communities

• Are complete languages– Grammar is elaborated– Lexicon is expanded (using ‘dominant’ language)– Subject matter is broadened– Can be first language of community

• Often seen as bad version of ‘lexifier’ language– Haitian Kreol seen as “bad” French– African American English seen as “bad” English

• May persist long-term, become standardized• Swahili, Haitian Kreol, AAE, Tok Pisin, (English?).

Bilingualism & Diglossia

• Bilingualism: using two different languages– Who is expected to be bilingual (or multilingual)?• Everyone? Immigrants? Minorities?

– Stable vs transitional bilingualism?

• Diglossia: using two varieties of one language– ‘high’ and ‘low’ varieties• formality of situation determines choice

– German & Swiss German– Classical & Colloquial Arabic– Marked & ‘Standard’ varieties of English?.

Code Switching

• Takes place at linguistic boundaries– Segments are internally ‘correct’• ‘let’s go to – la playa’• ‘Do you want that with – au jus?’ • ‘hasta la vista, baby’

• Also at social/cultural boundaries– Public and private domains– Formal and informal situations– Can be used to mark identity, stance

National and Ethnic Identity• Language can be a source of division– Basque & Spanish are two different languages• Basque is linked to ethnic pride• Language is used as an argument for independence

• Can language be a source of unity?– Czechoslovakia: one language, different cultures• Language not enough to keep country unified

– People now think in terms of Czech and Slovak languages

– China: many languages, all called Chinese• Politics more important in keeping country unified.

Standard Languages

• Carry more social prestige• Are thought of as ‘more correct’• Are preferred for formal occasions• The choice is usually ‘arbitrary’– the speech of an ‘upper’ class– or a group seen as powerful, respected• Note how the status of speakers can affect the

status of a variety

• English as a de-facto standard in the US.

Official Languages

• Recognized by the ‘state’• Are used in legal, political contexts• Are taught, used in schools• Possible to have more than one– Switzerland has 4 official languages– India has 2 official languages

• Does an official language create unity?…– English-Only movements in the US • Question: which variety of English?.

Indian Rupee