Diachronic Change Research Articles

Lenition of voiced stops in Kurdish

Abstract Contemporary Kurdish variety groups exhibit considerable variation with respect to the lenition of voiced stops. This paper presents a first systematic overview of lenition across major varieties of Kurdish, drawing on published data and a recent questionnaire developed for studying phonological variation within Kurdish. Following recent studies on lenition, a distinction is made between lenition as a process related to earlier stages of language and lenition as a synchronically active process. Analysing diachronic sound changes in Kurdish as well as the synchronic lenition phenomena in its dialects, we conclude that while at earlier stages, Kurdish varieties favoured the lenition of voiced stops across different phonological environments, synchronically, lenition of voiced stops tends to be phonologically active only in the southernmost dialects of Central Kurdish and neighbouring Southern Kurdish and Gorani dialects, and with a limited extent, in the westernmost outliers of Northern Kurdish. It is argued that the synchronic lenition in the Gorani contact zone arose through innovation in Gorani and spread to Kurdish through substratum interference or originated in diffusion from Southern Kurdish.

Eastern Aesthetic Elements and Emotional Expression in Visual Communication

With the continuous advancement of globalization, the frequency of cross-cultural communication and interaction is increasing day by day. As a key way of information transmission, visual communication design not only plays a practical role as a messenger, but also has profound cultural connotations embedded in it. This paper aims to investigate and explain the application of Oriental aesthetic principles in the field of visual communication design and its effect on emotional externalization. By examining the fundamental definition and diachronic changes of the Oriental aesthetic concept, this paper intends to analyze the interpretation of these elements in the modern form of expression, in order to show how the iconic symbols such as ink painting, calligraphy art, and traditional symbolic totems are revitalized in the innovative design, and stimulate the emotional resonance in the viewer's heart.By analyzing a number of successful cases at home and abroad, this study not only demonstrates the unique charm of Oriental aesthetic elements in enhancing cultural identity, but also explores how to overcome the challenges brought by cultural differences and promote the integration and development of Eastern and Western cultures in a diversified design environment. Finally, this paper summarizes the potential trend of Oriental aesthetics in the field of visual communication design in the future, and puts forward corresponding practical suggestions.

A missed regular sound change between Latin and French

Abstract This paper presents evidence for a regular sound change in 12th-century Old French where word-initial /k/ voiced to /ɡ/ before /la/ or /ra/. My treatment is the first to propose a unified account, as due to a regular sound change, for 13 reflexes of inherited etyma and 4 reflexes of Germanic borrowings that all exhibit velar onset voicing (VOV) contemporaneously. A dating in the late 12th century for VOV is supported by both corpus evidence and how it is bled, counterbled, and fed by other sound changes whose dating is established in prior literature. The ultimate origins of this Old French velar onset voicing most likely lie in an older and phonetically conditioned synchronic voicing process that originally operated both word-internally and at boundaries. Word-internally, where conditioning was static, the alternation became a phonemic difference and thereafter lost productivity relatively early. But synchronic alternation continued at boundaries, where its conditioning continued to depend on the adjacent word. It survived in a progressively reshaped manner word-initially, until the late 12th century, when this voicing alternation, now much narrower in scope, gave rise to VOV as a regular diachronic sound change. Previous treatment of the words in question considered each only in isolation, bypassing the chance to consider the proposed regular sound change as a possibility. Thus, this study shows the importance of considering both lexically focused approaches and the probing for regular sound changes as necessarily complementary methods.

Attraction or differentiation: diachronic changes in the causative alternation of Chinese change of state verbs

Abstract This study examines the interplay of attraction and differentiation through the diachronic encoding of causative alternations in Chinese. A corpus-based analysis is conducted to profile the use of two Change of State verbs (COS verbs), pò ‘break’ and kāi ‘open’, focusing on their argument structure constructions. The analysis yields two main insights: (i) In Chinese, there are four pairs of causative alternations. The first pair, CA1, involving the alternation between NP1+COS+NP2 and NP2+COS, serves as the source for two diachronic trajectories. In the first trajectory, NP1+COS+NP2 is replaced by NP1+V+COS+NP2, and forms CA2 with NP2+COS. Subsequently, NP2+COS transitions into NP2+V+COS, and constitutes CA3 with NP1+V+COS+NP2. In the second trajectory, NP1+COS+V+NP2 and NP2+COS+V emerge and form CA4. (ii) Evidence of attraction is found in the mutual influence between the causative variants NP1+V+COS+NP2 and NP1+COS+V+NP2, and in the modeling effect of the causative variant NP1+V+COS+NP2 on the inchoative variant NP2+V+COS. Differentiation is supported by the anchoring force of a larger constructional network, including the transitive/intransitive opposition and compound constructions. This study advances the theoretical understanding of the intertwinement of attraction and differentiation by elucidating the diachronic evolution of causative alternations in Chinese.

Diachronic Height Changes in Europe From the Mesolithic to the Present: Exploring Possible Causes and Regional Specificities.

A meta-analysis of diachronic changes in average height across Europe from the Mesolithic to the present, based on a broad range of literature sources. The analysis of chronological height variability was based on skeletal remains (from the Mesolithic to the 19th century), from which height was reconstructed, and on data from living individuals measured from the late 19th to the early 21st century. In total, data from 73 skeletal series and 342 groups of modern populations, primarily from Eastern Europe, were analyzed. A regression analysis was performed using R to describe the patterns of variability. The findings indicate that height decreases during the Neolithic and remains relatively stable until the Medieval period. A decline in average height is observed during the High Medieval period. The Early Modern period marks a transition to the 20th century, during which there is a consistent increase in average height, most pronounced until the 1980s, after which the rate of increase slows slightly into the early 21st century. Temporal height variability in the European part of Russia shows regional differences. The results suggest a wave-like pattern of trans-epochal changes in the somatic status of populations over an extended period, likely driven by various socioeconomic factors that dominated in different historical periods: the transition to agriculture, urbanization, political systems, industrial revolutions, and significant improvements in quality of life. Diachronic changes in height exhibit regional specificities, reflected in the variability of rates and magnitudes of secular gains across different regions and time periods.

Are research articles becoming more syntactically complex? Corpus-based evidence from research articles in applied linguistics and biology (1965–2015)

Research on the diachronic changes of syntactic complexity in research articles (RAs) in recent decades has been scant. As one of the first studies addressing this gap, the present study investigated the diachronic changes of eight indices of syntactic complexity in the RAs of applied linguistics and biology from 1965 to 2015 based on a corpus of 720 RAs (totalling 4.14 million tokens) from prestigious journals. The study revealed several common patterns of diachronic changes in syntactic complexity in two disciplines. First, RA writers in both disciplines tended to produce longer production units and employed more coordinate phrases and complex nominals over time, reflecting increased levels of syntactic complexity in two disciplines in recent five decades. In addition, both disciplines displayed an overall decline in the reliance on clausal elaboration (e.g. clausal coordination and clausal subordination), but an increase in phrasal complexity (e.g. phrasal coordination and complex nominals), which demonstrated an increased level of information compression in RA writing over time. The study also discussed changes in publication norms and practices in the two academic fields in recent decades that may be related to the diachronic changes of syntactic complexity features.

Representation of migrant workers in Chinese newspapers: combining topic modeling and critical discourse analysis

Abstract Chinese migrant workers have contributed greatly to the industrialization and urbanization of China and have thus long been a popular topic in news reports. Most previous studies on the news about this group have been qualitative or quantitative analyses based on small-scale datasets, with few based on large-scale corpus data. This study combined topic modeling and critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyze 186,180 reports of migrant workers published by 906 Chinese newspapers between 2001 and 2021. We identified seventeen topics in the news that fell into five categories: “work and labor,” “support and care,” “rights and interests,” “homecoming,” and “social emergencies.” Overall, news reports on the group have become increasingly diverse, with various diachronic changes in the proportions of topic categories and specific topics. In addition, we found three major types of representation of migrant workers: as a disadvantaged group, as outsiders, and as a group vulnerable to risks. These negative representations might be closely related to government policies, ideology, media stance, and social reality (the broader societal context in which these individuals are situated).

Stay with the green: New insights into ancient copper smelting in the Tonglüshan site, China

This paper presents new archaeometallurgical analyses from the Tonglüshan site, a famous ancient mining and smelting site in China. Results show that the primary phases in slag samples from two sites (Sifangtang and Lujia’nao) are all of a vitreous matrix, interspersed with fayalite crystals, wüstite, and hercynite. The trapped metallic particles in the slag are mainly raw copper with few sulfides present, which indicates a direct reduction process of oxidic ore. Iron-rich minerals were likely to be added as flux implied by the few unreacted inclusions in the slag samples. The extremely low copper content in the slag samples demonstrates a high rate of copper recovery, indicating that the copper smelting technology in the region had reached a considerably advanced level. In the meantime, the variations in metal content in slag samples from different periods reveal the diachronic changes in this copper smelting technology. The Tonglüshan site, with its millennia of ancient mining and metallurgical activities, provides an excellent material base for detailed studies on technological evolution.

Introduction to the Proceedings of the 2023 Symposium ‘Historical English Word-Formation’

It has not yet been ten years since Klaus Dietz (2015: 1915) prophesised that "[f]uture research work [on historical word-formation in English] will profit by two kinds of new instruments: firstly, by the Dictionary of Old English (DOE) and its Web Corpus, by the Middle English Dictionary (MED) and by the nascent third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and secondly, by new corpora of historical English." The proceedings of the 2023 symposium respond to those predictions in manifold ways. Under the heading ‘Historical English Word-Formation’, the organisers of the symposium intended to “bring together researchers studying diachronic English word-formation and to showcase current research in this area” (Majewski 2023: 287). Although no particular temporal, thematic, or methodological focus was asked for, the five essays provide answers to some of the general questions that the symposium had initially raised, namely: How have large-scale corpus analyses and respective computational tools helped us study diachronic changes in the formation of new words? Which recent insights are there into the frequency and productivity as well as the rules and restrictions of word-formation units and patterns in the history of English? Further, which roles do regional, social, medial, and other factors as well as text types and (non‑)literary genres play for the creation of new words? The five contributions to this special issue of ZWJW illustrate that, as Dietz had anticipated, the study of word formations in past stages of English has profited extremely from the advances made in computational research and Artificial Intelligence, yet they also delineate both their advantages and limitations.

The diachronic change of English relativizers: a case study in the State of the Union addresses across two centuries

The diachronic change of English relativizers: a case study in the <i>State of the Union</i> addresses across two centuries

A Corpus-based Study on the Diachronic Change of Negative Emotive Intensifier in English--A Case Study of Dead

A Corpus-based Study on the Diachronic Change of Negative Emotive Intensifier in English--A Case Study of Dead

Synthesis of human isotopic data (8000–5000 BP) reveals subsistence strategies and social complexity at the southeast edge of the Loess Plateau, China

AbstractThe southeast edge of the Loess Plateau (SELP) is a crucial area for studying subsistence strategies and social complexity in prehistoric China. Currently, no systematic isotopic study has been conducted to reveal shifts in subsistence strategies and their link to the trajectory of social complexity. This paper compiles previously published isotopic data from human and fauna bones at 24 sites dating from 8000 to 5000 BP, aiming to uncover diachronic changes in subsistence strategies and their relationship with social complexity. The results indicate a gradual increase in millet consumption by humans and an increasing utilization of millet‐based byproducts as feed for domestic animals (pigs and dogs) over time. The isotopic data of humans and animals demonstrate the establishment of millet agriculture during the Early Yangshao period (7000–6000 BP). Millet agriculture creates a crucial material foundation for population growth and cultural prosperity. Two modes of millet cultivation, intensive and extensive, are proposed to explain the continuous development of millet agriculture since the Early Yangshao period. Finally, significant dietary heterogeneity among the human population during the Late Yangshao period strongly suggests the emergence of social differentiation and complexity, supported by other archaeological evidence such as settlement hierarchies and the presence of exquisite objects in burials.

The Universal Culture of COVID-19 as Provoked by the War Against COVID-19 Metaphor

Previous studies tackling the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic found that most of the metaphors used in different genres on the subject are related to war. These war metaphors have been found to have the effects of raising awareness and creating a sense of urgency about the situation, therefore gaining support, bringing calm and stability, and promoting some emotional interaction. This study focused on the Arabic metaphors used during the different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., from the time the pandemic began to emerge to the time of lockdown and curfew to the invention of the vaccine and of the suggestion of taking multiple doses. Data were collected from Twitter using its advanced search engine. The importance of this study lies in the fact that previous studies tackling the topic have not focused on metaphors using such a diachronic approach. Furthermore, the causes and effects of using COVID-19 metaphors in previous studies were found to be similar to the ones in this study. The resulting metaphors reflected some of the diachronic changes brought on by the COVID-19 global situation. These results are indicative of the match between the global situation invoked by the pandemic and the conceptualization of this situation as realized in language regardless of which language this is or to what culture it belongs.

Perception and Asymmetry in the High German Consonant Shift

This article addresses the shift asymmetries of the High German Consonant Shift. In one part of this sound change, Pre-Old High German ⁺/p/, ⁺/t/, and ⁺/k/ shifted to the Old High German affricates [pf], [ts], and [kx], respectively. However, the voiceless stops did not shift in every dialect of Old High German. The uneven distribution of the shift is referred to in the literature as shift asymmetry. Much work by Iverson, Davis, and Salmons has attributed the asymmetry to markedness. While maintaining their overall analysis of the shift, this article shows that markedness can be dispensed with in accounting for the shift asymmetries. In accordance with Evolutionary Phonology, perceptual and phonetic data are presented which account for the asymmetries without making any reference to markedness. Since it rejects markedness in diachronic sound change, the present analysis also has broader implications for markedness diachronically and synchronically.

Profiling analytic causative construction in Chinese: a multifactorial analysis of diachronic change

Abstract Taking a multifactorial approach, this article profiles the formal and semantic changes of Chinese analytic causative construction (CACC for short) and its jiao 1 , jiao 2 , ling, rang and shi micro-constructions. It is found that CACC micro-constructions have undergone two types of formal change. Building on a data-driven periodization of diachronic data, this study analyzes semantic changes of CACC and its micro-constructions from semasiological and onomasiological perspectives and at local constituent and global construction levels. Major findings are as follows: six stages are identified in the semantic development of CACC micro-constructions. Semasiologically, diachronic semantic prototypicality of CACC remains constant while that of its micro-constructions changes with time. A general polysemization route is followed by CACC and its micro-constructions, with the superordinate CACC governing the subordinate micro-constructions in semantic change pathway. Onomasiologically, diachronic semantic division of labor among CACC micro-constructions varies over time. For CACC micro-constructions, semantics of local causer, causee and effected predicate tends to change in concert with global constructional semantics at early and late periods of semantic development, whereas local and global semantic changes during the intermediary stages are usually partially coordinated. This study has demonstrated the application of collostructional analysis in investigating diachronic semantic change of a construction.

Increasing self-esteem among left-behind children in China: a cross-temporal meta-analysis from 2006 to 2020

BackgroundSelf-esteem serves as a fundamental indicator for assessing the mental health of left-behind children in China. Previous studies have placed more emphasis on investigating its current situation, while overlooking its dynamic changes with social development.MethodsThis research project used the approach of cross-temporal meta-analysis to analyze 72 papers that used the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, ranging from 2006 to 2020(date of data collection) and covering 29,835 left-behind children, to delve into the diachronic changes and influencing factors of self-esteem of left-behind children over the years.ResultsThe outcomes demonstrated that: (1) The self-esteem scores of Chinese left-behind children increased from 30.74 in 2006 to 32.7 in 2020. (2) The level of self-esteem among left-behind children was significantly correlated with social indicators (economic conditions and educational level) for the actual year, 3 years prior, or 5 years prior to the self-esteem data collection.ConclusionsThe level of self-esteem of left-behind children has been rising between 2006 and 2020. In addition, it is noteworthy that social development had a significant influence on predicting changes in the self-esteem of left-behind children.

Infrared spectral library of tooth enamel from African ungulates for accurate electron spin resonance dating

Electron spin resonance coupled with uranium-series dating (ESR/U-series) of carbonate hydroxyapatite in tooth enamel is the main technique used to obtain age determinations from Pleistocene fossils beyond the range of radiocarbon dating. This chronological information allows to better understand diachronic change in the palaeontological record, especially with regard to the evolution of the genus Homo. Given the relative paucity of human teeth at palaeontological and archaeological localities, ESR/U-series is widely applied to the teeth of ungulate species. However, the accuracy of ESR/U-series ages is greatly affected by the incorporation of uranium in the enamel during burial in sediments. It has been shown that uranium content is positively correlated with an increased degree of atomic order in carbonate hydroxyapatite crystals, the latter determined using infrared spectroscopy. Here we present a reference infrared spectral library of tooth enamel from African ungulates, based on the grinding curve method, which serves as baseline to track the diagenetic history of carbonate hydroxyapatite in different species and thus select the best-preserved specimens for dating.

On analysing fragments: the case of No?

Abstract This paper addresses the analysis of sentence fragments, specifically the English negative polar response item no. Two main types of synchronic analysis have been proposed for present-day English – one in which yes and no are syntactically inert particles which substitute for a clause, the other in which they are the initial element of an elided clause. Using diachronic data from 15th- to 17th-century English, we argue that the emergence of a novel other-speaker question pattern involving no demonstrates that speakers of early English analysed interrogative polar no as the initial element of a clause with TP-ellipsis. This novel pattern has received little attention in the literature, yet this grammatical innovation is interesting because its emergence demonstrates how diachronic change can be used as a diagnostic for underlying grammatical structure.

Diachronic change in the linguistic landscape in the Yi ethnic community in China: an apparent-time study

ABSTRACT This research utilises an apparent-time approach to interrogate changes in the linguistic landscape of Xichang City, the capital of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in China, over the past two decades. By examining a variety of public signage installed in different periods, this study found that both official and private signs have shifted from monolingualism to bilingualism or multilingualism. The official signs afforded space for the Yi script in addition to Chinese. By contrast, the proliferation of bilingual or multilingual signs on private stores occurred at the expense of Yi. The diachronic variation of private signage is indicative of the decline of the Yi language and reflects uneven power relations that favour Chinese and English. This study contributes to the methodological approach to linguistic landscape research by using signs of chain stores as evidence to reflect a multilayered and historically mediated diachronic change. It also showcases that the apparent-time approach serves as an effective way to trace changes in linguistic landscapes over time, which are not discernible through a synchronic approach.

Amber provenance as a Chrono-Cultural Proxy: Insights from FTIR analysis in the Iberian Peninsula

In recent years, significant advancements have occurred in our comprehension of amber consumption patterns in the Iberian Peninsula. This progress stems from the increasing volume of FTIR data related to both archaeological and geological amber. Consequently, a chronological model has been established, delineating amber consumption in the Iberian Peninsula from the Late Paleolithic to the Iron Age. Broadly, local amber consumption has been minimal since the Paleolithic period. Sicilian amber makes its appearance in Iberia around the 5th millennium BCE and fades away in the 2nd millennium BCE, giving way to Baltic amber, which has remained the sole source since then.The well-defined chronological model, the abundance of FTIR provenance data, and the infrequent association of amber with absolute or relative dates prompt us to explore whether provenance can serve as a chrono-cultural proxy for amber beads.This study introduces new amber finds, presents fresh FTIR data on archaeological amber ornaments, and incorporates minor updates and bug fixes to the general catalog. It is the outcome of a thorough bibliographic review and on-site analysis and examination of the beads.The results obtained in this study enable the reconstruction of amber consumption throughout Iberian prehistory, drawing on 29 newly FTIR-analyzed ambers from 9 sites. Our findings expand the empirical foundation, facilitating the confirmation of diachronic changes in amber consumption. Importantly, they affirm that amber provenance can indeed be employed as a viable chrono-cultural proxy.