Sound changes in human languages operate with regularity.
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Linguistic literature and historical frameworks, such as the Neogrammarian hypothesis, establish that sound changes in human languages operate systematically and with regularity.
AbstractAlmost universally, diachronic sound patterns of languages reveal evidence of both regular and irregular sound changes, yet an exception may be the languages of Australia. Here we discuss a long-observed and striking characteristic of diachronic sound patterns in Australian languages, namely the scarcity of evidence they present for regular sound change. Since the regularity assumption is fundamental to the comparative method, Australian languages pose an interesting challenge for linguistic theory. We examine the situation from two different angles. We identify potential explanations for the lack of evidence of regular sound change, reasoning from the nature of synchronic Australian phonologies; and we emphasise how this unusual characteristic of Australian languages may demand new methods of evaluating evidence for diachronic relatedness, and new thinking about the nature of intergenerational transmission. We refer the reader also to Bowern (this volume) for additional viewpoints from which the Australian conundrum can be approached.
... changes in English phonology, morphology, and syntax as well. Language change is regular and systematic. Sound changes since Middle English have affected whole classes of sounds, not just see, tooth, make, and open. This regularity ...
This accessible textbook is the only introduction to linguistics in which each chapter is written by an expert who teaches courses on that topic, ensuring balanced and uniformly excellent coverage of the full range of modern linguistics. Assuming no prior knowledge the text offers a clear introduction to the traditional topics of structural linguistics (theories of sound, form, meaning, and language change), and in addition provides full coverage of contextual linguistics, including separate chapters on discourse, dialect variation, language and culture, and the politics of language. There are also up-to-date separate chapters on language and the brain, computational linguistics, writing, child language acquisition, and second-language learning. The breadth of the textbook makes it ideal f
on the theory that changes in the phonemes of any language occur with regularity, the diachronist undertakes … of tracing individual sound changes, with some attention to result- ing changes in morphology, and some … The etymology of grammar shows rather sharp changes in meaning: It starts with Greek gramma, letter
theory that changes in the phonemes of any language occur with regularity, the diachronist … tracing individual sound changes, with some attention to result- ing changes in morphology, and … etymology of grammar shows rather sharp changes in meaning: It starts with Greek gramma, letter
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