Historical Linguistics Herbert Schendl.pdf

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Historical Linguistics by Herbert Schendl: A Brief Review

Historical linguistics is the study of how languages change over time and how they are related to each other. It is a fascinating and complex field that can shed light on the history, culture, and cognition of human beings. In this book, Herbert Schendl provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the main concepts, methods, and findings of historical linguistics.

The book covers topics such as language families, sound change, grammatical change, lexical change, language contact, language reconstruction, and language typology. It also discusses some of the applications and challenges of historical linguistics, such as language evolution, language variation, language change and social factors, and language endangerment. The book is richly illustrated with examples from various languages and includes exercises and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter.

Historical Linguistics Herbert Schendl.pdf

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Historical Linguistics by Herbert Schendl is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning more about the history and diversity of human languages. It is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students of linguistics, as well as for general readers who want to explore the fascinating world of language change.

The first chapter of the book introduces the main concepts and goals of historical linguistics. It explains what language change is, how it can be observed and measured, and why it is important to study it. The chapter also discusses some of the attitudes and myths that people have about language change, such as the idea that language change is a sign of decay or corruption, or that some languages are better or more logical than others. The chapter challenges these views and shows that language change is a natural and inevitable phenomenon that reflects the social and cognitive aspects of human communication.

The second chapter of the book deals with vocabulary change, one of the most visible and frequent types of language change. It explains how words can change their meaning, form, and function over time, and how new words can be created or borrowed from other languages. The chapter also introduces some of the methods and tools that historical linguists use to study vocabulary change, such as etymology, semantic fields, word formation, and lexical typology. The chapter illustrates these concepts with examples from English and other languages, showing how vocabulary change can reveal the historical and cultural influences on language.

The third chapter of the book focuses on grammatical change, another major type of language change that affects the structure and organization of language. It explains how grammatical categories, such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, case, and word order, can emerge, change, or disappear over time, and how grammatical rules can become more or less complex or regular. The chapter also introduces some of the factors and mechanisms that drive grammatical change, such as analogy, reanalysis, grammaticalization, and simplification. The chapter illustrates these concepts with examples from English and other languages, showing how grammatical change can reflect the cognitive and communicative aspects of language.

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