Drift (linguistics)
Encyclopedia
There are two types of linguistic
drift, a unidirectional short-term and cyclic long-term drift.
, drift is the unconscious change in natural language. He gives the example Whom did you see? which is grammatically correct but is generally replaced by Who did you see? Structural symmetry seems to have brought about the change: all other wh- words are monomorphic. The drift of speech changes dialects and in long terms, it generates new languages. Although it may appear these changes have no direction, in general they do. For example, in the English language, there was the Great Vowel Shift
, first described and accounted for in terms of drift by Jespersen
(1909–1949). Another example of drift is the tendency in English to eliminate the -er comparative formative and to replace it with the more analytic more. Thus, we now regularly hear more kind and more happy instead of the prescriptive kinder, happier. In English, it may be the competition of the -er agentive suffix which has brought about this drift, i.e. the eventual loss of the Germanic comparative system in favor of the newer system calqued on French. Moreover, the structural asymmetry of the comparative formation may be a cause of this change.
The underlying cause of drift may be entropy: the amount of disorder (differences in probabilities) inherent in all linguistic systems.
that changes the functional
characteristics of a language
over time, such as the reversible drifts from SOV word order
to SVO and from synthetic inflection
to analytic
observable as typological parameters in the syntax
of language families and of areal groupings of languages open to investigation over long periods of time. Drift in this sense is not language-specific but universal, a consensus achieved over two decades by universalists of the typological school as well as the generativist, notably by Greenberg (1960, 1963), Cowgill
(1963), Wittmann
(1969), Hodge (1970), Givón
(1971), Lakoff
(1972), Vennemann
(1975) and Reighard (1978).
To the extent that a language is vocabulary
cast into the mould of a particular syntax
and that the basic structure
of the sentence
is held together by functional items, with the lexical items filling in the blanks, syntactic change
is no doubt what modifies most deeply the physiognomy of a particular language. Syntactic change affects grammar
in its morphological
and syntactic aspects and is seen as gradual, the product of chain reaction
s and subject to cyclic drift
The view that the genesis of creole languages or other natural languages may be the product of catastrophism
is heavily disputed.
Natural language
In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
drift, a unidirectional short-term and cyclic long-term drift.
Short-term unidirectional drift
According to SapirEdward Sapir
Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....
, drift is the unconscious change in natural language. He gives the example Whom did you see? which is grammatically correct but is generally replaced by Who did you see? Structural symmetry seems to have brought about the change: all other wh- words are monomorphic. The drift of speech changes dialects and in long terms, it generates new languages. Although it may appear these changes have no direction, in general they do. For example, in the English language, there was the Great Vowel Shift
Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in England between 1350 and 1500.The Great Vowel Shift was first studied by Otto Jespersen , a Danish linguist and Anglicist, who coined the term....
, first described and accounted for in terms of drift by Jespersen
Otto Jespersen
Jens Otto Harry Jespersen or Otto Jespersen was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language.He was born in Randers in northern Jutland and attended Copenhagen University, earning degrees in English, French, and Latin...
(1909–1949). Another example of drift is the tendency in English to eliminate the -er comparative formative and to replace it with the more analytic more. Thus, we now regularly hear more kind and more happy instead of the prescriptive kinder, happier. In English, it may be the competition of the -er agentive suffix which has brought about this drift, i.e. the eventual loss of the Germanic comparative system in favor of the newer system calqued on French. Moreover, the structural asymmetry of the comparative formation may be a cause of this change.
The underlying cause of drift may be entropy: the amount of disorder (differences in probabilities) inherent in all linguistic systems.
Long-term cyclic drift
Cyclic drift is the mechanism of long-term evolutionLanguage change
Language change is the phenomenon whereby phonetic, morphological, semantic, syntactic, and other features of language vary over time. The effect on language over time is known as diachronic change. Two linguistic disciplines in particular concern themselves with studying language change:...
that changes the functional
Functional
Generally, functional refers to something able to fulfill its purpose or function.*Functionalism and Functional form, movements in architectural design*Functional group, certain atomic combinations that occur in various molecules, e.g...
characteristics of a language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
over time, such as the reversible drifts from SOV word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
to SVO and from synthetic inflection
Synthetic language
In linguistic typology, a synthetic language is a language with a high morpheme-per-word ratio, as opposed to a low morpheme-per-word ratio in what is described as an isolating language...
to analytic
Agglutinative language
An agglutinative language is a language that uses agglutination extensively: most words are formed by joining morphemes together. This term was introduced by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1836 to classify languages from a morphological point of view...
observable as typological parameters in the syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
of language families and of areal groupings of languages open to investigation over long periods of time. Drift in this sense is not language-specific but universal, a consensus achieved over two decades by universalists of the typological school as well as the generativist, notably by Greenberg (1960, 1963), Cowgill
Warren Cowgill
Warren Cowgill was a professor of linguistics at Yale University and the Encyclopædia Britannica’s authority on Indo-European linguistics. He was unusual among Indo-European linguists of his time in believing that Indo-European should be classified as a branch of Indo-Hittite, with Hittite as a...
(1963), Wittmann
Henri Wittmann
Henri Wittmann is a Canadian linguist from Quebec. He is best known for his work on Quebec French.-Biography:Henri Wittmann was born in Alsace in 1937...
(1969), Hodge (1970), Givón
Talmy Givón
Thomas Givon is a linguist and writer. He is one of the founders of functionalism in linguistics...
(1971), Lakoff
George Lakoff
George P. Lakoff is an American cognitive linguist and professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972...
(1972), Vennemann
Theo Vennemann
Theo Vennemann is a German linguist known best for his work on historical linguistics, especially for his disputed theories of a Vasconic substratum and an Atlantic superstratum of European languages. He also suggests that the High German consonant shift was already completed in the early 1st...
(1975) and Reighard (1978).
To the extent that a language is vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
cast into the mould of a particular syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
and that the basic structure
Basic structure
The basic structure doctrine is the judge-made principle that certain features of the Constitution of India are beyond the limit of the powers of amendment of the Indian parliament. The doctrine, which was first expressed by the Indian Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati v...
of the sentence
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
is held together by functional items, with the lexical items filling in the blanks, syntactic change
Syntactic change
In the field of linguistics, syntactic change is the evolution of the syntax, or structure, of a natural spoken language. In many languages, it is most easily observed in the transformation of irregular verb forms. For instance, in English, the past tense of the irregular verb "to go" is not...
is no doubt what modifies most deeply the physiognomy of a particular language. Syntactic change affects grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
in its morphological
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
and syntactic aspects and is seen as gradual, the product of chain reaction
Chain reaction
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events....
s and subject to cyclic drift
The view that the genesis of creole languages or other natural languages may be the product of catastrophism
Catastrophism
Catastrophism is the theory that the Earth has been affected in the past by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. The dominant paradigm of modern geology is uniformitarianism , in which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, create the Earth's appearance...
is heavily disputed.
See also
- Chain shiftChain shiftIn phonology, a chain shift is a phenomenon in which several sounds move stepwise along a phonetic scale. The sounds involved in a chain shift can be ordered into a "chain" in such a way that, after the change is complete, each phoneme ends up sounding like what the phoneme before it in the chain...
- Language changeLanguage changeLanguage change is the phenomenon whereby phonetic, morphological, semantic, syntactic, and other features of language vary over time. The effect on language over time is known as diachronic change. Two linguistic disciplines in particular concern themselves with studying language change:...
- Phonological changePhonological changeIn historical linguistics, phonological change is any sound change which alters the number or distribution of phonemes in a language.In a typological scheme first systematized by Henry M...
- Phonemic differentiation
- Sound changeSound changeSound change includes any processes of language change that affect pronunciation or sound system structures...