LIN 1300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Audiology, Neogrammarian, Implicature

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Linguistics
• Course: LIN 1300
• Professor: Laura Kastronic

Document Summary

Discussion of language change: language is entirely independent of its speakers. Reality of language change: it"s speakers that change the language. Not all changes go to completion; some changes may be halted for social reasons. But for any change to take place in the first place, there needs to be variation. In other words, variation is a precondition or prerequisite for change. Yet variation is not coterminous with change some cases of change involve long-term stability , such at (ng) and (-t/d) deletion. Ratification or validation of change minimally requires a comparison of one stage of a language with an earlier stage. Change shows up as either a qualitative or quantitative difference between two stages. Every change has its roots in an innovation in the speech of one or more individuals (innovation is not the same as a change) For innovation to become a change, it must diffuse throughout a community of users.