hello everyone welcome in this video i'll be discussing language change over time all languages change as long as the language has speakers after all if a language has no speakers it becomes fossilized and it can't change the first thing to understand is that language change is often viewed negatively by older speakers of a language but there's nothing wrong with it it's perfectly natural and it might even seem random but it's not just as the path of a creek may appear random it navigates geographical contours to make its way downstream so there is some kind of a pattern similarly we can identify patterns of change at different levels of language in this video i'll be discussing mechanisms of language change in terms of phonology morphosyntax and semantics a great many languages exist on earth today and languages often have multiple dialects we can observe language variation in two ways synchronically or diachronically synchronic variation involves differences among languages and dialects as they exist today but this video concerns diachronic variation which involves languages and dialects as they change over time change within a language has humble beginnings often involving a choice in pronunciation between two words consider the word on the screen and how you as an english speaker pronounce this word some speakers will say either other speakers will say either and eventually perhaps one pronunciation will win out and future generations will abandon the other pronunciation entirely eventually given enough time we can observe large-scale changes to a language such that the early versions of that language become unrecognizable before we discuss some of the patterns of language change let's turn back the clock here we have the lord's prayer from old english spoken about a millennium ago this language was very different from modern day english and if you took a time machine back to around 1100 a.d you wouldn't be able to understand any of this if we fast forward a few hundred years to the time of middle english around the time when jeffrey chaucer wrote canterbury tales we would still struggle to understand this passage but a few words might come into focus if we jump ahead another couple centuries to the time of early modern english when shakespeare was alive and when the king james bible was published we can recognize much more if not all of this passage various figures throughout history have studied the change of language over time but it's only with the arrival of one man in particular that this topic received serious academic treatment sir william jones was a philologist or someone who studies language based on written texts he was also a noted polyglot who was reported to have spoken 16 languages fluently and had a working knowledge of another dozen while working as a judge in india he noticed cognates among latin greek and sanskrit and determined that all three languages must have originated from a common source what we now call indo-european indo-european is now a wreck is now recognized as a family of over 400 languages best envisioned as a tree with several large branches or sub-families extending out from it although jones may not have been the first to make this observation he certainly popularized it and essentially started comparative linguistics or the focus on diachronic variation now let's discuss the mechanisms of language change starting with phonological change first we can identify a process known as metathesis which involves two sounds switching positions in a word over time in each of the examples note how the words from the earlier versions of english on the left have changed to their contemporaries on the right in fact we can observe metathesis synchronically in some speakers pronunciations of words such as asterix instead of asterisk or ax instead of ask next we have a parenthesis which involves the addition of a sound in the middle of a word over time again in each of the examples note how the words from earlier versions of english on the left have changed to their contemporaries on the right we can also observe a parenthesis synchronically in some speakers pronunciations of words such as escape instead of escape or athlete instead of athlete next we have prothesis and prothesis is similar but it involves the addition of a sound at the beginning of a word over time in each of the examples below note how the words from latin on the left have changed to their spanish forms on the right in fact we can observe prothesis synchronically when some first language spanish speakers are learning english and pronounce for example school as a school now let's discuss a common pattern of morphosyntactic change called grammaticalization in this process a form in a language takes on a more grammatical function over time for example consider the word go in english which started out merely as a verb of motion of course it still retains this meaning but in addition in modern english it can be used to indicate future tense and tense is a grammatical category so these days english speakers can say i'm going to write a letter and of course they're not going anywhere the speaker is simply indicating that they will write a letter in the future in fact these days romance languages or languages derived from latin use this strategy all the time so a spanish speaker can say voya escribir una carta with the meaning of i'm going to write a letter notice that voi has changed meaning over time as well it's not just the first person singular present tense conjugation of the verb go in spanish it can be used to indicate future tense next let's discuss patterns of semantic change starting with broadening which involves a word taking on a broader meaning over time for example in old english dog used to mean a specific breed of dog likely a hound but now of course dog means any old domesticated canine kleenex started out as a specific brand of facial tissue but now speakers often say kleenex to refer to any facial tissue holiday was used in old english to indicate a holy day that's where the word comes from used to mean a day of religious observance but now it can also mean just a day off from work or even a vacation without any religious significance in middle english aroma used to refer to the smell of herbs and spices but these days aroma can mean any pleasant smell in fact for some speakers it can mean any smell good or bad next we have narrowing which involves a word taking on a narrower meaning over time for example in older versions of english hound used to refer to any kind of dog but now it refers to a specific breed of dog in older versions of english girl used to refer to any young person but now it means a young female specifically in old english wife used to mean any woman but now it means a married woman though its earlier meaning is retained in the modern english word midwife in old english meat used to refer to any food but now of course it means only flesh that can be eaten next we have amelioration which involves a word taking on a more positive meaning over time of course each of these examples still retains a negative meaning but consider instead their newer alternative meanings bad dope sick and disgusting can all be used in american english slang to indicate positive meaning such as when a student says my linguistics class is dope yo okay maybe they would never say that finally we have pejoration which involves a word taking on a more negative meaning over time for example in middle english hussy meant housewife but now it means a brazen or immoral woman vulgar used to mean common as in a later variety of latin called vulgar latin latin of the people but these days it means gross or indecent pathetic used to mean deserving of sympathy and this is the meaning that's often used in 19th century literature but these days it's more commonly used to indicate that someone or something is miserably inadequate lastly silly used to mean happy or innocent but now it means stupid or foolish okay that's all for now i hope you found this video useful thanks so much for watching i'll see you next time