Historical Linguistics

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The linguistic discipline that is concerned with the description and the explanation of language change over time

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historical linguistics

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A process that facilitates acquisition (e.g., by deleting a consonant in a complex cluster or inserting a vowel to break up a cluster)

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articulatory simplification

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A source of language change that involves the generalization of a regularity based on the inference that if elements are alike in some respects, they should be alike in others as well

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analogy

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A source of language change that involves an attempt to attribute an internal structure to a word that formerly was not broken down into component morphemes

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reanalysis

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Interaction between speakers of one language and speakers of another language or dialect

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language contact

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A source of language change that involves adopting aspects of one language into another; can include adding new words to a language

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borrowing

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Sound change that begins as subtle alterations in the sound pattern of a language in particular phonetic environments

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phonetically conditioned change

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Sound change that involves sequences of segments

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sequential change

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Sound change that affects a segment

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segmental change

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The influence of one segment on another, resulting in a sound becoming more like a nearby sound in terms of one or more of its phonetic characteristics

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assimilation

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What happens when a vowel becomes nasalized in the neighborhood of a nasal consonant

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partial assimilation

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Influence of one segment on all features of neighboring segments

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total assimilation

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The process in which one sound becomes more like another sound in terms of whether it is voiced or voiceless

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voicing assimilation

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The effect that front vowels and the palatal guide [j] typically have on velar, alveolar, and dental stops

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palatalization

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A change in which palatalized stops become either [ts] or [tS] if the original stop was voiceless or [dz] or [dZ] if the original stop was voiced

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affrication

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The nasalizing effect that a nasal consonant can have on an adjacent vowel

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nasalization

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The process whereby one segment is made less like another segment in its environment

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dissimilation

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The insertion of a consonant or vowel into a particular environment

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epenthesis

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A change in the relative positioning of segments

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metathesis

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A process that removes a segment from certain phonetic contexts

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deletion

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A type of assimilation in which a lessening in the time or degree of a phoneme

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weakening

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A full vowel is reduced to a schwa-like vowel

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vowel reduction

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A phonetic process that eliminates a consonant

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consonant deletion

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A lessening in the time or degree of a consonant's closure

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consonant weakening

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Increasing time or degree of a consonant's closure

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consonantal strength

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The weakening of a double consonant to a single consonant

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degemination

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A type of segmental simplification that turns affricates into fricatives by eliminating the stop portion of the affricate

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deaffrication

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The weakening of a stop [t] to /th/, for example

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frication

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The strengthening of [j] to [dZ], for example

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glide strengthening

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Type of auditorily based change involving the replacement of one segment with another similar-sounding segment

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substitution