The comparative method in historical linguistics Gerhard Jger - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The comparative method in historical linguistics Gerhard Jäger ESSLLI 2016 Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 1 / 11

Overview The comparative method (from Ross and Durie 1996) dominant paradigm in (non-computational) historical linguistics developed during the 19th century originally applied mostly to Indo-European, but applicable to all language families central axiom: Neogrammarian Hypothesis Sound laws apply without exception. Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 2 / 11

Workflow Reconstruct the protolanguage of the family as follows: ESSLLI 2016 Comparative method Gerhard Jäger protophonology reconstructed in (4a). lexical items) from the cognate sets collected in (2), using the b. Reconstruct protomorphemes (both morphological paradigms and of sound changes. worked out in (3), using conventional wisdom regarding the directions a. Reconstruct the protophonology from the sound correspondences 4 Workflow ‘irregular’ cognate sets on one side; Work out the sound correspondences from the cognate sets, putting 3 paradigms and lexical items). Collect putative cognate sets for the family (both morphological 2 ‘family’; languages are genetically related, that is, that they constitute a Determine on the strength of diagnostic evidence that a set of 1 3 / 11

Workflow 5 Establish innovations (phonological, lexical, semantic, morphological, morphosyntactic) shared by groups of languages within the family relative to the reconstructed protolanguage. 6 Tabulate the innovations established in (5) to arrive at an internal classification of the family, a ‘family tree’. 7 Construct an etymological dictionary, tracing borrowings, semantic change, and so forth, for the lexicon of the family (or of one language of the family). Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 4 / 11

Workflow Workflow ESSLLI 2016 Comparative method Gerhard Jäger 5 / 11 evidence for genetic relationship collect putative cognates find regular sound correspondence reconstruct protolanguage identify shared innovation construct family tree etymological dictionary

Workflow Diagnostic evidence for genetic relatedness sometimes self-evident (e.g. Slavic) similarities in morphological paradigms (example from Clackson 2007, 124) overwhelming lexical similarities … ⇒ Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 6 / 11

Workflow Diagnostic evidence for genetic relatedness Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 7 / 11

Workflow Diagnostic evidence for genetic relatedness Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 7 / 11

Greek, Latin [k] ∼ Dutch, Norse (?) [h] ? Example Russian zɔ̃bʊ̆ nɔɡɑ sr̩ʲdɪ ̆ tsʲɛ kɔʒa Old Norse tvɛir θriːr tɔnː foːtr ˈɣjarta huːð dva trɪ ̆ trʲi zub noga sʲɛrdtsɛ ˈkɔʐa establish regular , i.e. recurrent, sound correspondences Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [d] ∼ Dutch, Norse [t] Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [t] ∼ Dutch [d] ∼ Norse [θ] ∼ OCS, Russian [s] Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 jɛ dʊ̆vɑ Example dérma identify cognates two three tooth foot heart skin Ancient Greek dýo treːs odúːs puːs kardíaː Dutch Old Church Slavonic twe dri tɑnt vut hɑrt hœyt Latin ˈduo treːs dens peːs kor ˈkutis 8 / 11

Greek, Latin [k] ∼ Dutch, Norse (?) [h] ? Example Russian zɔ̃bʊ̆ nɔɡɑ sr̩ʲdɪ ̆ tsʲɛ kɔʒa Old Norse tvɛir θriːr tɔnː foːtr ˈɣjarta huːð dva trɪ ̆ trʲi zub noga sʲɛrdtsɛ ˈkɔʐa establish regular , i.e. recurrent, sound correspondences Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [d] ∼ Dutch, Norse [t] Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [t] ∼ Dutch [d] ∼ Norse [θ] ∼ OCS, Russian [s] Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 jɛ dʊ̆vɑ Example dérma identify cognates two three tooth foot heart skin Ancient Greek dýo treːs odúːs puːs kardíaː Dutch Old Church Slavonic twe dri tɑnt vut hɑrt hœyt Latin ˈduo treːs dens peːs kor ˈkutis 8 / 11

Greek, Latin [k] ∼ Dutch, Norse (?) [h] ? Example Russian zɔ̃bʊ̆ nɔɡɑ sr̩ʲdɪ ̆ tsʲɛ kɔʒa Old Norse tvɛir θriːr tɔnː foːtr ˈɣjarta huːð dva trɪ ̆ trʲi zub noga sʲɛrdtsɛ ˈkɔʐa establish regular , i.e. recurrent, sound correspondences Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [d] ∼ Dutch, Norse [t] Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [t] ∼ Dutch [d] ∼ Norse [θ] ∼ OCS, Russian [s] Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 jɛ dʊ̆vɑ Example dérma identify cognates two three tooth foot heart skin Ancient Greek dýo treːs odúːs puːs kardíaː Dutch Old Church Slavonic twe dri tɑnt vut hɑrt hœyt Latin ˈduo treːs dens peːs kor ˈkutis 8 / 11

Greek, Latin [k] ∼ Dutch, Norse (?) [h] ? Example Russian zɔ̃bʊ̆ nɔɡɑ sr̩ʲdɪ ̆ tsʲɛ kɔʒa Old Norse tvɛir θriːr tɔnː foːtr ˈɣjarta huːð dva trɪ ̆ trʲi zub noga sʲɛrdtsɛ ˈkɔʐa establish regular , i.e. recurrent, sound correspondences Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [d] ∼ Dutch, Norse [t] Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [t] ∼ Dutch [d] ∼ Norse [θ] ∼ OCS, Russian [s] Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 jɛ dʊ̆vɑ Example dérma identify cognates two three tooth foot heart skin Ancient Greek dýo treːs odúːs puːs kardíaː Dutch Old Church Slavonic twe dri tɑnt vut hɑrt hœyt Latin ˈduo treːs dens peːs kor ˈkutis 8 / 11

Greek, Latin [k] ∼ Dutch, Norse (?) [h] ? Example Russian zɔ̃bʊ̆ nɔɡɑ sr̩ʲdɪ ̆ tsʲɛ kɔʒa Old Norse tvɛir θriːr tɔnː foːtr ˈɣjarta huːð dva trɪ ̆ trʲi zub noga sʲɛrdtsɛ ˈkɔʐa establish regular , i.e. recurrent, sound correspondences Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [d] ∼ Dutch, Norse [t] Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [t] ∼ Dutch [d] ∼ Norse [θ] ∼ OCS, Russian [s] Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 jɛ dʊ̆vɑ Example dérma identify cognates two three tooth foot heart skin Ancient Greek dýo treːs odúːs puːs kardíaː Dutch Old Church Slavonic twe dri tɑnt vut hɑrt hœyt Latin ˈduo treːs dens peːs kor ˈkutis 8 / 11

Greek, Latin [k] ∼ Dutch, Norse (?) [h] ? Example Russian zɔ̃bʊ̆ nɔɡɑ sr̩ʲdɪ ̆ tsʲɛ kɔʒa Old Norse tvɛir θriːr tɔnː foːtr ˈɣjarta huːð dva trɪ ̆ trʲi zub noga sʲɛrdtsɛ ˈkɔʐa establish regular , i.e. recurrent, sound correspondences Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [d] ∼ Dutch, Norse [t] Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [t] ∼ Dutch [d] ∼ Norse [θ] ∼ OCS, Russian [s] Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 jɛ dʊ̆vɑ Example dérma identify cognates two three tooth foot heart skin Ancient Greek dýo treːs odúːs puːs kardíaː Dutch Old Church Slavonic twe dri tɑnt vut hɑrt hœyt Latin ˈduo treːs dens peːs kor ˈkutis 8 / 11

Example huːð jɛ zɔ̃bʊ̆ nɔɡɑ sr̩ʲdɪ ̆ tsʲɛ kɔʒa Old Norse tvɛir θriːr tɔnː foːtr ˈɣjarta Russian Example dva trʲi zub noga sʲɛrdtsɛ ˈkɔʐa establish regular , i.e. recurrent, sound correspondences Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [d] ∼ Dutch, Norse [t] Greek, Latin, OCS, Russian [t] ∼ Dutch [d] ∼ Norse [θ] ∼ OCS, Russian [s] Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 trɪ ̆ dʊ̆vɑ Old Church Slavonic kardíaː identify cognates two three tooth foot heart skin Ancient Greek dýo treːs odúːs puːs dérma ˈkutis Dutch twe dri tɑnt vut hɑrt hœyt Latin ˈduo treːs dens peːs kor 8 / 11 Greek, Latin [k] ∼ Dutch, Norse (?) [h] ?

→ → → → Example Example reconstruct proto-forms and directionality of changes PIE [*d] → Germanic [t] PIE [*t] → Germanic [d/θ] PIE [*k] → Germanic [h], PIE [*k] → Slavic [s] construct family tree based on shared innovations Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 9 / 11

→ → → → Example Example reconstruct proto-forms and directionality of changes PIE [*d] → Germanic [t] PIE [*t] → Germanic [d/θ] PIE [*k] → Germanic [h], PIE [*k] → Slavic [s] construct family tree based on shared innovations Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 9 / 11

→ → → → Example Example reconstruct proto-forms and directionality of changes PIE [*d] → Germanic [t] PIE [*t] → Germanic [d/θ] PIE [*k] → Germanic [h], PIE [*k] → Slavic [s] construct family tree based on shared innovations Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 9 / 11

→ → → → Example Example reconstruct proto-forms and directionality of changes PIE [*d] → Germanic [t] PIE [*t] → Germanic [d/θ] PIE [*k] → Germanic [h], PIE [*k] → Slavic [s] construct family tree based on shared innovations Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 9 / 11

Example Example ESSLLI 2016 Comparative method Gerhard Jäger 9 / 11 construct family tree based on shared innovations PIE [*k] → Germanic [h], PIE [*k] → Slavic [s] PIE [*t] → Germanic [d/θ] PIE [*d] → Germanic [t] reconstruct proto-forms and directionality of changes Proto-Indoeuropean Ancient Greek k → h k → s d → t t → d Latin Old Norse Old Church Slavonic Dutch Russian

Example Example compile etymological dictionary here: Köbler, Gerhard, Indogermanisches Wörterbuch, (5. Auflage) 2014, http://www.koeblergerhard.de/idgwbhin.html Gerhard Jäger Comparative method ESSLLI 2016 10 / 11