Comparison of Traditional and Modern Historical LinguisticsHistory of the English Language1st Semester 1432-1433 AHDr. Abdel-Fattah Adel

Areas of Comparison1) Focus of Effort1) Internal vs. External Factors1) Centrality of Language Use1) Primary Subjects of Interest1) Methods1) Subject Matter

Focus of Effort

Modern TraditionalModern historical linguistics, however, focuses on the progress of language change, trying to analyze the cause or motivation, the spread and the modality of language change.

The focus of traditional historical linguistics lies in keeping records of language change in past times of a language or language family.

Internal vs. External Factors

Modern TraditionalModern historical linguistics puts its focal point on external factors, e.g., the social surroundings.

Traditional historical linguistics concentrates on language and its changes regarding internal factors.

Centrality of Language Use

Modern Traditional

In modern historical linguistics, the language use and the user are centered, claiming that grammar is shaped by discourse, and language is changed by the speakers.

For traditional historical linguistics the language structure and the language system are very important.

Primary Subjects of Interest

Modern Traditional

In modern historical linguistics, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics are also taken into account.

Traditional historical linguistics is mainly interested in phonology and morphology and not so much in syntax and semantics.

Methods

Modern Traditional

Traditional historical linguistics is based on qualitative assessments.

Modern historical linguistics is both qualitative and quantitative.

Subject Matter

Modern Traditional

Modern historical linguistics is also concerned with spoken language.

Traditional historical linguistics deals only with written language.