Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a field that examines the relationships between languages to identify common roots and understand language evolution over time. Often interlinked with historical linguistics, this discipline investigates how languages change, share ancestral connections, and how they can be reconstructed. The study dates back to the late 18th century, when scholars like Sir William Jones recognized links between languages such as Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit. Researchers utilize methods like Grimm's law to determine genetic relationships between languages, often visualized through a "family tree" structure.
The scope of comparative linguistics extends beyond traditional spoken languages to include sign languages, which are distinct and culturally significant in their own right. Additionally, the field recognizes the complexity of language variation, including dialects and the influence of factors like geographic proximity and language borrowing. As globalization affects language use, many lesser-spoken languages face extinction, prompting linguists to focus on preservation efforts. Overall, comparative linguistics is crucial in revealing the rich tapestry of human communication, shedding light on our shared linguistic heritage.
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Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics, a term often used interchangeably with historical linguistics (or comparative-historical linguistics), is a field of study in which languages are compared to determine common roots and connections to ancestral languages and to examine the process by which languages evolve over time. Historically, comparative linguistics was focused on the study of particular stages of change in specific languages—for instance, the transition from Old English to Middle English—but the field has grown to include additional topics of study. Ultimately, researchers hope to determine how and why languages are related. Determining that one language is related to another gives researchers additional information about the history of that language and the people who speak it and may even allow for the reconstruction of dead languages.
Brief History
Comparative linguistics, formerly known as comparative grammar or comparative philology in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, began in 1786 when Sir William Jones discovered that Latin, Greek, and German were all related to Sanskrit. Linguists—researchers who study languages—try to answer a series of questions in the field of comparative linguistics. These include determining what historical roots languages share, ancestrally and genetically; why languages continue to change over time; and how languages change.
In addition to reconstructing languages, comparative linguistics allows researchers to determine when a language splits, or when change occurs to such a great degree that it becomes a second language. Languages are distinguished by genetic, typological, or areal classes. The language family is the genetic classification, meaning that the languages developed from a single parent—the proto-language. Typologically, language types must share similar features, and for areal classification, a geographic language area is used, meaning that the languages are similar because of physical proximity.
The comparative method for studying languages is largely based on what is known as the neogrammarian principle, which means that languages are determined to be related if sound changes across the languages are consistent and words are not simply borrowed; basically, if words in two separate languages follow a similar sound pattern. For example, if a series of words with similar meanings consistently begin with the letter F in English but the letter P in Spanish, the languages might be related. This method of comparison is called Grimm's law, because nineteenth-century philologist Jacob Grimm used this process—based on work started a few years earlier by August Schleicher—to reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language, which is the parent language for hundreds of contemporary languages including English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Grimm believed, and contemporary linguists agree, that PIE was likely spoken around 3500 BCE in Eastern Europe. In contrast, borrowing refers to words that sound similar and have been assimilated across different languages—for instance, in Latin, pondus means "weight," which became pund in Old English and eventually pound in English.
Topic Today
Grimm's law is still the most commonly used method of study for comparative linguistics, primarily based on the "family tree" structure originally developed by Schleicher. This is why linguists refer to "parent" and "daughter" languages. Other researchers argue that there are other reasons why languages may be similar, though they may not share a common parent language. These include universal properties across many human languages (even unrelated languages often share similar construction); language borrowing (which refers not to borrowing specific words but to borrowing certain constructs, such as gendered nouns); genetic similarities, which are not close enough regarding sound changes to meet the requirements of Grimm's law; concurrent language development (if two similar languages change in similar ways at similar times); or even the occasional coincidence.
Throughout history, languages have been separated (or related) by geographic distance. This connection via physical proximity would decrease over time as groups of people migrated away from one another—distancing themselves from their own culture and bringing language and culture to other groups. Critics of comparative linguistics have argued that the comparative method of study does not easily allow for natural variations found in languages—and all languages have variations known as dialects. Using this method to reconstruct languages will be at least slightly unrealistic because dialects cannot be reconstructed in the same way that closely corresponding words and grammatical structures can be.
The study of comparative linguistics is not exclusive to spoken language. Sign languages, used by hearing-impaired individuals around the world, were once considered imitations of spoken language rather than distinct languages. This limited and discriminatory view has been challenged by contemporary research and is a point of advocacy for deaf or hearing-impaired individuals who must use sign language in public, in schools, or at work. It is estimated that approximately seventy million deaf people live around the world, and sign language may be much more commonly used outside Western society by people without a hearing impairment. For example, in one insular Mayan village in Mexico, everyone in the community has learned sign language to communicate with just a few deaf people living in the village. Like the study of spoken languages, researchers studying sign language have found great variability among different groups around the world based on history, ethnicity, and even age and gender.
Nor is the study of comparative linguistics limited only to people. Although languages in the animal kingdom are not a primary topic of study in this field, research is being conducted into the variations in ways that species of animals communicate with one another. For example, researchers studying honeybees know that the bees communicate using what is known as a waggle dance. This dance is used in locating nest sites and food. Researchers have found that the dances have significant differences among different species of honeybees—suggesting a similar language with specific dialects used to meet the different needs of species.
There are nearly seven thousand distinct languages spoken by people around the world. As the languages of business continue to advance—namely Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, and others—languages with fewer speakers decline. Some languages have fewer than one thousand speakers remaining, and when the next generation no longer learns it, the language begins to die. Linguists will continue to work to try to understand the connections among many of these languages and to preserve them before they—and their corresponding cultures—are lost.
Bibliography
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