Studies In Historical Linguistics Research Articles

Changes in Meaning and Function. Studies in historical linguistics with a focus in Spanish

Changes in Meaning and Function. Studies in historical linguistics with a focus in Spanish

Lexicostatistics of Javanese and Sasak Languages: Comparative Historical Linguistic Studies

A language is related to other languages because these languages are similar to one another. The kinship between Javanese and Sasak languages can be seen in lexical and phonemic correspondences. This study aims to analyze the kinship relationship based on numerical calculations between the Javanese and Sasak languages and the lexicostatistical order of the two languages. This research uses qualitative and quantitative methods. Data were obtained using the literature study method, corresponding to Morris Swades' 200 basic vocabulary using direct note-taking techniques. Data analysis used the lexicostatistics method. The result of the research is that after lexicostatistical calculations have been carried out, the percentage of kinship between Javanese and Sasak languages is 23.8%. Based on the error analysis, it is known that Javanese and Sasak were a single language around 1553-1317 years ago. The Javanese and Sasak languages are estimated to have started to separate from Proto around 469 – 705 AD (calculated by 2022).

Phonological Variants of the Old Egyptian Particle sk/sT in the Biographies of Wnj

In 2012, excavations by the French Archaeological Mission at Saqqara uncovered several blocks bearing an inscription with remarkable parallels to the well-known biography of the Sixth Dynasty official Wnj from Abydos. These parallels led Philippe Collombert to identify the owner of the Saqqara blocks, named Nfr-wn-Mrjj-Ro, with the aforementioned Wnj. Despite their strong parallels, the two versions of the same text show a slight but interesting difference: the subordinating particle is written sk in the Saqqara version but sT in the Abydos version. These two texts then can form the core of a case study to examine these particular phonological variants in Old Egyptian texts. In this article, I will provide a brief overview of the ⟨k⟩ > ⟨T⟩ phonological change of Early Egyptian, and then discuss other attestations of the particle sk/sT to attempt to illuminate the linguistic context for this particular change in the texts of Wnj. Finally, I will suggest a possible explanation for this change, with the linguistic analysis informed by the historical and textual background of both texts – that of an official moving his tomb away from the Capital Zone and adopting a non-Capital Zone socio-dialect in the process. The investigation of this particular sound change illustrates some of the (not insurmountable) challenges of historical linguistic studies of Old Egyptian.

Relationship of Batak Karo, Batak Toba, And Nias Comparative Historical Linguistic Study

Batak language families such as Karo, Toba, Mandailing, Simalungun, and Angkola have dominant language users, especially Batak Karo and Batak Toba. In addition to the Batak language family, Nias language is also one of the languages ​​whose users are quite a lot in North Sumatra, eventhough it is not the area of ​​origin. Kinship Language is a comparative historical linguistic study. By using the quantitative method the kinship relations of the three languages ​​are calculated lexicostatistically. The indicator used to determine related words is a basic vocabulary called the Swadesh basic vocabulary, which consists of two hundred vocabularies. The first result was obtained, namely the Batak Karo language (BBK) and the Batak Toba language (BBT) have a kinship relationship, where from 200 words there are 121 words that have a kinship relationship, namely 37 identical related words and 84 shifting related words with the same meaning. The level of kinship between the Batak Toba language and the Batak Karo language is fairly high because the percentage is 60.5%. The year of separation occurred in 703 AD. The second is that the Batak Karo language and the Nias language (BN) have a kinship relationship. From 200 words there are 49 words that have kinship relations, namely 13 identical related words and 36 shifted related words with the same meaning. The level of kinship is relatively low because the percentage is 24.5%. The year of separation occurred in 1036 BC. The third is that Batak Toba language and Nias language have a kinship relationship, seen from 200 basic words, there are 50 words that have kinship relationships, namely 12 identical related words and 38 shifted related words with the same meaning. The level of kinship between the Batak Toba language and the Nias language is relatively low because the percentage is 25%. The year of separation occurred in 1022 AD

Language Kinship of English, German, and Dutch: A Comparative Historical Linguistic Study

English, German, and Dutch belong to the Indo-European language family and the Germanic language subgroup. So there is an assumption regarding the existence of kinship of these three languages, which also could be seen in the fact that there are some similarities in the form and meaning. This makes the researchers analyze how the relationship between English, German, and Dutch is and how far the level of kinship of the three languages ​​is. This research is a quantitative research using qualitative descriptive method and lexicostatistical technique. Lexicostatistics is a technique in grouping languages ​​that tends to prioritize statistical observation of words (lexicon), and then tries to determine the grouping based on the percentage of similarities and differences between one language and another. By using 200 Swadesh’s basic vocabulary as an analytical material, 4 identical data and 102 similar data were found. The results of lexicostatistical calculations showed that the percentage of kinship of English (BI), German (BJ), and Dutch (BB) is 53%. From this calculation, it is determined that the linguistic status of these three languages is classified as languages ​​of the family.

Language Kinship as Regional Conflict Resolution in West Nusa Tenggara: Comparative Historical Linguistic Study

West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) has two kinds of related ethnic languages, namely the Sasak language (BS) and the Samawa language (BSw). As related languages, the two ethnic groups often come into conflict. Conflicts are generally caused by the lack of a good and effective communication process. This study investigates the phenomenon of linguistic kinship and describes various phonemic features as a solution for resolving regional conflicts. The research uses Linguistics Historical Comparative (LHC) Theory with synchronic studies. The research method used phenomenological principles with qualitative descriptive research. The object of study is BS and BSw. The research instrument used Swadesh vocabulary and Lexicostatistical parameters. Data collection was conducted by documentation. Data analysis applied qualitative description technique includes reduction, presentation, and verification. The results showed that 68 words were the same, 52 words were similar, and 87 were different. Word relations based on parallel and serial structures of kin with contradictory meanings, such as: /apa/ (a~ə/-#), /anjing/ (c~s/#V-V#), /baru/ (a~ǝ/#C-C# and Ø~?/-#), /benar/ (k~t/#-), /benih/ (ɛ~i/#C-C#), and /bunuh/ (Ø~bǝ/#- and ?~ Ø/-#). In syllables and phonemes, BS and BSw have variants /e/ > [ǝ],[e],[Ɛ]. The percentage of relatives, 58%, is of language family status, both genetically and proto-Austronesian. The period of separation of the two languages is 1292 years, to be precise, occurred in 730 AD. The contribution of similarity is phonemically observed through three dimensions of inter-ethnic conflict resolution: signification, domination, and legitimacy. The research findings are in the form of formulations/concepts of solutions for resolving regional conflicts through the kinship of phonemic features of the Austronesian language, the traditions/culture and beliefs of speakers, and the social system of society. It is a reference for preventing regional conflicts in NTB in particular and Indonesia in general.

BATAK TOBA LANGUAGE KINSHIP

This study aims to analyze how the kinship system of the Toba Batak language is compared to the proto language. This research is a quantitative descriptive study using lexicostatistical and glottochronological techniques. This study explains and describes the kinship of the proto language with the Toba Batak language. The kinship of these two languages will be studied using comparative historical linguistic studies. The data in this study were 200 Swadesh vocabularies spoken by each informant. The result of this research is that the Proto language (PAN) and the Toba Batak language have a kinship level of 56.5%. Where in it there are pairs of identical words recorded as many as 33 pairs. or as much as 29% and then 30% of word pairs that have sound correspondence both phonemic and phonetically and have the same meaning from the total data that have word pairs and 46 word pairs or 41% of word pairs that have one different phoneme.

Studies in historical linguistics at the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

This article analyzes major directions, achievements, and prospects of studies in historical linguistics accomplished by the department of the history of Ukrainian of the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine within 30 years since its foundation. The department has focused on the Ukrainian glotogenesis and dialectogenesis and their ProtoSlavic origins, the history and structure of Church Slavonic in its East Slavic recension as attested in Old Ukrainian records and used on the Ukrainian ethnolinguistic territory in the 10th—13th centuries, and the history of the Ukrainian orthography. At the moment, three general research areas are in the center of scholarly interests, which are editorial studies of linguistics sources, historical lexicography, and the academic history of Ukrainian. Together with the historians of language working at different Ukrainian educational institutions and research centers, the department continues publishing the book series Ukrainian Written Records of the 11th—13th centuries. In 2019, the department coordinated a scientific seminar series dealing with the historical and lexicographic project Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language of the Late 17th—18th Century. It starts working on a monograph to present theoretical and methodological principles of the dictionary ompilation. Together with the South Ukrainian Historical Word Formation Center (founded in 2004, Zaporizhzhia), the department is working on the 5th volume of the academic book A History of the Ukrainian Language. Word Formation containing a generalized study of word formation of the nominative elements of Ukrainian. Keywords: historical and linguistic research, editorial studies of linguistic sources, historical lexicography, historical word formation

A hamis oklevelek helynévtörténeti forrásértékének meghatározásáról

On the Determination of the Source Value of Forged Charters for Historical Toponomastics Charters with an uncertain chronological status have multiple chronological layers from a linguistic perspective. Due to the circumstances of their creation and survival, the historical linguistic and historical onomastic source value of names included in them do not necessarily overlap; this means that it may be possible that the same name can be associated with different centuries as a source for studies in historical linguistics and historical onomastics. Therefore, one of the key steps in the linguistic exploration of charters with an uncertain chronological status (including forged charters) involves the examin¬¬ation of the source value of the charter separately for the purposes of historical linguistics and historical toponomastics: we assess the chronological features of the recording of the names (historical linguistic source value) only after the con¬sideration of the date of the inclusion of the names in the charter (i.e., historical onomastic source value). We may determine the historical toponomastic source value of forged charters mostly based on the principles of historical studies and diplomatics. This includes, for example, the consideration of litigations of abbeys or the study of the formulas of charters as well as the word use of the charter. With the growing number of charters of an uncertain status studied linguis¬tically, it has become clear that we need to further specify the assessment of the charters from the perspective of historical toponomastics completed based on these principles. In my paper, I study how we may establish the source value of particular toponyms from the perspective of historical onomastics using four forged charters of Saint Stephen (the charters of Bakonybél, Pécsvárad and two charters from Zalavár), while also relying on considerations rooted in history and diplomatics. In the first part, I show that irrespective of the fact that a name probably had not appeared in the original source of the forged charter, the places and names in question could already exist in the 11th century. In the second part, I provide examples that show that the sections of forged charters that have been designated as belonging to the 11th century mostly using the principles of diplo¬matics and history may also include such names the early use of which is question¬able.

Visual analytics for historical linguistics: opportunities and challenges

In this paper we present a case study in which Visual Analytic methods for interactive data exploration are applied to the study of historical linguistics. We discuss why diachronic linguistic data poses special challenges for Visual Analytics and show how these are handled in a collaboratively developed web-based tool: HistoBankVis. HistoBankVis allows an immediate and efficient interaction with underlying diachronic data and we go through an investigation of the interplay between case marking and word order in Icelandic and Old Saxon to illustrate its features. We then discuss challenges posed by the lack of annotation standardization across different corpora as well as the problems we encountered with respect to errors, uncertainty and issues of data provenance. Overall we conclude that the integration of Visual Analytics methodology into the study of language change has an immense potential but that the full realization of its potential will depend on whether issues of data interoperability and annotation standards can be resolved.

Special issue on studies in Late Modern English historical phonology using the Eighteenth-Century English Phonology Database (ECEP): introduction

Since Charles Jones referred to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the ‘Cinderellas of English historical linguistic study’ (1989: 279), there has been a great deal of progress in research on this period, but, as Beal (2012: 22) points out, much of this has been in the fields of syntax, morphology, lexis, pragmatics, sociolinguistics and the normative tradition. Beal argues that the availability of corpora of Late Modern English texts has greatly facilitated research in these areas, but, since creating phonological corpora for periods antedating the invention of sound recording is a challenging proposition, the historical phonology of Late Modern English has benefited much less from the corpus revolution. To redress this imbalance, the editors of this issue, with technical support from the Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield, created the Eighteenth-Century English Phonology Database (ECEP), which is freely available at www.dhi.ac.uk/projects/ecep/

PEMETAAN PENGGUNAAN BAHASA MELAYU BANGKA

This study aims to map the use of the Bangka Malay language. This research uses qualitative. The source of the data was observations, interviews with language users, and questionnaires focused on four districts, namely Bangka Regency, South Bangka Regency, Central Bangka Regency, West Bangka Regency, and one Madya City, Pangkalpinang. The reduction data for dialectological studies contain differences in phonological and lexical levels selected from all data obtained, except data in the form of phrases and sentences, while reduction data for comparative historical linguistic studies are collected from 200 basic Swadesh vocabularies (for lexicostatistic analysis), in which describe the word kin. The results of this study are as follows: a. The Malay language of Bangka has the same variation between user regions, especially those used in the City of Pangkalpinang, Sungailiat, Toboali, Koba, and Mentok; b. Some vocabularies are different between regions but are not significant because they occur only at the phonemic level such as the use of the words 'akar (root)' and 'aker', 'dingin (cold)' and 'dingen', 'dengar (hear)' and ‘denger'; c. Significant differences occur only in some of the vocabulary used by the Bangka community such as the word 'burn' which translates to 'menam', 'tembung', and 'tunu'; d. Vocabulary differences are generally found in remote areas such as Sadai, Air Gegas, and Kelapa.

KEKERABATAN KOSA KATA BAHASA KARO, BAHASA NIAS, DAN BAHASA SIMALUNGUN DI KOTA MEDAN: KAJIAN LINGUISTIK HISTORIS KOMPARATIF

Abstract This article is entitled "The Lexical Kinship of Karo Language, Nias Language, and Simalungun Language in Medan City: Comparative Historical Linguistic Study". The research method used is a qualitative method. The methods and data collection techniques used are the method of referring to tapping, skillful, and recording techniques. The data analysis methods and techniques used are qualitative and quantitative methods with lexicostatistics techniques. In lexicostatistics, language kinship is seen based on the sound equations in the lexicon that appear in these languages. This phonetic resemblance will be the basis of whether a word in one language has a relationship with another language. The indicator used to determine the word kinship is a basic vocabulary called the basic Swadesh vocabulary which amounts to 200 vocabulary which is considered to exist in all languages in the world. The results of the study indicate that there was a kinship between the three languages. Keywords: kinship; Karo; Nias; Simalungun; lexicostatistics

A Szepes vármegyére vonatkozó középkori oklevelek filológiai tanulságai

Philological Findings from the Historical Linguistic Study of Medieval Charters from Szepes County My paper introduces the philological findings derived from the linguistic analy-sis of medieval charters for Szepes County. During the discussion of various fac-tors, my ultimate objective is to find out how the proper name data of the charters may be used for the purposes of research in historical linguistics and onomastics. Although the observations and hypotheses are based on the study of sources from Szepes specifically, I believe that the issues addressed in my paper also carry broader relevance and thus may be used both when interpreting remnants of char-ters and in the process of historical linguistic research based on these. Keywords: Szepes County, medieval charters, linguistic prestige, Latinization

HUBUNGAN KEKERABATAN BAHASA BENUAQ, TONYOOI, DAN BAHAU: KAJIAN LINGUISTIK HISTORIS KOMPARATIF

It is a comparative historical linguistic study that discusses about the kinship of Benuaq, Tonyooi, and Bahau languages. Those are used and exist in East Kalimantan. This research is quantitative by using lexicostatistics of Swadesh-200 lists and also qualitative by describing the kinship of those languages. The lexicostatistical calculations indicate that those three languages are related. Benuaq and Tonyooi language relation percentage is 46.15%. Benuaq and Bahau language relation percentage is 27.18%. Tonyooi and Bahau language relation percentage is 30.77%. It shows that Benuaq and Tonyooi languages are classified as one language family, Benuaq and Bahau are classified as one language group, and Tonyooi and Bahau are classified as one language group. Thus, those three languages are not classified as one language. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Times New Roman; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Times New Roman; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

Imperfect language learning vs. dynamic sound change

Abstract Modern Hebrew provides an idiosyncratic case for historical linguistic study: due to the discontinuity of its use as a spoken language, differences between contemporary structures and classical ones do not necessarily reflect change processes, but may instead result from imperfect language learning by the original L2 speakers of Modern Hebrew at the initial stages of speech revival. This article offers a new research direction for delineating the boundaries between the two types of phenomena based on the recent discovery of two collections of recordings of spontaneous Hebrew speech made in the 1960s. Focusing on one conspicuous sound change in contemporary Modern Hebrew, namely the transition from [i] to [e] in the prefix of the verbal pattern hif’il, we show that the variability in contemporary language between hif’il and hef’il has two distinct sources: (i) an initial state of variability between [i] and [e] in forms derived from weak root verbs (initial-[n] and middle-[w/y] roots, e.g. higi’a-hegi’a ‘arrived’) due to imperfect language learning in the initial phases of the formation of Modern Hebrew; and (ii) a recent change from [i] to [e] in forms derived from regular roots (e.g. hitxil-hetxil ‘started’). In this category, the 1960s recordings attest to a stable realization of [i] amongst all age groups, with deviations from the rules of traditional Hebrew grammar occurring only marginally. Based on this data, the measure of synchronic variation documented in the 1960s recordings is analyzed as a precursor of the sound change that developed in the language at a later stage.

О слове bičiq в языке калмыцкой деловой письменности XVIII–XIX вв.

Introduction: Official Kalmyk writing — like that of any other Mongolic language — had been well developed since the emergence of the Mongol Empire and its successor states. Even within Russia’s boundaries the Kalmyks kept sophisticating their writing practices, special emphasis having been paid to administrative correspondence and records management. The National Archive of Kalmykia contains 18th-century documents addressed by Kalmyk nobility to Russian authorities. The bulk of the texts date back to the period of the Kalmyk Khanate when regular state contacts facilitated the development of official Kalmyk writing to meet the requirements of Imperial Russia’s correspondence protocols. Documents in Clear Script mirrored both the then literary and conversational variants of the Kalmyk language, and now serve as the basic sources for historical linguistic studies. The official lexis contained in the sources constitutes an integral part of the Kalmyk vocabulary and is still largely understudied. Identification and further exploration of this lexical stratum is important and urgent to understand the Kalmyk — and basically Mongolic — linguistic development in the long historical context. Certain efforts have been made to facilitate this, namely, those by D. Suseeva, N. Kokshaeva, and D. Gedeeva. Goals: The article aims to review document names containing the word bičiq. Methods: The diachronic lexical research applies descriptive, historical and comparative methods. Within the investigated texts, the word bičiq and related word combinations have a number of meanings. Except for the main ones, such as ‘script’, ‘credentials’, ‘letter’, those are used as names of official documents. In modern Kalmyk it is the word цаасн ‘paper’ which serves to denote various documents being etymologically related to the source material of such documents. In the language of the investigated the same role is played by the word bičiq ‘record; letter’ which stresses the recording of official information as a hard copy. Results: The study has discovered some obsolete — though still relevant — lexis dealing with records management. Its introduction into the active vocabulary shall significantly enrich modern Kalmyk, since those words have become rare in view of their obsolescence but due to current Russian-language records keeping (written correspondence) protocols. Conclusions: The discovered archived texts containing the word bičiq in their titles show there is quite a layer of similar lexis in official recordings of the 18th–19th centuries. In turn, this proves that records management practices had been developed enough in the Kalmyk Khanate. Only small part of the mentioned sources have been examined, and there are still many more Kalmyk lexicographic units to discover, investigate and describe.

Relasi Kekerabatan Bahasa Banjar dan Bahasa Bali: Tinjauan Lingusitik Histroris Kompratif

Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian linguistik historis komparatif yang membahas hubungan kekerabatan dua bahasa yang ada di Kalimantan Selatan, yaitu bahasa Bali dan bahasa Banjar. Masalah yang dikaji dalam penelitian ini 1) kosakata bahasa Banjar dan Bali yang sama berupa retensi, 2) kosakata bahasa Banjar dan Bali yang berupa inovasi fonolis, 3) relasi kekerabatan bahasa Banjar dan Bali berdasarkan perhitungan leksikostatistik 4) korespondensi konsonan dan vocal, dan 5) variasi konsonan dan vokal. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui kekerabatan bahasa Banjar dan bahasa Bali. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui teknik wawancara dengan mengisi kuisioner sebanyak 200 kosakata dasar Swades. Dari 200 kosakata dasar Swades tersebut diklasifikasikan kata-kata yang berkerabat dengan yang tidak berkerabat. Teori yang digunakan sebagai acuan penelitian ini teori linguistik historis komparatif. Untuk menentukan dan membuktikan bahasa-bahasa tersebut memiliki hubungan kekerabatan, dilakukan dengan dua pendekatan, yaitu pendekatan kuantitatif dan pendekatan kualitatif. Dalam pendekatan kuantitatif digunakan metode leksikostatistik, sedangkan dalam pendekatan kualitatif digunakan metode perbandingan. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa kekerabatan bahasa Banjar dan bahasa Bali berada ditingkat rumput bahasa. Hal ini dibuktikan berdasarkan perhitungan kekerabatan sebesar 24,5%. Skala ini dibuktikan dengan oleh adanya persamaan dan kemiripan yang terdapat dalam kedua bahasa tersebut berupa 21 kosakata yang sama, 29 kosakata bahasa Banjar dan Bali yang memiliki kemiripan. Dengan demikian dapat disimpulan bahwa bahasa Banjar dan bahasa Bali dua bahasa yang mempunyai kekerabatan yang erat.

Visualizing linguistic variation in a network of Latin documents and scribes

This article explores whether and how network visualization can benefit philological and historical-linguistic study. This is illustrated with a corpus-based investigation of scribes' language use in a lemmatized and morphologically annotated corpus of documentary Latin (Late Latin Charter Treebank, LLCT2). We extract four continuous linguistic variables from LLCT2 and utilize a gradient colour palette in Gephi to visualize the variable values as node attributes in a trimodal network which consists of the documents, writers, and writing locations underlying the same corpus. We call this network the "LLCT2 network". The geographical coordinates of the location nodes form an approximate map, which allows for drawing geographical conclusions. The linguistic variables are examined both separately and as a sum variable, and the visualizations presented as static images and as interactive Sigma.js visualizations. The variables represent different domains of language competence of scribes who learnt written Latin practically as a second-language. The results show that the network visualization of linguistic features helps in observing patterns which support linguistic-philological argumentation and which risk passing unnoticed with traditional methods. However, the approach is subject to the same limitations as all visualization techniques: the human eye can only perceive a certain, relatively small amount of information at a time.

The aggregate and the individual: thoughts on what non-alternating authors reveal about linguistic alternations – a response to Petré

In one way or another, historical linguists have always been aware of the limitations inherent to working with linguistic data from bygone ages. One of the most substantial limitations, as Petré points out, is that all speakers of a historical variant of a language are unavailable for psycholinguistic study, essentially leaving researchers with their written records as the sole data source. As such, historical linguists often find themselves taking the role of corpus linguists, trying to understand the workings of a language ‘by studying aggregate data that pools the productions of many speakers and writers – often across different media, genres, registers, and even across different time periods’ (Arppeet al.2010: 3). As Petré points out, the practice of studying language on this aggregate level has dominated the methodologies in historical linguistic studies, and very little attention is paid to the individual level.