Meyer I, C. F.
(2009)
THE DEVELOPMENT OF
ENGLISH AND
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
OF LANGUAGE CHANGE
SELE 1
Abejon | Manalo
VERVIE English has evolved through five distinct stages, beginning with
Old English (AD
Abstract
400-1100) and progressing through Middle
Problem
English,
Early Modern English, Modern English, and Contemporary English.
A pivotal change occurred with the Norman Conquest in 1066,
which introduced French Objectives
vocabulary and contributed to the
simplification of English inflections.
Languages change through both internal and external influences.
Internal changes occur naturally within languages, such as the
Great Vowel Shift and morphological evolution from fusional to
isolating structures. External changes result from language
contact, as demonstrated by English borrowing words from Latin
and French throughout its history.
02
THE STATE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VS. OTHER
LANGUAGES IN TERMS OF NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
English stands as the most widely spoken language in world history, with
approximately 340 million first language speakers and between 500-1,000
million second language speakers. When including speakers of pidgins,
creoles, and English as a foreign language, the total number reaches
approximately 1.5 billion speakers worldwide.
In comparison, Mandarin Chinese has more native speakers (873 million) but
fewer second language speakers (178 million), totaling about 1,051 million
users. English's global dominance stems primarily from historical factors,
particularly British colonization and the subsequent rise of the United States
as a global power.
03
THE STATE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VS. OTHER
LANGUAGES IN TERMS OF NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
03
THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
VS. OTHER LANGUAGES IN TERMS OF NUMBER OF
SPEAKERS
English stands as the most widely spoken language in world history. As of
2022, there were about 400 million native speakers of English. Including
people who speak English as a second language, estimates of the the total
number of 1.5 billion to 2 billion speakers.
In comparison, Mandarin Chinese still has more native speakers, with 939
million native speakers of Mandarin Chinese and 199 million second language
speakers. Mandarin is the second most spoken language in the world by total
speakers due to China's large population with 79% of Chinese speakers living
in the country.
03
WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO CALCULATE THE NUMBER OF
SPEAKERS
Calculating the number of speakers of a language can be
challenging due to various factors, including the definition of what
constitutes a speaker. For instance, some speakers may use a
language as a second or foreign language, complicating total
counts. Additionally, in many countries where English is spoken,
such as Nigeria, it serves as a second language without native
status, making accurate speaker tallies difficult.
04
WHERE DOES ENGLISH
BELONG?
04
THE TWO SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFYING LANGUAGE:
GENETIC AND TYPOLOGICAL
The genetic system groups languages into family trees based on
ancestral relationships, treating languages as "parents," "siblings,"
and showing their connections through branches.
05
The Comparative Method
The Comparative Method is the process of examining languages,
grouping them into families, and reconstructing ancestral
languages through historical, archeological, and linguistic evidence.
A key element of the comparative method is analyzing cognate
vocabulary - words passed down through language families that
help determine sibling relationships and reconstruct parent
languages. The method works best when comparing basic
vocabulary representing common human experiences, such as
numerals, pronouns, body parts, and seasons.
05
THE TWO SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFYING LANGUAGE:
GENETIC AND TYPOLOGICAL
The typological system classifies languages based on shared
linguistic characteristics rather than historical relationships. For
example, languages can be categorized by their word order
patterns, such as Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) or Subject-Object-Verb
(SOV).
Morphologically, languages are traditionally classified into three
main types: AGGLUTINATIVE, ISOLATING, AND FUSIONAL.
05
THE TWO SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFYING LANGUAGE:
GENETIC AND TYPOLOGICAL
Agglutinative Languages
In these languages, words are built by adding a series of
morphemes (smallest meaning-bearing units), each representing a
specific grammatical function, such as tense, case, or plurality.
Morphemes remain distinct and easily identifiable.
Example: Turkish
ev ("house") → evler ("houses") → evlerimiz ("our houses")
Here, -ler (plural) and -imiz (possessive) are added clearly and
systematically.
05
THE TWO SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFYING LANGUAGE:
GENETIC AND TYPOLOGICAL
Isolating Languages
These languages have little to no inflection, meaning words
generally do not change form for grammatical purposes. Instead,
grammatical relationships are expressed through separate words or
word order.
Example: Mandarin Chinese
wo shuo hua ( 我说话 ) → "I speak"
ta shuo hua ( 他说话 ) → "He speaks"
Here, no affixes are used; meaning is conveyed through word
placement and context. 05
THE TWO SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFYING LANGUAGE:
GENETIC AND TYPOLOGICAL
Fusional Languages
In these languages, single morphemes often combine several
grammatical meanings, such as tense, number, and case, making
them less clearly separable.
Example: Spanish
hablo ("I speak") → hablamos ("we speak")
The ending -o conveys first-person singular present tense, while -
amos conveys first-person plural present tense. Multiple pieces of
information are "fused" in a single form.
05
LANGUAGE CHANGE VS. LANGUAGE EVOLUTION
Language change refers to the ongoing, natural process of
modification that languages undergo over time due to various
internal and external factors.
Types of Language Change
1. Sound Change
- Phonological or Phonetic Structure of Language
2. Lexical Change
- Changes in Language's vocabulary, which concerns the words in a
language.
04
LANGUAGE CHANGE VS. LANGUAGE EVOLUTION
3. Semantic Change
- Changes of meaning overtime
4. Syntactic Change
- Changes in the structure of syntax in a language
04
LANGUAGE CHANGE VS. LANGUAGE EVOLUTION
Language evolution refers to the broader, long-
term process in which a language undergoes
significant transformation, potentially developing
into entirely new languages.
04
JUSTIFICATION WHETHER EVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN
BIOLOGY PARALLEL THOSE IN LANGUAGE
While languages do change gradually in a step-by-step manner,
claiming that linguistic and biological evolution are parallel
processes is not entirely justified.
Languages are dynamic entities that continuously change in
response to external forces, such as cultural pressures for gender-
neutral vocabulary, and internal changes like irregular verbs
becoming regular.
05
JUSTIFICATION WHETHER EVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN
BIOLOGY PARALLEL THOSE IN LANGUAGE
Biological Evolution is a Natural Selection Process. Natural Selection
where advantageous genetic traits are more likely to be passed on
to future generations.
Linguistic Factor is a combination of internal aand external factor.
This includes sound changes, grammatical simplifications, semantic
shifts, cultural pressures, language contact, and technological
advancements.
05
VALIDATION ON HOW AND WHY LANGUAGES
CHANGE
There are many different routes to language change.
Including the following.
Language Learning
- Language is transformed as it is transmitted from one
generation to the next. Each individual re-create a grammar
and lexicon based on input received from parents, siblings, and
other members of the speech community.
Language Contact
- Migration, conquest, and trades bring speakers of one
language into contact with other.
04
VALIDATION ON HOW AND WHY LANGUAGES
CHANGE
Social Differentiation
- Social groups adopt distinctive norms, including language.
Linguistic distinctiveness can be acheved through vocabulary
pronunciation, morphological processes, syntactic
constructions, and so on.
Natural Processes in usage
- Rapid or casual speech naturally produces processed such as
assimilation, dissimilation, syncope, and apocope. Through
repitition, particular cases may become conventionalized, and
therefore produced even in slower or more careful speech.
04
CONCLUSION
The text primarily focuses on the development and evolution of the English
language. The material covers several critical linguistic concepts including
cognate vocabulary, comparative methods, dialects, and both synchronic and
diachronic language changes.
A significant portion examines how to classify languages through two main
approaches: the genetic classification system that creates language family
trees, and typological classification. The text also explores the complexities of
distinguishing between languages and dialects, along with analyzing speaker
populations of major world languages.
The work delves into both internal and external influences on language
change, language death, and linguistic reconstruction.
05
THANK
YOU
