2025年英语语言学核心概念与要点笔记集锦

历史语言学Chapter7Historical Linguistics

1.The purposeand significanceof the historical study of language研究语言变化的目的和意义The historicalstudy of language isof greatimportance toour understandingof humanlanguages andhumanlinguistic competence.Researches in historical linguisticsshed lighton prehistoricdevelopment in the evolutionof languageand the connectionsof earlierand latervariants of the samelanguage,and providevaluable insightsintothe kinshippatterns ofdifferent languages.The historicalstudyof language alsoenables usto determinehow non-linguistic factors,such associal,cultural andpsychological factors,interact overtime totrigger linguisticchange.研究语言变化对于理解人类语言和人类的语言能力极其重要历史语言学的研究成果揭示语言变化的史前发展和同一语言初期和后期变体自己的联络，为不一样语言的亲缘关系提供线索历史语言学的研究还可以使我们对非语言的原因，如社会文化和心理原因等在语言变化过程中所起的作用有更深的认识

2.The natureoflanguage change语言变化的本质All livinglanguages changewith time.Unless a language isno longerspoken bythe generalpublic of asociety,such as Latin,its change is inevitable.As ageneral rule,languagechangeis universal,continuous and,to aconsiderable degree,regular andsystematic.Language changeis extensive,takingplace invirtually allaspects of the grammar.Although languagechangeisuniversal,inevitable,and insome cases,vigorous,it isnever anovernightoccurrence.Language developmentmay beregarded as linguistic evolutionfrom onestage toanother.所有尚在使用的语言都伴随时间的变化而变化语言的变化是不可防止的语言变化是普遍的、持续的，在一定程度上也是规则的和系统的语言变化波及语法系统的各大构成部分在语言演变过程中，词汇和语法规则有的消灭了，有的诞生了，有的是外借的，有的则转化了其意义或功能尽管语言变化是普遍的，必然的，有时甚至是明显的，但语言的变化是一种缓慢的渐变过程，其变化是同代人所不易察觉的语言的发展可以看作是语言从一种阶段到另一种阶段的演化过程

3.Major periodsin the history of English英语历史发展的重要阶段古英语阶段a Old English450-1100中古英语阶段b Middle English1100-1500今现代英语阶段c Modern English1500-Most Modern English speakersfind Middle English onlypartially comprehensible,and Old Englishsimply unintelligible,just likea foreignlanguage hardlyrecognizable asthe native language theyspeak.大多数现代英语的使用者发现，对于他们来说，中古英语只能部分地被理解，古英语则如外语一般，简直不可理解OldEnglishdates backto themid-fifth centurywhen Anglo-Saxons invadedthe BritishIsles fromnorthernEurope.Middle Englishbegan with the arrivalof theNorman Frenchinvaders inEngland.MiddleEnglishhadbeen deeplyinfluenced byNorman Frenchin vocabularyand grammar.ModernEnglish is separatedwith MiddleEnglish withEuropean renaissancemovement.古英语源自欧洲大陆的盎格鲁撒克逊民族所操的语言中古英语深受诺曼底占领者所操的法语的影响词汇和语法等均受其影响现代英语是英语自身发展和欧洲文艺复兴运动渗透结合的产物，诸多词汇是外来语As Britishinfluence reachedother continents,the BritishEmpire”established English-speakingcolonies inmany partsof the world.English isnow thenativelanguagein theUnited States,Canada,Australia andNew Zealand.英帝国的兴起及其移民化过程的成功使现代英语的使用遍及全球以现代英语为母语的国家包括英国、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰等

4.Linguistic change in English英语语言系统的变化Language changeis essentiallya matterof changein the grammar.We referto thechangein the grammarof alanguageaslinguisticchange.Linguistic changeoccurs in all componentsof thegrammar,includingchanges in the sound,morphological,syntactic,lexical andsemantic systems.语言变化实质上是语法变化我们把一种语言的语法变化称为语言变化语言变化包括语音系统、形态系统、句法系统、词汇系统和语义系统等部分的变化语音变化a soundchange元音变化•Vowel soundchangeThe changeoccurred at the end of theMiddleEnglishperiod,approximately1400-

1600.These changesledto oneof themajor discrepanciesbetween thephonemic representationsof wordsand morphemes,that is,between thepronunciation and the spellingsystem ofModernEnglish.Known asthe GreatVowelShift in thehistory of English,these changesinvolve sevenlong,or tense,vowels.Refer toP132of thetestbook forexamples.元音变化出目前中古英语后期，大概在到之间这些变化使某些单词的音位体现和词140016素之间出现了很大的不一致这些变化在英语史上被称为元音大变位，波及七个长元音，或紧元音实例见书本页132语音消失•Sound lossNotonly didtypes ofvowel soundschange,but some sounds simplydisappeared from the generalpronunciationofEnglish.不仅数种元音发生了变化，并且某些语音还从英语的整个发音体系中消失了实例》古英语中仅/在现代英语中已不存在1如古英语读做而现代英语读做nicht night/nixt/,/nait/》古英语和中古英语中有都发音，在现代英语中不发音了2/kn/,/k/如在古英语中字母是发音的，而在现代英语中不发音knight/knee k》古英语中有一类名词的复数形式不是在词尾加音，而是加这个音，目前没有了3/s//V如的复数形式在古英语中的发音是goose/go:si/》现代英语中出现了位于词尾的元音音段的省略现象，称为词尾音脱落4如在古英语中发音为和在中古英语中发音为和而在现代name/love/na:ma://lufu/,/na:mo//luvo/,英语中的发音为和/neim//IAV/》词尾音脱落还影响了某些词的拼写5如古英语单词伴随词尾音的消失，在中古英语和现代英语中拼写成了helpe help语音增长•Sound additionWhilesomesoundswere lostin thecourse of thehistoricaldevelopment ofEnglish,other soundswereadded.Sound additionincludes thegain orinsertion of a sound.A changethat involvesthe insertionof aconsonantor vowelsound to the middleof aword isknown asepenthesis.Refer toPl34ofthetext bookforexamples.英语在发展过程中消失了某些语音，但也增长了某些语音语音增长包括增长一种音或嵌入一种音在一种词的中间嵌入一种辅音或元音被称为插入音实例见书本页134语音移位•Sound movementSoundchange asa resultof soundmovement,known asmetathesis,involves areversal inposition of twoadjoining soundsegments.语音移动所导致的语音变化被称为语音变位，它波及两个相邻音段互换位置实例古英语中在现代英语中变成了bridd/hros bird/horse形态变化b Morphologicalchange词缀消失•Affix loss消失了的词缀包括（形容词派生词缀）-baere（对应动作的施为者）-bora（加在形容词后称为使役动词）-yan注现代英语中的不再具有产出性技能，因而我们不能派生出诸如如下的某些单词-en Green-en/blue-en/asleep-en词缀增长•Affix addition增长了的词缀包括（动词转化为形容词的词缀）-able（动词转化为名词的词缀）-ment（名词或形容词转化为动词的词缀）-ze句法变化c Syntacticchange规则消失•Rule loss消失的规则包括》1Morphosyntactic ruleof adjectiveagreement.The rulestipulated thatthe endingsof adjectivesmustagree withthe headnoun incase,number,and gender.形容词一致的形态句法规则规则规定形容词词尾在格、数、性等方面必须与中心词保持一致》2OldEnglishsyntax containeda double-negation rule,which wouldnegate asentence withboth（）至（）negators ofne notand nfre never.古英语中尚有一种双重否认规则，即用两个否认词来否认一种句子规则增长•Rule addition增长的规则有》.小品词移位规则1Particle movementrule实例其中中的小品词可以移位John threwout the ball throughthe window.throw outoutJohn threwtheballout throughthe window.》2Another syntacticrule gainin Englishconcerns thedistinction betweenauxiliary verbsand mainverbs.In modernEnglish thesyntactic behavior of auxiliaryverbs differsfrom thatof mainverbs inthat onlyauxiliaryverbs canbe frontedin interrogativesentences.英语中增长的另一条句法规则波及助动词和重要动词之间的辨别在现代英语中，助动词和重要动词的句法体现的重要区别在于，只有助动词在疑问句中能被提前规则变化•Rule change发生变化的规则有》1A negativesentence couldbe formedby merelyadding notattheendofan affirmativesentence priortoShakespeares time.在莎士比亚时代之前，英语仅在一种肯定句的句尾加就可以使它变为否认句not》2Languages varyin theorder ofthe subject,the verband theobject.不一样语言的主语、谓语动词和宾语的次序是不一样的现代英语基本都是主谓宾构造词汇变化d Lexicalchange词汇消失•Lexical loss实例见书本页141词汇增长•Lexical additionThehistoryofEnglish lexicalexpansion isone that is characterizedwith heavyborrowing andwordformation.英语词汇增长的历史特点是大量地借用外来词和通过构词法构成新词Although Englishhas borrowedmost heavilyfrom French,other languagesasLatinand Greekhave alsomadetheir contributions.虽然英语从法语中借来的词数目最多，其他语言，如拉丁语和希腊语也做出了奉献In additionto borrowing,new wordshave madetheir entryinto Englishvia wordformation rulessuch ascompounding,derivation,acronym formation,blending,abbreviation,clipping,back-formation,andcoinage.除了借用外，英语还通过复合法、派生法、词首字缩略法、混合法、缩写法、逆向构词法和创新词法等构词规则参数新词以上措施的实例详见书本和页144145语义变化e Semanticchange语义扩大化•Semantic broadening实例见书本页包括这些词146bird/dog/aunt/holiday语义狭义化•Semantic narrowing实例见书本和页包括这些词146147hound/meat/wife/girl/liquor/fowl/disease语义演变•Semantic shift实例见书本和页包括这些词147148silly/fond/nice/immoral语系

5.Language FamilyLanguagefamily is a groupof historicallyor genetically related languagesthat havedeveloped from acommon ancestral language.For example,most ofthe languages of Europe,Persia,and thenorth partofIndia belongtothe Indo-European language family,and theyhave thesame originknown asProto-Indo-European.语系是一组从同一古代语言发展而来的具有历史联络（或者说是亲缘关系）的语言集合例如绝大多数的欧洲语言、波斯语、印度北部地区的语言都属于印欧语系，它们都源自一种叫做原始印欧语的语言

6.Classifying geneticallyrelated languagesItis estimatedthat overfive thousand languages arespoken intheworldtoday.There areabout30language familieswith fourmain ones:theIndo-European Family,the Sino-Tibetan Family,theAustronesian Family,andtheAfroasiatic Family.世界上大概有五千多中语言，个语系，其中最重要的个语系是印欧语系、汉藏语言、澳304斯特罗尼亚语系和非亚语系The Indo-European familyhas amembership of about150languages.The Sino-Tibetan familyconsistsof about300East Asianlanguages.The AustronesianFamily comprisesup to1000different languagesscatteredover onethird ofthe SouthernHemisphere.The AfroasiaticFamily is made upofabout250languages spreadacross thenorthern partof Africaand westernAsia.Englishisbelonged totheIndo-European Family.印欧语系有中语言，包括欧洲的大部分语言和印度次大陆的语言汉藏语系包括多种东150300亚语言澳斯特罗尼亚语系包括多达种语言，它们散布在南半球的三分之一以上的区域1000非亚语系由大概种语言构成，分布在非洲北部和西亚地区英语属于印欧语系250Many seeminglydifferent languagesare actuallygeneticallyrelatedas sistersor cousinsofabiglanguage familyand havedeveloped froma common,possibly dead”,ancestrallanguage.Historicallinguists haveto identifyand classifyfamilies ofrelated languagesinagenealogical familytree,and toreconstruct the protolanguage.诸多看似不一样的语言实际上存在亲密的亲缘关系，它们也许来源于同一种也许已经消失拉丁古代语言历史语言学家们通过对各语系中有关语言进行甄别，勾画出家族谱系图，从而重新构建语系的原始语A languagefamily isestablished bythe useofamethod knownas comparativereconstruction.Byidentifying andcomparing similarlinguistic formswith similarmeanings acrossrelated languages,,historical linguistsreconstructtheproto forminthecommon ancestrallanguage.历史语言学家们采用比较重建法甄别语言，重建语系的原始语Work onthe systematicform-meaning resemblancein cognates,words thathave descendedfromacommonsource,lies atthe coreof comparativereconstruction.研究同源词一从同一来源发展而来的词一的形式和意义的系统的相似性，是比较重建的关键任务

7.The Indo-European languagefamilyThe Indo-European languagefamily is the firstand mostwidely investigatedlanguagefamilyof theworld.The discoveryof Indo-European beganwiththework ofBritish scholarSir WilliamJones.In1822,the Germanscholar JacobGrimm specifiedinhistreatise theregular soundcorrespondencesamong Sanskrit,Greek,Latin,andtheGermanic languages.Grimms majorcontribution tohistoricallinguistics ishis explanationoftherelationships amongcognates interms ofa soundshift,the systematicmodificationofaseries ofphonemes.Because thesesound changeswere sostrikingly regularandlaw-like,they becamecollectively asGrimms Law.在世界上的各语系中，印欧语系是研究最早和最深的一种语系初次致力于印欧语系的发现工作的人是英国学者威廉・琼斯爵士18,德国学者雅各布・格里姆在他的论著中详细阐明了梵语、拉丁语和日尔曼语之间有规则的语音对应格里姆对历史语言学的重要奉献是，他从音变一一系列音位有系统的变异一的角度解释了同源词之间的关系由于这些语音变化的规则如此明显，象定律一般，因此这些变化统称格林定律语音变化的原因

8.The causesoflanguagechange语音的同化a SoundassimilationSound assimilationrefers tothe physiologicaleffect of one soundon another.Assimilation processesarephonological changesdue tophysiological mechanisms.语音同化是指一种语音对另一种语音的生理影响同化过程是由于生理机制而发生的语音变化In anassimilative process,successive soundismadeidentical,or moresimilar,to oneanother interms ofplaceor mannerof articulation,orofhaplology-the lossofoneoftwophonetically similarsyllables insequence.Another exampleof soundassimilation involvesvowel nasalization.Another exampleof soundassimilation thatresults inmorpho-logical andlexical changesisthe/k/soundas inthe wordkey”.语音同化过程使一种音受其毗邻的音的影响而发生音变，使其发音变得与其毗邻的音相近语音同化的成果可以导致元音或辅音的丢失，可以导致元音的鼻音化，也可以导致语音形态的变化规则的简化与统一b Rulesimplification and regularizationRule simplificationand regularizationinvolves exceptionalplural formsof nouns.规则的简化与统一的一种例子是英语中名词复数形式本来有规则形态变化和不规则形态变化，在英语演化过程中，由于不规则形态趋于规则化，因此复数形式趋向简化内部借用c InternalborrowingAnother kindof changethatismotivated bythe need to lessenthe burdenon memoryis calledinternalborrowing.引起语言变化的又一种原因是意在减轻记忆承担的语言规则的内部借用现象例如，英语动词的过去式不规则变化形式繁多，伴随时间的推移，借用这一规则变化形式在现代英语中越来-ed越普遍规则的细化d ElaborationRuleelaboration occurswhen thereisaneedtoreduce ambiguityand increasecommunicative clarityorexpressiveness.Language seemsto maintaina balancein expressivenessand grammaticalelaborationover time.If aparticular grammaticalfeature islost asa resultof,say,a changeinthephonologicalsystem,some otherfeature maybe addedin anothercomponent ofthegrammar,such asinthesyntax.人们在使用语言时，为了防止模棱两可、模糊不清的词句，或为了提高语言体现上的精确性，往往需要增长某些规则，致使句法规则愈加细化，如词序规则的严格化、功能词使用的频度等社会原因e SociologicaltriggersLinguistics havebecome increasinglyaware ofsociological triggersfor languagechange.Radicalsocio-political changessuch aswars,invasions,occupation,colonialization,andlanguageplanning andstandardizationpolicies leadto vigorouslanguage changes.促使语言变化的原因不仅有语言内部的，更多的是来自语言系统外部的社会环境的变化，如侵略战争、殖民化政策、政府推行的语言规划政策或原则化运动等文化传播f CulturaltransmissionAlthough anew generationhas tofind away ofusing thelanguage ofthe previousgeneration,it hastofind expressionsthat canbest communicatethe viewsand conceptsofthetime andthe changedandever-changing sociallife,andre-create thelanguagesofthe community.Many youngspeakers havethedesire tosound differentfromtheolder generation.语言变化的原因还在于，层出不穷的新概念和新事物需要人们用新的词语去体现变化了或变化着的生活、社会、观念、思维方式等需要人们更新体现方式尤其是新的一代，在语言的体现上喜欢标新立异小朋友语法靠近成年人语法g Childrensapproximation towardthe adultgrammarChildren acquiretheir nativelanguage notthrough formalinstruction ofgrammatical rules.Childrenusually constructtheir personalgrammars bythemselves andgeneralize rulesfro thelinguisticinformation theyhear.They areexposed todiverse linguisticinformation.Children havea strongdesireto simplifyand regularizegrammatical rules,particularly whenthey seeadults usecertain rulesoptionally.In suchcases,a changeinthegrammar occurs.小朋友在习得母语时接受到了多种语言信息和体现习惯，其中有的繁琐复杂，有的简要扼要小朋友往往偏向于习得简化了的或者规则化了的体现方式，因此代代相传的语言其演化自然也就展现出简化或规则化的趋势。