Theories of Language Change - Einzelansicht

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The English language has changed dramatically over the past six to seven hundred years. Throughout history, people noticed that language, like everything else, is in a continuous state of change. Thus, from its beginning, linguistics has been looking at language change. In this class we will therefore look at the various theories, which have been proposed to explain language change. We will also discuss language-external (e.g. language contact) and lan-guage-internal (e.g., structural instability) motivations for language change and look at spe-cific manifestations of language change at all levels of linguistic description, i.e., phonological, grammatical, semantic and pragmatic changes. At the end of term, we will hopefully be equipped with the necessary knowledge to sensibly discuss the question put forward by Jean Aitchison (2001), as to whether language change is to be seen as progress or as decay.

Aitchison, J. (2012). Language Change: Progress or Decay? 4th edition. Cambridge: CUP.

Final written exam (90 minutes), alternatively: regular active participation and oral presentation (30 minutes)