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1、Chapter8HistoricalLinguistics:LanguageThroughTime8.1Whatishistoricallinguistics?Itisanindisputablefactthatalllanguageshavebeenconstantlychangingthroughtime.Essentially,modernlinguisticshascenteredaroundtwodimensionstodealwithlanguagechange:thesynchronic
2、dimensionandthediachronicdimension.Thesynchronicdimensionhasdominantlybeenappliedtodescribeandexplaindifferencesorvariationswithinonelanguageindifferentplacesandamongdifferentgroupsatthesametime.Thesynchronicdimensionisusuallythetopicofsociolinguistics,
3、whichwillbediscussedinChapter10.Thischapterwillfocusonthediachronicdimensionoflanguagechange.Thosewhostudylanguagefromthislatterpointofviewareworkinginthefieldofhistoricallinguistics(Poole,2000:123).Toputitmorespecifically,historicallinguisticsisthestud
4、yofthedevelopmentsinlanguagesinthecourseoftime,ofthewaysinwhichlanguageschangefromperiodtoperiod,andofthecausesandresultsofsuchchanges,bothoutsidethelanguagesandwithinthem(Robins,2000:5).8.2WhenlanguagechangesAlthoughlanguagechangedoesnottakeplaceoverni
5、ght,certainchangesarenoticeablebecausetheyusuallyconflatewithacertainhistoricalperiodormajorsocialchangescausedbywars,invasionsandotherupheavals.ThedevelopmentoftheEnglishlanguageisacaseinpoint.Generallyspeaking,thehistoricaldevelopmentofEnglishisdivide
6、dintothreemajorperiods:OldEnglish(OE),MiddleEnglish(ME),andModernEnglish(ModE).500(thetimewhenGermanictribesinvadedBritain)OldEnglish1100(thetimeaftertheNormanConquestin1066)MiddleEnglish1500(thebeginningofRenaissanceandthefirstprintingpresssetupin1476i
7、nEngland)ModernEnglishthepresentInabouttheyear449AD,theGermanictribesofAngles,SaxonsandJutesfromnorthernEuropeinvadedBritainandbecamethefoundersoftheEnglishnation.Theirlanguage,withtheGermaniclanguageasthesource,iscalled,thenamederivedfromthefirsttribe,
8、theAngles.IthadavocabularyinheritedalmostentirelyfromGermanicorformedbycompoundingorderivationfromGermanicelements(Dension,1993:9).FromthisearlyvarietyofEnglisc,manyofthemostbasictermsintheEnglishlanguagecameintobeing:mann(“man”)
